Over the last number of years, changes in weather patterns have meant that the summers have become drier and the reduction in rainfall has resulted in greater demand on the clubs existing antiquated and failing irrigation system.
The existing system is over 40 years old and has been drawing water from a burn which runs through the 9-hole Strabathie Course. As a result, over the years the silt and contaminants contained within the water have pumped out through the water distribution network and have slowly eroded the pipework, valves and sprinklers heads.
Murcar Links Golf Club Council have worked hard over the last 9 years to raise the funds in order to replace the ageing system, and the work on the installation of the new computer-controlled irrigation system finally commenced on Monday 4th
September and will take around 16 weeks to install.
The system was designed by renowned irrigation expert Adrian Mortram of AMA Irrigation Consultants. Included in Adrian’s portfolio is irrigation projects at golf clubs such as Muirfield and the Old Course St Andrews, and the All-England Tennis Club (Wimbledon).
The installation contract was awarded to Linlithgow based irrigation experts, Turf Irrigation Services (TIS). The first phase of the project is to lay a concrete plinth for the water tank to sit on along with the prefabricated pump house, and to mark the points on the course where the sprinkler heads will be located. At its full capacity the tank will hold around 300 cubic metres of water, all of which will come from two boreholes located on the adjacent Strabathie Course. The shafts for the boreholes were drilled to a depth of 57 metres by water divination to lie in sufficient quantities to meet the irrigation needs.
A mainline from the tank will take the water across to a point on the 17th hole on the Murcar Course. From this point, pipes with a combined total length of over 11 miles will supply a total of over 850 sprinklers located on greens, aprons, tees, walk-ways and fairways.
Although a regular in the ratings of the Golf Monthly Top 100 UK & Ireland courses (91st), Todays Golfer Top 100 Scottish Golf Courses (36th) and placed within the Visit Scotland “Great Scottish Links Collection” this major investment by the club will see the club enhance its reputation further and see it go from strength to strength with a fit for purpose, more environmentally friendly and cost effective system to last the club for the next 50 years.