Clogged Sprinkler Heads

I'm pleased to report that we've resolved the irrigation pump station issues we were recently experiencing that resulted in some severely stressed turf on the course, particularly on our fairways (click here to see previous blog post).  They are recovering nicely, but not as quickly as they should be.  There's a reason for the slower than anticipated recovery: clogged sprinkler heads.  While monitoring the operation of the irrigation system we began seeing pressure issues again.  When further pump station issues were ruled out, we discovered that the screens on the bottom of each sprinkler head are becoming clogged with pond scum from the irrigation pond.  Here is a photo of exactly what we're finding:

pond scum clogging sprinkler heads

difficult to effectively irrigate turf with this issue

Needless to say, sprinkler heads clogged this badly will not operate properly and turf stress and even turf loss are unavoidable until they are back in proper working order.  Here is a photo of the fairway turf condition just short of #3 approach due to clogged screens:

resulting turf stress from clogged sprinkler heads

At this time, the only way to effectively eradicate this problem is to test each sprinkler head and physically remove the "guts" from those experiencing pressure issues to flush and clean these clogged screens.  Needless to say, this is a time consuming process (anywhere from 6-12 minutes per sprinkler head, depending on how badly clogged they are) that has now moved to the top of our priority list.  With over 1200 sprinkler heads on the golf course, this isn't something that gets fixed overnight.

We greatly appreciated your patience and understanding as we work on finding solutions for this problem.