Opening Golf to the World
Centro Nacional de Golf
Following severe water use restrictions, the Centro Nacional de Golf in Madrid completely upgraded their irrigation system and irrigation ethos. The course has subsequently experienced water savings of around 45% each year (120-130,000m3 a year)
Centro Nacional de Golf in Madrid has undergone huge changes in the last 5 years due to significant legislation changes related to water use on golf courses in Spain. This resulted in a fixed volume of 6000m3 per hectare of turf. In some situations this may be increased up to 9000m3 per hectare, but only under exceptional circumstances and if reclaimed water is used. Centro Nacional de Golf in Madrid previously used around 6700m3 per hectare on average across the site. This therefore forced the facility to reduce water usage. The Club took this as opportunity to completely revaluate the club's irrigation system and irrigation mentality.
One of the main issues with the old irrigation system was the uneven coverage provided, leading to overwatering of some areas, and under watering in others. There was also a lack of control within the system, leading to excess water use, or significant labour resource tied up with hand watering.
The decision was therefore taken to upgrade and remodel the entire irrigation system. This involved movement of more than 450 sprinklers, installation of 3.5km of pipes, 15km of wiring and multiple new solenoid valve controlled blocks of irrigation heads. A central line of 360o sprinkler heads were installed down most fairways, with 180o heads along the fairways edges in order to reduce/completely remove watering of rough areas.
In addition, irrigation was removed from the majority of out of play areas. The whole process has allowed rough areas to become much more naturalised and colonised with more appropriate vegetation suited to long dry spells. This had the added benefit of producing firmer, dryer surfaces across the course, and allows easier ball recovery from rough areas.
The below image shows the architects design which helped to shape the irrigation way of thinking.
The below image shows the architects design which helped to shape the irrigation way of thinking.
Water use has been reduced by 45% (917m3) on each run cycle which equates to approximately 128,700m3 a year. A breakdown of where irrigation savings were made on each run cycle is listed below:-
- Tees reduced from 343m3 to 115m3
- Fairways and roughs reduced from 1469m3 to 738m3
- Overall reduced from 2028m3 to 1111m3
