CdA Public finds fountain of youth

The Coeur d’Alene public golf course turned 50 a couple of years ago. It looks even better as it nears 52, thanks to a new irrigation system installed last fall.

“The regulars say that it looks healthier,” Director of Golf Dave Hobson said. “The rough is thicker. The greens are so much faster and firmer. If you blade one in there, you’re probably not going to get rewarded, but you will if you hit a good shot.”

Watering the course has never been an easy task. Numerous holes had different needs as one side tended to be shaded and the opposite was sun-drenched. No. 13, for example, at times was soggy on the left side and bone dry along the right.

Applying the proper amount of water to nourish the rough along the pine-tree lined fairways also was a chore. Complicating matters was an antiquated system that was virtually impossible to adjust to meet specific demands and prone to breakdowns.

“It’s a fantastic system, compared to what we had before,” course superintendent John Bonwell said. “I have individual head control and adjust times accordingly. That’s what we’re doing this spring, trying to determine how much each area needs. I’m already seeing the benefits. With the old system, we would be dry and brown in a lot of places by now and we’re not seeing that at all.”

The new, $1.24-million system was installed in roughly 60 days last fall. The course remained open during the process, with a selected hole closed occasionally for construction. Holes generally have three lines – some had two before – and each green has dual sprinkler heads, one for the green itself, the other for the fringe and surrounding rough.

“With the old system, about the only thing we could do was over water the greens so they were always overly wet,” Bonwell said. “The greens and areas off the greens have different (water) requirements and we’ll be able to keep the greens drier and firmer.”

About 1,200 heads are in place, 350 more than the previous system, and they’ll soon be affixed with yardage markers. There’s also a new pump station and a weather tracker on the back of No. 8 tee box that, among other things, monitors rainfall and can adjust or halt irrigation if necessary.

The new system is easier to manage and should use less water, Hobson said.

“The old setup was so obsolete it was tough to get parts and it broke down a lot,” he said. “If we would have broken down in July and been waiting 4-5 days in 100-degree weather, the course would have burned up. We were in desperate need of a new system.”

The new system gives Bonwell a fighting chance to address trouble spots.

“The problem with a lot of our holes is they definitely have a shady side that’s always wet and a sunny side that’s always dry,” he said. “It was a constant battle with the old system trying to monitor that and keep it in balance because we had a block system with six heads on a line and we didn’t have good coverage because of the spacing of the heads.”

Bonwell routinely surveys each hole and makes adjustments. He can combat trickier spots because individual sprinklers can be set for different times, meaning sun-baked sides will see more water than shady sides. On one spring morning, he made 100 adjustments.

Bonwell hopes the days of sending a maintenance worker or two out to hand-water around the greens in the heat of summer are over.

“We’re probably going to be changing run times on the heads for the whole year,” Bonwell said. “Once we get it all fine-tuned, it’ll be a totally different course.”

Hobson believes the condition of the course will continue to improve.

“The rough is thicker and on a narrow course like we have, it’ll definitely make it more challenging,” Hobson said. “The course is going to be greener and healthier and now we can do some over-seeding in the next year or two because can get water to those areas. We already had some of the best greens in the area and now we can control how much water they’re getting. I would say they’ll be some of the best around.”