Wednesday, I travelled to Charlotte, NC to a board meeting that Equipment Tech, Paul Dalton attended for the Turf Equipment Technicians of the Carolinas. The meeting was held at Smith Turf and Irrigation, the largest Toro distributer in the USA. I met with some sales folks and toured the facility. Above on the left and below, is Toro's latest technology in the golf irrigation division. It allows us to service a head, replace solenoid valves or pilot valves without digging up the sprinkler head. They've made it all assessable from the top, which is a pretty big deal. The newest head coming out has an interesting feature...the top of the head is buried 3" below ground level. The top of the rotor contains a cup were soil and seed is added. This means the head completely disappears- A golfer would never see it. You might recall small pieces of 'Astroturf' being laid on top of the sprinkler heads at The Masters, so a player golf ball couldn't come to rest on an irrigation head. The rules of golf allow for a free drop when this occurs but these engineers continue to push the limits with these types of designs. The Toro Infinity series head shown below, is used around HCC in several spots and we'll continue to replace sprinkler heads where needed. After 25 plus years, many of these are worn and tired.
