Bush Hill Park Golf Club is a stone’s throw from Enfield Town in
North London. Originally 9 holes, this 100-acre parkland course was designed by
Open Championship winners James Braid and Harry Vardon and enjoys a reputation
for being the best maintained in the area.
Much of the irrigation system was installed 25 years ago, had
deteriorated and needed a complete overhaul.
Head Greenkeeper Graham Careford has worked at Bush Hill Park
since 1986 and explains “The ground here is clay so very dry in summer. With
only a small number of heads on tees, irrigation coverage was poor, combined
with leaks and frequent system breakdowns.
"The challenge any club like us faces is that you
can’t see how badly the irrigation system’s deteriorated because the pipework’s
buried underground. Extra watering takes place in the early hours or at night,
and staff working overtime to keep the course in the best condition won’t
usually be seen by most club members and players. Keeping an unreliable and
ageing irrigation system going becomes increasingly expensive.”
To help build the case for investment in a new irrigation system,
Graham began keeping a detailed timeline, recording all system faults,
breakdowns and overtime as well as taking photographs of course conditions.
This information was presented to the management committee to inform
decision-making and help the club properly evaluate its various options.
The club appointed Irritech Limited to undertake the irrigation
system design and specification and to coordinate a competitive tender process
for a fixed price contract including warranties and retentions.
The committee decided that the major investment of £300k in a new
Rain Bird IC Stratus II Central Control System with Windows 10 functionality
and mapping for greens, approaches and tees would provide the system
reliability and future water efficiencies that would maintain the quality of
the course for many years to come.
With over 300 sprinkler heads, 7 miles of piping, 6.5 miles of
cable and 3,500-man hours, the contractor, Irrigation & Water brought the
project in within budget. The new system will be operational this spring.
Irrigation & Water Director Ashley Proctor, comments: “Our
biggest challenge has been heavy clay and high water table which meant adopting
a more sympathetic approach to ground conditions. It’s taken a little more time
and care but that’s been essential to minimise damage to the course. This is
our first complete Rain Bird renovation and we’ve had a superb Rain Bird team
working with us providing all the technical support, training and back-up we
needed to make sure the system was installed to the right standards. We’re
delighted to have been involved in what’s been a landmark project.”
Jimmy Sandison, Regional Golf Sales Manager for the UK, Ireland,
Iceland and Scandinavia, adds: "We were thrilled to be awarded this
project and Graham Careford and the project team were a delight to work with
from the start. We all knew ground conditions were going to be a challenge but
Bush Hill Park now has a highly efficient irrigation system that can be
upgraded easily upgraded in future years, reducing the cost of overall
ownership.”
