Lush green areas

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32803, 31 December 1971, Page 16

Lush green areas

The switching on of the new semi-automatic irrigation system at the Rangiora golf course recently was a “significant milestone in the history of an arid course, which in years to come will have lush green playing areas.” This is the view of Mr I. T. Harding, of Harding and Vincent, Limited, the company which installed the scheme, It is the sixtieth scheme the company has installed since its formation in 1966, but the project had additional interest for Mr Harding because he is a former Rangiora resident, who was at school with some of the club’s members. Specialists in golf watering Irrigation consultants to an international firm of golf course architects, South Pacific Golf Propriety, Ltd, Harding and Vincent specialise in designing watering schemes for golf courses, parks and reserves, and general sports fields. In specialising in this field the company has spent considerable time and money continually developing its knowledge, experience, and techniques by attending clinics and conferences overseas and in visiting golf courses in various countries, especially in the United States of America, said Mr Harding. The semi - automatic sprinkler irrigating system installed at Rangiora utilises the latest techniques providing for the automatic watering of the greens and tees and for manually controlled watering of the fairways. The automatic water-

ing of the greens and tees can be programmed up to two weeks ahead for watering once or twice a night, alternate nights, once a week or once a fortnight.

Pop-up retractable sprinklers All greens and tees are watered with permanently installed pop-up retractable sprinklers, which is the utimate in golf course irrigations according to Mr Harding. Watering of the fairways is provided for by 185 concealed valves, to allow mowing over the top and into which can be coupled sprinklers with quick coupling valves.

In installing the scheme! the company has placed 30,000 ft of underground i mains ranging in diameter from 6in down to Ifin and “in excess of 30,000 ft of low voltage burial wire”l from the automatic “brain” to the valves at each green and tee. Careful consideration has been given in the design of, the scheme to the ultimate! uprating of the fairway' watering to fully automatic! control. When funds allow and other factors make this step desirable, it will elimi-j nate the labour associated! with the present manual control of the fairways. Two medium pressure pumps, totalling 70 h.p., discharge up to 38,000 gallons of water an hour into the system at pump pressures of 851 b a square inch. The first fully automatics green watering system in' New Zealand was installed! by Harding and Vincent at the Wairakei International course in 1968 and since then similar schemes to thati and Rangiora have been installed in many golf courses throughout the country. Difficulties overcome Difficulties were encountered during the installation I of the Rangiora scheme because of the relatively large quantity and size of boulders and gravel encountered in many parts of the course, which lies over former stream beds. “We had tremendous cooperation from Alan Forward (the club president) and his committee in dealing with this and other problems,” said Mr Hard-

ing. “The result is a happy one with the club having a high standard in design and installation, which will serve it extremely well in the years to come. The turning on of the watering scheme is a significant mile-I stone in the history of an arid course, which in years | to come will have lush j green playing areas.”