In an effort to continue to improve our benefits from the installation of the new irrigation system along with possible advantages within our daily agronomic practices we recently installed the RAINBIRD INTEGRATED SENSOR SYSTEM(ISS) on four greens throughout the golf courses. These sensors are located on # 18 Hills,#15 Pines, #7 & 14 of the Lakes Course. Below are 2 pictures of the installation followed by a brief description of what the ISS technology provides.

Only the Rain Bird Integrated Sensor System (ISS) gives you absolute control over your turf.

Dynamic integration. Fully automatic,

When paired with a Rain Bird central control system, the ISS is the only soil sensor system in the industry to offer the option of real-time automation of your sprinkler run times. For instance, the ISS can automatically cancel irrigation if soil moisture is above desired levels or adjust sprinkler run times to match soil moisture levels. In addition, the system can automatically generate alerts when temperature, moisture or salinity levels vary from desired ranges.

Every golf course is its own complex ecosystem. To provide a consistent, playable environment, you need an accurate understanding of turf health. The Rain Bird* Integrated Sensor System offers a snapshot of soil conditions to help you to understand what is happening below ground. It is also the only system in the industry to deliver easy-to-install absolute soil sensing and full integration with the central control system. As a result, you’ll save more time, water and money with Rain Bird.

Maximum accuracy. Zero calibration.

The ISS advantage starts at the root zone, where highly accurate sensors take real-time readings of your soil moisture, salinity and temperature. Rain Bird uses “absolute” soil sensors that are easy-to-install and require no calibration. They provide accurate readings immediately following installation. By comparison, competitors use “relative”sensors that require extensive calibration to improve the accuracy of the sensor readings. With the Rain Bird* ISS, the sampling frequency of soil sensing measurements can be adjusted to match your needs and course requirements.

Integrated Sensor System (ISS)

The Rain Bird* Integrated Sensor System gives you an accurate snapshot of soil conditions helping you to optimize turf health. It is the only system in the industry to deliver accurate soil sensor readings immediately following installation and true dynamic central control integration. As a result, you’ll save more time, water and money with Rain Bird.

Features and Benefits

·Dynamic integrations. Fully automatic.

When paired with a Rain Bird Central Control System, the Integrated Sensor System can automatically adjust sprinkler run times to reach or maintain desired moisture levels, minimizing water consumption, resulting in healthier turf and better playing conditions.

·Intelligent monitoring.

As a standalone system, the ISS analyses soil moisture and calculates water budget recommendations for any golf course.

·Maximum accuracy. Zero calibration.

The ISS uses research-grade soil sensors backed by years of field experience. These sensors have been vetted by multiple academic peer reviews. The ISS takes highly accurate readings of soil moisture, salinity and temperature immediately following installation and without calibration-for -easy installation and immediate accuracy.

·Adjustable soil sensing rate.

With the Rain Bird ISS, the frequency of soil sensing measurements can be adjusted to match course needs.

·Dependable results.

Sensor readings are automatically stored by the data logger on Secure Digital High Capacity (SDHC) storage cards. Data is not lost due to power outages or wireless communication issues.

·Dependable communication.

The ISS uses a proven wireless mesh network which ensures the necessary range of transmission and a secured traffic from the data logger to the Soil Manager software.

With the ISS you will be able to ……………………………..

• Read in real-time critical soil conditions:

-Moisture
-Temperature
- Salinity

• Make educated water budget decisions bases on actual soil moisture
• Prevent irrigation if soil moisture is at or above desired level
• Automatically adjust station runtimes to match desired moisture level

With the exception of a few punch list items the irrigation renovation is complete on holes 11-18 of the Hills course therefore the back nine will re-open for play on 7/2/11 once we complete scheduled cultural practices on the Hills and Highlands next week. We’ll now begin installation of the irrigation on the front 9 so these holes will be closed beginning 6/27/11 with a tentative completion date of 8/17/11.Once the Hills course is finished will begin installation on Grand Club Drive. Some of the punch list items include cart path repair, sod installation within impacted areas and gravel installation around grounding.

Holes 11-14 of the Hills course have been completed as part of the phase 2 Irrigation Renovation. Holes 15-18 are next on the schedule in an effort to complete the back 9 of the Hills and TPCA staff continues to have a vital role as it relates to quality control during installation. Potential punch list items are being addressed as we move forward but the final inspection will be performed by Aqua Turf International at which time all aspects will be reviewed by the parties involved. I’ll keep everyone informed of any schedule changes that may occur via the information channels we’ve established here at TPCA which include the Friday Flash, TPCA website & Irrigation blog as the project moves forward.

Over the last couple of weeks we’ve completed our final walk through of phase I with Aqua Turf International and Mike Roach Inc. in an effort to ensure that this portion of the irrigation renovation is ready for the “final sign off”. One item that still needs to be performed is the “pressure test” and it’s scheduled for May 17^th. After this is completed we’ll be very close to wrapping up the first phase.

                Phase 2 began this week and included field staking and pipe fusion. Actual installation of the pipe and irrigation components is scheduled to begin on May 13^th. The back nine of the Hills will be closed during this process and you can view the schedule on this blog site under the adjacent tab.

Thank you for your patience.

Eric Czarnecki

Additional items begin to arrive which are required for Phase 2 Golf. Inventory tracking occurs on all deliveries and is performed jointly by MRI & TPCA staff.