Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
$110,000 Loan Will Go To Replacing 200 Urgently Needed Sprinklers At Four Winds
Progress has been made in efforts to replace bad sprinklers and improve burned out conditions on some holes at Four Winds Golf Course. A loan has been approved to buy new sprinklers.
Henry Heeg, chairman of the Kimball-Kimball County Parks and Recreation Operating Board, told the Parks and Recreation Executive Board at a special meeting last week that they were in the “same place as last meeting and are trying to move forward.”
The Parks and Recreation Executive Board is composed of the three county commissioners and David Wilson on the county side, and on the city side four City Council members and nonvoting member John Morrison.
The board met to address the golf course sprinkler issue again on July 16.
Some people, including out of town golfers, were shocked at the conditions on the course, according to Heeg. His Vince’s golf tournament the previous weekend had some golfers back out because the course is in such a rough state. Heeg said that play on the once immaculate course is down considerably.
Heeg, who made an urgent attempt to explain the situation, said they “are in dire need for action.”
The executive board voted to approve to obtain a bank loan of $110,000 to purchase 200 sprinkler heads. The loan will be negotiated and two signatures will be required.
The course has more than 1,000 sprinkler heads, of which 200 will tend to the fairways, tee boxes and greens.
In December, the executive board borrowed $182,500 to drill a new well at the course this spring. The well was drilled in April but gravel persisted in traveling through the system and plugging up sprinklers continually. The new Toro sprinklers are easier and faster to clean than the old sprinklers.
In December, course superintendent Jeremy Williams said, “Most of our sprinkler heads are an older style that have a screen in the bottom of the head that can only be accessed by digging up the sprinkler, removing it from the pipe, flushing the rocks out, then putting everything back together. We have gradually been upgrading to the newer style heads where the screen can be accessed from above without digging the head up. As of right now, only about 10% of our (more than 1,000) sprinklers are the newer style.”
The sprinklers are coming from Fort Collins, Colo., and should be here soon, Williams said. He expected the sprinklers to arrive by Fed Ex on Wednesday or Thursday this week.