Case Study in Water: Bonita Bay Club, Bonita Springs, Florida

From the archives: In 2017, Hills • Forrest • Smith Principal Steve Forrest shared the following information on the HFS project at Bonita Bay Club, Bonita Springs, Florida, as part of the American Society of Golf Course Architects publication Golf & Water II – Case Studies in Water Stewardship. The message of creativity and cooperation to the benefit of golfers and the environment resonates today as strongly as it did a decade ago.

Question: How can high-tech irrigation systems provide more efficient water delivery, saving water and electricity consumption, while improving playability?

THE SITUATION

Three of the five championship courses at the Bonita Bay Club in Bonita Springs were designed by Arthur Hills, ASGCA Fellow, in the 1990s. The club achieved Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Status in 1995 but was looking to extend its environmentally sensitive practices to water conservation. Along the way, club management wanted to improve playability.

THE APPROACH

Bonita Bay Club’s Director of Golf Course Operations looked for ways to more efficiently control the application of water, with the additional goals of reducing irrigation repairs while improving playing conditions for the club’s diverse membership. The club chose a system which included intelligent control modules located at each sprinkler, eliminating field satellites and 90 percent of wire compared to traditional satellite control systems.

The design consisted of high-efficiency sprinklers, closer spacing and single-head control. The heads were run by advanced control software, providing targeted irrigation. The club installed the new system on one of the courses—the Marsh Course—to allow for system comparison.

THE SOLUTION

Fertilizer can be applied through the irrigation system, resulting in more effective response of fertilizer: better results with the same inputs. Smaller spray zones were installed on the tops of mounds, with each spray having a low-flow rotary spray nozzle to apply water to limited areas. Since the tops of mounds tend to dry out first, using rotary spray nozzles saves water by reducing the need to turn on the large sprinklers. Many times, the superintendents don’t turn on the large overhead sprinklers because the rotary nozzles apply a small amount of water every day to keep the mounds looking good.

One of the advantages of this system is that each wire path has capacity for 750 stations with unlimited simultaneous application, allowing addition of stations of rotary spray nozzles anywhere on the course simply by locating the closest pipe and control wire (which could be as close as the nearest large sprinkler). When a new rotary mister station was connected to the control system, the central control software communicated with the new station immediately, eliminating the need to install a wire from the station back to the satellite.

Since the initial publishing of this article, Bonita Bay has continued to replace the remaining irrigation systems on the property. An additional 36 holes have received new irrigation systems and pump stations. To this date, they have replaced 54 of 90 holes with state-of-the-art systems. Records show they continue to experience a 32-37 percent reduction in irrigation water used per acre of irrigated area. They are also enjoying more consistent playing conditions with the increased control and uniformity of the new systems.

A big part of the decision for the members and maintenance staff to go to a two-wire system was the increased aesthetic value to the golf course. Not having above ground control boxes throughout the course and hundreds of thousands of feet of unnecessary copper wire was a plus. This opinion has not changed, and they continue to install the intelligent system as they replace irrigation on the Bonita Bay properties. The maintenance staff is also enjoying the simplicity of the system and the lack of components necessary to maintain and service. With all the benefits associated with switching to a two-wire system, the members as well as the staff are ecstatic about the improvements they have made and are proud to be a conscientious leader when it comes to conserving water and other resources.

TAKEAWAYS

After 14 months of operation with the new irrigation system, the results are very positive. Comparing the water use at the Marsh Course to the adjacent Creekside course (which has the old irrigation system), the Marsh course used 32 percent less water, on a water-used-per-acre basis.

32-37% reduction in irrigation water used per acre due to state-of-the-art irrigation systems