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Hamersley public golf course
Article supplied by City of Stirling
Ha mer sley Publ c Go lf
The Hamersley Public Golf Course is the City of Stirling’s only public golf course, located on Marmion Avenue in Karrinyup, 12km north of Perth’s CBD. Current facilities include an 18-hole course and an eight-bay driving range managed by 4 full-time maintenance staff and one superintendent. The previous irrigation system was almost 30 years old, installed in 1991, a block irrigation system which was difficult to manage water usage. Over the last decade, components of the irrigation infrastructure needed upgrading including replacements of the steel bores to PVC Bores, Turbine Pumps, Grundfos Submersibles, the main switch board with VFD drives for all pumps, pump controller and the Satellite cubical.
In 2015, the City decided to install greenside vale in-head sprinklers to the greens, as the current set up watering the greens and surrounds was performing poorly. As the system aged there were numerous sub-mainline breaks, valve failures, wiring issues and controller issues, making it challenging to manage the water application, as well as the water licence for the golf course. The depth of the old system was also a challenge to repair as the depth varied between 1m to 1.3m. There were also a mixture of sprinklers including Toro Golf, Rain Bird Gold, Hunter I25’s, as well as Rain Bird 8005’s!
In 2019 it was decided to install a new irrigation system. The works were awarded to LD TOTAL, who sub-contracted works to Newground Water Services. After lengthy investigations, inspections and discussions with other local golf courses, the decision was made to install the Toro Lynx Smart Hub control system. Toro Lynx control system is user friendly, has 24 hours NSN support and provides remote access through dedicated Lynx Mobile Apps which assist with carryout of maintenance and upkeep.
Lynx Mobile Apps offer map and numeric based interfaces for manual irrigation, as well as an easy way to scan or edit Lynx Smart Module (LSM) and decoder addresses.
Toro Infinity Series sprinklers provide easy arc adjustment, nozzle replacement and all critical components can be serviced from the top without digging. This improves course quality while cutting sprinkler maintenance from hours to minutes. Infinity sprinkler models with LSM feature an LED light which lights up when the module is receiving the signal. If the computer is down, the irrigation can still be operated from the Lynx Smart Hub pedestal in the field.
The Design Process: Over 2016 and 2017, plans were drafted, and re-drafted to the City of Stirling’s design specifications so budget estimates could be prepared. This took several months, many site visits and ongoing consultation between council staff, designers and golf superintendents to design mainline routes, lateral line and sprinkler locations.
Design elements included: • Allowance for future water reductions from the Department of Water & Environmental Regulations. • Mainline size to have capacity to deliver adequate water to the backend of the golf course, and to have a lifespan to last 30 years of iron build-up. • Sprinkler polyline sizes; fairways: 63mm, tees: 75mm and greens: 90mm (already installed in 2015). • Sprinkler spacing 16m maximum (34 nozzles), TEES maximum 15.5m (32 nozzles)
The Construction Process: Effective and open communication was essential between all parties involved with the works. Daily meetings were held with City of Stirling - Irrigation Supervisor; Kevin Zoccoli, Golf Superintendent; Craig Hamilton and lead installer; Aaron Heike.
The pegging out of sprinkler locations involved all parties to ensure the design specifications of the City were met, the practical application was covered from the superintendent’s perspective, as well as the expert input of the installer.
Co ur se
LYNX ® MOBILE APPS Provides remote control anytime, anywhere. To ensure easy locating in the future, the isolation valve was placed 700mm from the first sprinkler on each fairway. The top valve box was removed from all sub-mains sprinkler lines to reduce maintenance. A 3m marker ball was placed in each, so it was also easy to locate, also 700mm wfrom the first sprinkler.
Golfer’s considerations: • Player fees were reduced during the construction period. Players were only charged a 9-hole fee, but had the option of playing 16-holes. • Two holes were closed at a time for OHS requirements so that workers could traverse the course safely. • Work started on the mainline on the front 9-holes so that the back 9 holes were unaffected for play. • Signage for golfers (walking up the path) at the first TEE fence, on the front notice board and on entrance to the pro shop. • Signage placed on a Friday afternoon for the following week work
Control your irrigation system from your smart phone or tablet. Lynx Mobile Apps offer map and numeric based interfaces for manual irrigation, as well as an easy way to scan or edit LSM addresses.
Available for both iPhone ® and Android ™ devices.
Lynx Map
Lynx Handheld
1300 130 898 toro.com.au Lynx Barcode
NSN® Connect V2 The goal was to put in an irrigation system that will help the Superintendent achieve the requirements to water the turf within the golf course and help manage the water licence as the end user.
All city irrigation staff, golf course staff and superintendent, and the contractors are commended for a very successful project.
Golf course Irrigation systems are specialised, and we don’t do them regularly like other systems. This has been a great project to manage with no formal complaints received from players during the 16 weeks construction.
Feedback from golfers has been positive with regards to consultation and signage, showing that effective communication is the key factor with works of this size.
