Monday, November 28, 2016

Irrigation installation progress report week 3

The goal for week three was to complete the section from hole #10 through hole #13.  I believe that that goal was reached.  #13 is about 85% complete but the crew was able to get all of the main lines trenched and laid on n#14 which was not in the projection.  That trade off leads me to believe that the target was met .
We were getting ready to start on the wet well structure last week but a chance of rain came in and delayed the start of that project.  Thanksgiving didn't help the timeline either.  And now we have serious chances for rain this week, which we need desperately.  We may not get to dig for the wet well until late this week.
The crew really hit a stumbling block on #10 with all of the rock.  Without that issue I think that they would have blown their timeline out of the water.  They should be in good soil for the remainder of the back nine so it should move pretty rapidly.
This morning our consultant,Trevor Holman, is laying out the head spacing on hole #14.  He will probably finish marking the back nine holes this week

Monday, November 21, 2016

Irrigation renovation progress report Week 2

Finally we have moved on to hole 11.  I'm not sure who was happier the construction crew or me to move out of the rockiest soil on the course.  Sure enough as soon as we passed the teeing area on 11 the large trencher started eating soil like nobody's business.  I watched it trench about 70 yards of 3 foot deep trench in about 10 minutes.  It had previously taken us a day to get that far.  So conditions have gotten much better.  We are still running into a boulder here and there but they are to be expected by looking at the surface indicators, lack of grass or droughty looking area. 
The current location of the crew with mainline is #12.  The lateral crews are wrapping up the fairway on the 11th hole.
The machine appears to be gaining some steam.  I hope that we start to see about a hole and a half completed per week.  When I use the term completed I am referring to pipe in the ground with heads in place.  There is still work to be done on the completed holes.  Debris piles must be removed, boulders removed, cart path cuts have to be re-poured, plow lines have to be rolled out, and many other cleanup projects must be completed. 
Projections for next week.  I hope to see #12 Tee, Fairway and Natural Area completed.  Also I am hopeful to see some work done on #13 Fairway and Green also.  This is a large completion list for our progress so far but the closer we move toward #14 the higher quality the soil will be. 
Also I am sure if you have visited the course in the last few days you have noticed the pond on #18 getting very low.  We are pumping it down in order to install the new wet well and intake line that are the base for our awesome new pump station.


Monday, November 14, 2016

Week One of the Irrigation Renovation

Week one is in the books on the irrigation renovation project.  We decided to start on hole #10 and work toward the pump station.  The plan is to have 4 holes completed by the time that the pumps are ready to go.
#10 has a lot of rock in the ground close to the surface.  Our construction company, Nutt Irrigation, has been having some trouble with the rock and the first week timelines are a little behind.  Hopefully we will make up the ground as soon as we get out of the rock.
They are about 3/4 of the way through with #10. I have hopes that in the next 2 days we will be out of the rocks and plowing along smoothly.  #10 has generated some nice large boulders that we may be able use around the course.  The 2nd rock wall on #10 could be extended on both sides to really finish that wall  Some of the smaller ones have been taken to the drainage ditch on #8 for use as water breaks.  during heavy rainfall events, which we need, water rushes so fast down that spillway that it can take out the rip rap base.  These small boulders will help slow the water momentarily and help prevent washouts.


Friday, November 4, 2016

Irrigation Time

Well, it is finally time.  We have come very close a couple of times in the last couple of years, but this is the year.  That's right we are installing a new irrigation system starting Nov 1, 2016. It is going to be a monster of a job.  Fortunately we have a great product representative, fantastic installers and a great consultant to work with.
Our old system was installed in 1985 and had 850 sprinkler heads in the design. It was a pretty good design for the time.  It had some quirks like having pvc lines that dead ended at every greens head and irrigation lines that ran under greens.  The pump station was adequate for a long time. Over the last year we have brought it to its knees. It originally had 2 50hp motors and 1 30hp motor. As of the other day the last good 50hp motor died so we are currently operating on a 30hp motor only. This is just about enough water availability to water greens only. Like i stated earlier it was built with about 850.  Over time with mechanical failures cost cutting measures and countless other reasons there are probably only about 200 heads on the course that operate. There was an upgrade made about 9 years ago to add new control satellites to the system. While it was well intended it was not a step forward. 
The new system has been judged by 2 irrigation consultants and has been deemed worthy of our needs. It will have 1,775 sprinkler heads on the course and complete landscaping plans ariound the club grounds. There will be a central control that is the "brain" of the system that coordinates the flow patterns and tells heads when to turn on and off.  There will be no more green control boxes on the course that we operate from. They are coming to be replaced with tablets that we can operate the system from anywhere in the world as long as there is a cell signal. We will also have the ability to check the system for trouble and not wait until it shows its ugly face by loosing grass. Our new pump station is going to be on of the nicest in the state with 4-100hp pumps, 1-25hp pump and 1-10hp pressure maintenance pump. The system parts are manufactured by the Rain Bird corporation the largest name in the field of irrigation.
The course will be nine holes at a time when construction starts on Monday the 7th. We will start on hole 10 and work through the back nine first. About 3 weeks in the new wet well wnd pump station will be installed.
We are really excited about the project and hope that our customers are also. If you have any questions about it feel free to stop me when on the course.  Also follow me on twitter for more updated and blog links @bradmarcy and @indianhillsgolf.