Sabot Irrigation System Renovation

Sabot Irrigation System Renovation

As you have hopefully read about on the Blog this year, the Sabot irrigation system will continue being renovated in mid-November of this year. This is a project that has been pushed off for many years but now thanks to the Capital renewals and replacements program, we are ready to execute. The following article should help answer why exactly the irrigation on the Sabot needs to be replaced.

The front nine of the Sabot was constructed and opened for play in about 1990. At this time, all 18 holes of the Sabot had a new irrigation system installed. The installers ran heads along each side of the fairway, around the greens and used one line of sprinkler heads to water the tees. The front nine has remained untouched, save for replacing the heads around the greens, for 31 years now. The back nine tees and greens irrigation were replaced in 2000 but all the main line piping is 31 years old.

After 31 years in the ground the pipe, fittings, wires, valves, sprinkler heads and controllers are ready for retirement. This may come as a shock, but since 1990 a few new technology advances (like the internet) have come about. Here is how our system will change:

Our existing system uses radios to communicate with satellite control boxes that then send signals via a massive amount of wires to turn on each individual head. The boxes, wire and radio system are old and extremely unreliable. The new system will wire every head together in a series, using only 4 different runs of a two stranded wire. This wiring system will allow us to pinpoint problems along the path at any point and add on any new heads (after a project per se). Ultimately it will be hard wired to a computer and the radio communication will be eliminated.

The layout of the new system is no holds barred compared to the old. 5 rows of sprinklers instead of two will allow us to irrigate basically every inch of the Sabot golf course. Right now, the sprinkler heads on the edges of the fairways only rotate in a full circle, meaning the rough and fairways get watered together. The new system will give us flexibility to only water fairways, or only water rough, all separately. It will even allow us to water bunker faces automatically. This flexibility will allow us to keep surfaces as firm and healthy as possible.

The new 5 row layout will detail almost twice as many heads as before and at a precise GPS located positions. Currently head spacing and design is very poor. Having more heads in the right spots means we can use less water, as our efficiency goes up. Obviously, this means the lakes stay full but it also means we use less electricity and put less wear on the pump station.

31 years in the ground means many of our isolation valves are worn and do not stop water properly. The pipes and fittings produce about 2-3 leaks a month, which in reality is not terrible. However, there is nothing stopping a 31 year old pipe from letting loose one night and then coming in to find 18 green washed into the lake. The new pipe installed will be high density polyethylene or HDPE. The HDPE is amazingly strong and able to fused together, resulting in less stress or break points than with PVC. Useful life of the HDPE is about double that of PVC, about 50 years!

Work will be begin in mid-November of this year on the back nine of the Sabot. With the back nine being closed for the winter, we will also be re-surfacing the greens surfaces. More detail on the greens sodding project (besides what has been on the blog) will come through on a following newsletter. The irrigation system should be finished up by the end of March and we plan to re-open the back of the Sabot in mid-April. The total cost of the irrigation once both nines are complete will be $2 million. Both of these projects are very exciting additions for the Sabot and will open many doors as we continue to improve our property!