Watering

[Jim Johnson]

Got talking with a buddy last night who is also a member of GCAtlas...and the conversation got around to "watering golf courses".

I told him that I'd heard that a local course has sprinklers come on for 15 minutes, then they shut off and the next region's sprinklers come on for 15 minutes, and then they shut off and the next region's sprinklers come on for 15 minutes, and so on, and this repeats itself all the way around the golf course, and then the entire cycle is repeated twice more through the night. So, if I understand their procedure correctly, the turf basically is watered for 45 minutes each night through the season.

I told him that I thought that would be unhealthy for turf; I had always thought that deeper, infrequent watering would be better to grow healthy turf. He told me that it is quite common for courses to water every night [although perhaps I misunderstood him...maybe he meant they water one nine one night, and the other nine the next night].

Is it a common practice to water every night? And if so, why? [I hate to ask a stupid question, but...].

Hopefully some of the architects and turf experts can chime in here.

Thanks.

JJ

[Jon Wiggett]

JJ, it depends on a lot of factors such as climate, type of soil, types of grasses, ideology of the the club/Super, dimensions of the irrigation system to name but a few. There are even some courses with no irrigation system that still produce good surfaces.

[Steve Okula]

Lots of golf courses water every night. How long the sprinklers run depend on many factors;

1. Evapotranspiration rate during the day. This is a function of temperatures, humidity, wind, and solar radiation.

2. Turfgrass species.

3. Soil types.

4. Irrigation systems specifics, including sprinkler head configuration, nozzle size, spacing, arc, and pressure.

5. Special concerns, such as salt conditions.

5. Particular maintenance concernss occurring at the moment, such as fertilization, aeration, pesticide applications, topdressing, and, last but not least, perhaps golf competitions and the need for "firm and fast maintenance meld", blah, blah, blah.

Lots of golf course also water less frequently. Either way can be correct, or incorrect, depending on the situation.

[Steve Curry]

JJ,

The described program is referred to as repeats and is often used to help the water soak in or to work a material into the profile.  Unless this course is in the South West I can't imagine that its running every night, barring some odd soil condition?
Best,
Steve

[Jim Johnson]

Steve,

This course is in western Canada. I have the information from a very reliable source.

Friends of mine who played the course last fall commented to me that evening after their round that the fairways "stunk"; when I asked for clarification, they said...

"The fairways are so wet every day that they actually stink".

JJ

[Gary Slatter]

I think we often use too much water - right now though in the Bahamas we are in a drought and with the constant wind it is hard to get nearly enough water on our courses.
The bermuda is playing fast and firm!
That course in western Canada seems odd, our cycle times vary but the nights aren't long enough to do the whole course three times.  The fairways stink because the turf is probably rotting.

[TEPaul]

JJ:

Let's put it this way----different regions, climates, soil make-ups etc really does require different water practices but even given that reality various clubs and supers, no matter where they are, most definitely are not looking to produce the same over-all effect---if you get my drift. Very, very far from it!

[Craig Sweet]

At my course in western Montana we run our fairway irrigation for 20-25 minutes per set, and the greens for 20ish....we begin at about 9:45pm....still light enough for golf....and finish up around 6:30am...this happens every night from whenever it gets hot until it begins to cool and rain...over 650,000 gallons per night...our course plays pretty firm and fast during this time...except for the greens which, in my opinion, are a tad soft and wet...we hand water (soak) the LDS on greens, and use lots of surfactants (wetting agents)....keep in mind that summer (july and august) rainfall runs about 2 inches and relative humidity is very, very low...and often the wind comes up in the afternoons...

[Troy Alderson]

"This course is in western Canada. I have the information from a very reliable source.

Friends of mine who played the course last fall commented to me that evening after their round that the fairways "stunk"; when I asked for clarification, they said...

"The fairways are so wet every day that they actually stink"."


JJ,

As Steve said the turf is rotting beneath their feet, too much water and not enough air.  I would suspect that the nightly watering is due to the proliferation of poa on the golf course which requires constant watering.  The golf course is probably putting down 3/8" water per night, give or take.

Troy
 
 

[Pat Brockwell]

That's right Tom Paul, it depends.  One thing I'm pretty sure of, the only way to produce the same conditions day to day is to suck at either end of the spectrum.  My point is that you can't really have the same kind of good conditions every day of every year.  The course is going to get wetter or dryer, but keeping the same healthy condition just doesn't really happen.  You can have the weather station calculate your daily water needs based on ET and let the computer figure out the minutes needed to apply your .17" today and .21" the next day and on and on and you will end up too dry or too wet pretty soon, and then you're going to need a human to make the adjustment.  Hopefully that human plays golf and understands turf, because if all he(she) is interested in is lot sales you know it'll end up too wet (and overfertilised).