Arizona Republic from Phoenix, Arizona • Page 184

rw Wednesday, Jurv 22, 1998 The Arizona Republic EV 7 11 BUILDING A GOLF COURSE 1" 1 Relax Jfll' flili) I II An Course hides the tricks of its trade Monthly payments as tow as 50 per month AC. 90 days same as cash its I i til HIT Fatnilv Owned Overated superintendent can find some of this buried equipment in case it needs follow-up work. "It's very important that we be -able to map all the system components to within 6 inches." After the irrigation system has been installed and mapped, operating it falls to the course superintendent. With the proper data in his HACKNEY REFRIGERATION, INC. OLD TIME QUALITY WITH MODERN KNOW HOW SUMMER1 A SAVINGS fni ON THE LARGEST ,4 sr UJLa selection of 7-3 ROCKERS, Before the grass grows and putters putt, 350 miles of wire will be buried in conduits to connect each sprinkler and pump to the master computer.

GLIDERS i IN THE vi3Cf Curios 2330 N. Alma School 112, Chandler AOO-4Q98 nis Mile North of Watnef behind Oosis Bedrooms) i COURSE, from Page EV1 hardly imagine. "Controlling water is critical on a golf course," Bailey said. "It's not enough just to prevent puddles or erosion. Those may be an annoyance to golfers, but they actually point out maintenance problems and, possibly, failure to comply with state law." Arizona's Groundwater Management Act strictly limits how much turf can be irrigated on golf courses and requires that stray water not escape a developer's property.

"The design process must keep in mind that all of the water on the course must stay on the course," Bailey said. "We can't let our water get away from us and flow onto a neighbor's property for two reasons: First, that neighbor may be a homeowner who doesn't want his back yard washed away. And second, it would violate the law. "The exception is when a property has a historic runoff such as the Queen Creek along the north edge 'of Meadowbrook. That pattern is allowed to continue as it always has, but even then, we cannot add to it.

"Besides, if we're putting down so much water that it runs off into the creeks or waste drainage system, we're not doing something right." Because controlling water is so critical, the task is given to experts in the field of irrigation system design. Larry Rodgers Design Group of Lakewood, is such a company, having designed golf course watering systems "on every continent except Antarctica," owner and founder Larry Rodgers said. Rodgers, whose family owned a resort in Michigan, earned a degree in mechanical engineering at Michigan State University and worked in the auto industry for several years before tiring of the drudgery. He returned to his alma mater for a degree in agronomy, and in 1987, founded a company that has golf course credits in Thailand, Scotland, Chile, China, France, Mexico, Canada, and of course, Arizona. 1 "An irrigation system is probably the single most sophisticated and expensive capital investment that a golf course operator will make over a 20-year period," Rodgers said.

When he speaks about sophis- Republic photo by Chuck Hawley HIDDEN GOLF COURSE FEATURES Irrigation piping: Main water transmission lines, 4- to 24-inches in diameter; 6 miles plus 25 miles of lateral connector pipe, 2 inches or smaller. Control connections: About 350 miles of wire, three-quarters of which is 24-volt to operate water valves. Computer system: Central computer, about 20 satellite controllers, 48 to 60 groups of sprinklers divided into 1,000 "zones" for 1,800 sprinkler heads. Dry wells: More than 40 to catch and hold runoff water until it can seep into the water table. "It's what you can do with the information after it's gathered that gets interesting." Rodgers said the plotting equipment his company uses was developed expressly for golf course management.

His employees developed the computer program to make it work, and he now owns three of the portable locator packs at a cost of about $35,000 each. "GPS equipment is becoming a necessary evil so that we can have accurate record-keeping," Rodgers said. "Down the road, a course standards involved a 9-hole munici pal course in northern Arizona he designed. After a few years, the community cut back on the maintenance budget and the course began to look shabby. After inspecting the suffering Ml I III II mm NET THAT KEEPS YOUX KIDS SAFELY OUT OF YOUR BUILT-IN 877-3000 www.aquasafe.com C05 License HI 29895 I A Golf architect keeps standards high J- tication, Rodgers is talking about computers, satellites, hundreds of-individual control valves, thousands of feet of wire "and a network of pipes and purhps that must all work in concert.

