39 CARL EBERTS INSIGHT When the Royal Spanish Golf Federation established Centro Nacional de Golf in 2006, the goal was clear: create a world-renowned, beautifully designed golf course dedicated to advancing the game. The Madrid club has long been recognised for embracing innovative technologies that improve operations while ensuring playability. But as expectations around sustainability, water stewardship and championshiplevel conditioning increased over time, its previous irrigation system – built around complex wiring and dozens of controllers managing 50 stations each – limited flexibility and made precise water management difficult. Water efficiency required constant manual oversight, adjustments were timeconsuming and strategic improvements were constrained. Centro Nacional embraced a transformative upgrade to meet its long-term goals. It adopted the Hunter Pilot Control Network in 2022, which created a fundamental shift in approach to irrigation control. Pilot Command Centre Software (CCS) is a central control platform engineered to simplify complex irrigation demands while delivering flexibility and performance. Designed for both conventional and two-wire installations, it allows superintendents to manage every sprinkler and station according to their own management style and course needs. Pilot CCS consolidates daily operations into one intuitive interface, allowing the agronomy team to adjust irrigation run times or leverage evapotranspiration-based scheduling for weather-driven precision. Flowbalancing capabilities optimise irrigation cycles based on daily turf needs, while hydraulic modelling accounts for pipe diameter to ensure precise water distribution throughout the course. By optimising water windows and preventing pressure spikes, the club has reduced water waste while improving distribution uniformity. In an arid region like Madrid, where conservation is critical, the precision of the Pilot network supports environmental Centro Nacional de Golf in Madrid revamped its golf course irrigation to meet a sustainability target and enhance playability. Protecting a course’s design integrity
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