Green-side irrigation head replacements underway

Part of our irrigation system upgrades for 2014 include replacement of all the green-side sprinkler heads. Each green has either 4, 5, or 6 full circle heads that water the green depending on it's size. There are also 4 or 5 part circle heads that are aimed away from the green that water the area around each green. We have a total of 192 heads to replace in the next month, each one taking about 45 minutes to change out.

The photo above shows Tim and Frank working on head relocation around #18 green. The 18th has been our most challenging green to maintain during the summer months. When it gets hot and the days are long in July, it requires a lot of hand watering to keep it from getting cooked. Since it was time to replace the green-side heads, we did some measuring on the sprinkler head spacing and found that we needed to make some changes. We found that there were three heads that were spaced too far apart causing a zone in the middle of the green that did not get adequate coverage. Tim and Frank figured out the best location for the heads and moved them to those spots. I'll report back this summer on the success of the changes we made to the head locations. Hopefully the better coverage will reduce the amount of daily hand watering required  on this green.