Steve,
with regards to colder water leading to higher temps. Although the colder water will lead to a drop in temperature as the water evaporates won't that lead to the end temperature being raised higher through the evaporating effect. I seem to remember something along these lines from high school physics although it was quite a while go and I could be wrong which is why I put might in the sentence. I suspect that your knowledge on this will be somewhat better than mine given your background.
The greens did receive water through the night as far as I remember though that was not part of my area of work and to be fair about the old irrigation system was somewhat antiquated. The greens did not survive this which was one of the reasons why the course was rebuilt.
Jon