"There are a lot of parallels between our large systems and the system a homeowner might have," he said, adding that "the major difference is the type and amount of control we must have on a golf course property." Installing, a basic irrigation system is relatively low-tech decide where the' water is needed, dig a trench, install pipes and sprinkler heads, apply water. The high technology Rodgers talks about comes into play when an irrigation system must be fine-tuned almost to the gallon. As pipes, control boxes, sprinkler heads and other fittings are installed, a two-man crew of Rodgers' employees walks the property carrying a portable GPS (geographic positioning satellite) locator device and a laptop computer, said Brian Keighin one of Rodgers' field engineers. Locations are pinpointed within inches by signals from four of 24 satellites. Each poirjt is entered into a handheld computer and then fed into a larger computer to create a course map precisely locating each feature.

"This is pretty basic work," Keighin said of the plotting process. the historic Arnold Palmer-Jack Nicklaus battle of 1962. Still professionally active from his Phoenix studio, Snyder is slight of stature, but his reputation is large, his opinions honed and his grasp of the game equal to his firm handshake. Delivering an observation, jibe or criticism, he becomes professorial. "See that round green?" he asks, his intense blue eyes narrowing across a putting surface at Ken McDonald.

"It's lost it's contour because of careless maintenance. It wasn't designed round." He explains: As courses mature, putting greens tend to lose their shape, becoming more circular or oval. Maintenance crews that fail to follow the architect's design cause greens to lose shape and weaken their character. Years ago, a developer considering Snyder for a project was told by a third party that Snyder was the wrong man because he designed "uninteresting greens." Snyder says the commentator came to that conclusion after seeing a course where maintenance had allowed the greens to round. "I lost a job because of that," he said.

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Hi SSI mm II) computer, the superintendent can control as many as 1,800 individual sprinkler heads in 48 to 50 clusters and as many as 1,000 individual zones, Rodgers said. "And to think, we're basically using all this technology just to jtvater the grass." Other hidden features, things that make the course playable but are largely hidden from golfers' view, include the. irrigation control system, lake liners, water supply lines and dry wells. wells were invented by the Romans. A dry well is little more than a large hole in' the ground filled with rocks.

The well collects runoff water and holds it in place until it dan seep back into an aquifer. I On a go course, an iron grate at the bottom of a depression is the likely location of a dry well. There will be more than 40 on the Meadowbrook course. "It's basically a 100-year-flood retention area," said Ted Thornburg, general superintendent for Wads-worth Golf, construction contractor at Meadowbrook. a huge storm a lot of water, on the course, all of that water should penetrate down into the aquifer." The lake lining is common technology.

Heavy plastic material is used to prevent seepage and water loss while the water is alternately pumped and replaced as the course is irrigated. The lining covers about 100,000 square feet of lake bed on two lakes totaling about 4 Vi acres of surface area. Lastlv there are the wires: red, yellow, white, pink, blue. More than 350 miles of wire is buried in conduits beneath the course to connect each sprinkler and pump to the master computer and the 20 or so satellite-operated controllers it triggers. Next time you take a divot on a modern golf course, remember what's down there.

course, Snyder grew angry at what had happened and called me town fathers asking that his name not be mentioned as the architect. After all, Snyder says, his reputation was at stake. Surgical OrMdmobgy Do You Rely on Glasses or Contact Lenses? We'll pay you to play when you visit the Apache Gold Casino. Head out to the only Casino that gives ypu $25 for just $5. With our Good As Gold package, you'll receive $5 in cash plus S20 in food, drink, Keno play and Poker chips.

GOLF, from Page EVl golf courses in Hawaii, including the Blue and Orange courses at Wailea, Maui. After water and soil comes money, Snyder says. Moving huge amounts of dirt is expensive work and the more difficult the terrain, the more difficult the earth moving job at hand. But Snyder doesn't mind a level site, like the one at Power Ranch, where Sunstone Holdings, Inc. now is building.

Two of Snyder's local courses began as flat farmland; Arizona Golf Resort in Mesa and Tempe's municipal course, Ken McDonald. After proper design, only proper maintenance can create a magnet to bring golfers back to a course. Avid golfers denigrate poorly maintained courses as "goat pastures" and occasionally slip into stronger language. Young Snyder earned a degree in landscape architecture at Penn State in 1939 (although his father was a Pitt loyalist), later serving a two-year stint as superintendent of famed Oakmont Country Club near Pittsburg, where his father caddied as a youngster. Oakmont has hosted the U.S.

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