Wednesday, November 9, 2016

How Golf Course Irrigation Is Done

By Virginia Bennett


Irrigation refers to the process of applying controlled quantity of water to plants at regular intervals. The act of using artificial means to supply water to crops has been in existence for several centuries now. Some of the earliest civilizations such as ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greece, and the Roman Empire thrived on their ability to irrigate crops to boost agricultural productivity.

A lot of changes have been made to the old methods that were used to irrigate. Modern methods are driven by technology and are more effective. The advancements in methods of irrigation have also led to an addition to the uses of irrigation. Besides supporting plant growth, lands are also irrigated to maintain the landscape. Golf course irrigation is an example where irrigating is done for the purpose of landscape maintenance as opposed to supporting the growth and development of crops.

Irrigation is also done to revegetate soils in dry areas, which have been disturbed and to suppress the growth of weeds. In addition, lands are irrigated to offer plants protection from frost and to prevent soils from consolidating. Systems used for irrigating may also be used for other purposes such as disposing sewage and suppressing dust in mining and other operations.

There are three types of irrigation and all of them can be used to irrigate golf courses. The three types of irrigating methods are surface irrigating, in-ground irrigating, and sub-surface irrigating. Surface irrigating is the commonest method in use. Surface irrigating involves installing irrigating systems and infrastructure above the ground. Sprinklers are good examples of surface irrigating systems. Sprinkler systems are use a lot on golf courses because they are convenient and effective.

Sub surface irrigating is almost never used on courses because of the way it works. In this method of irrigating, the water table is usually raised to irrigate the land. Water from the water table moistens the soil below the root zone. Drainage infrastructure is usually incorporated to control how much moisture is made available to the soil from the water table. This method is predominately used on river courses and permanent grasslands in lowlands.

All the components that are used to supply water in an in-ground irrigating system are usually buried inside the ground. Among the components buried are emitters, sprinklers, irrigating valves, and pipes. The fact that the components are buried makes the landscape to appear more presentable and cleaner. However, this also makes repair and maintenance problematic. Serious damage may have to be done to the ground to access the components during repair.

The irrigating system is normally subdivided into various zones, with the different zones connected through tubes and pipes. It is necessary to subdivide the irrigating system so that the required pressure level can be achieved in each zone. It would be difficult for the water to have an considerable pressure if the irrigating system is not subdivided. As such, it would be impossible to apply water in all the zones at once.

Each zone has its water supply regulated via a solenoid valve. The water is further regulated through an irrigation controller. The irrigating controller determines the period of time the water is applied and to which zone the water is applied.




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