Golfers playing the highly-acclaimed Majlis Course at Emirates Golf Club, Dubai, are reaping the benefits of a multi-million pound investment that pushes the conditioning of the World Top 100* golf course to new levels.
Celebrating its 25th anniversary next year, Emirates Golf Club has used a seven-month period, March to September, to install state-of-the-art, environmentally efficient irrigation systems that significantly enhance the quality and consistency of all playing surfaces on the Majlis Course, while at the same time reducing the course’s water consumption.
Craig Haldane, Director of Golf Course Maintenance at Emirates Golf Club, said: “The irrigation project, which took 208 days and over 150,000 man hours to complete, is another major milestone that allows us to maintain the course to the exacting standards that our members and guests have been accustomed to enjoying, ensuring that Emirates Golf Club remains the premier club in the region for many years to come.
“The previous irrigation system was almost 25 years old and technology has moved on considerably since this was installed in 1988. The new system, using over 8,800 metres of mainline piping and 33,500 metres of lateral piping, makes use of the latest technology and delivers water savings by ensuring increased distribution efficiency throughout the golf course.”
As part of the upgrade, a new state-of-the-art pump station that allows up to 6,500 gallons of treated sewage effluent (TSE) water per minute to travel through the network, has been installed. Because of this added pump capacity, watering time has been significantly shortened, essential from an agronomic perspective.
Craig added: “The system is so technically advanced that I can effectively stand on the first green of The Majlis Course, take out my mobile phone, connect to the irrigation system and turn on individual irrigation sprinklers, then update the daily irrigation schedule to tell an individual head to run for an additional minute, all at the touch of a button.”
One of the key considerations for upgrading the system was to make it environmentally sound by improving the distribution of the golf club’s most valuable resource, water, and minimising all waste where possible.
Key features include:
- Designed so that minimal TSE water will be sprayed on anything other than turf grass
- Individual head control to 2,208 sprinklers throughout the golf course
- The greens on The Majlis feature two sprinkler complexes, one to irrigate the greens themselves, the other to irrigate the fringes
- The Majlis course is the first course in the region to use the latest software operating programme ‘Toro Lynx’ to control daily run times and individual areas throughout the golf course
- Tighter run times, reducing the time it takes to complete a full cycle, meaning a reduction in energy costs, general wear and tear and less man-hours. Through efficiency of design and a world class pump station, combined with the Lynx software, the watering window has been reduced from 10 hours to five hours, meaning an overall reduction on energy costs, wear and tear and loss of water through evapotranspiration
- High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) piping is used to feed water around the golf course. This special piping is incredibly durable, flexible and has no manual joints. The pipe is fused together through electro fusion making the entire length work seamlessly.
Golfers playing the Majlis Course will see an immediate improvement in the firmness of the playing surfaces, as the system reduces areas of standing water. Desert areas will also be noticeably drier, ensuring native desert plants reduce in size and are not over-watered.
Christopher May, General Manager of Dubai Golf, said: “This is an extremely important period in the history of the Majlis Course. This has not been a quick decision, but one that has been worked through and thought out over a lengthy period of time. We are investing in the next 25 years of our core product and the system had to offer measurable benefits to our members, our visitors, and the environment.”
The Majlis Course plays host to the Ladies European Tour Omega Dubai Ladies Masters, 5-8 December, 2012 and the men’s European Tour Omega Dubai Desert Classic, 9-12 February, 2013. For further information about Emirates Club and its sister course, Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club, visit www.dubaigolf.com
* Ranked in Golf World Magazine’s World Top 100 Courses