'Perfect Storm' Ends At Four Winds

Four Winds Golf Course superintendent Jeremy Williams reminisced on the golf course water troubles of the past year: "It was a perfect storm of terrible weather, not much rain, sprinklers . . . Oh, it has just been a nightmare."

Late last summer, gravel began to infiltrate the course's water system, plugging up many of the almost 1,000 sprinklers. Williams said he thought there was a leak in the system, and it was pulling gravel in. It took a couple of months to determine that the big well was the problem, pulling gravel in from holes in the casing.

In December 2023, the Kimball City/County Park and Recreation Executive Board voted to borrow $182,500 to drill a well and repair the Four Winds Golf Course's largest pump. In April 2024, the new well was drilled, and there were high hopes that the water problems had been fixed.

But gravel continued to plug sprinklers, which were a 1995 Torro version with the screen at the bottom of the sprinkler. The sprinkler had to be dug out, the screen removed on the bottom of the sprinkler, and the system flushed.

Williams said that they would dig them out, but they would plug up, some in a matter of an hour or in a few days.

"It was a never-ending battle," he said.

Williams has been at the Four Winds Course for 22 years, and he said, "It has been kind of a rough summer." But he continued, "We are definitely on the upswing."

After repeated Kimball City/County Park and Recreation Executive Board meetings, during which the budget and issues fulfilling a quorum were finally resolved, the board approved a $110,000 loan for 200 new sprinkler heads in late July.

The best news for the golf course came when in just over two weeks, Roy's Landscaping installed the 200 new sprinklers. Williams said they did "outstanding" work, showed up when they said they would, and worked.

"I was impressed," he said. "It was fast."

According to Williams, they were knocking out about 20 sprinklers a day. Roy's Landscaping's goal was to get 12 done daily, but Williams said they had 12 done my lunchtime some days.

Now almost all the sprinklers have been installed and are working, but Williams found one additional sprinkler and he knew exactly where he wanted to put it – the eighth hole's green.

So, the Observer tagged along with Williams as he installed the final sprinkler in the early morning hours to prevent injury to himself from a golfer hitting a blind shot to the green.

Replacing sprinklers is down to a science for Williams. He jumped out of his vehicle and marked the camouflaged sprinkler. To protect the course, he set boards around the sprinkler and precisely began to dig it out. He was careful not to cut the wiring attached to the old sprinkler. Eventually, he was able to pull out the old sprinkler in less than an hour. He then located the valve, flushed the line, and installed the new state-of-the-art Torro sprinkler with a top screen.

Williams reflected on the time he spent working with golf course designer Bruce Gilliland. Bruce worked tirelessly on the course and had extensive knowledge of the systems. Williams said that if Bruce would have been here, he "probably would have seen this situation with the sprinklers coming." Unfortunately, Bruce passed away in 2016.