Interviews

Oakmont: An interview with Gil Hanse

With the 2025 US Open arriving at Oakmont, Richard Humphreys spoke with the architect, who renovated the course in 2023, about what to expect

Martin Ebert: Design journey

With a portfolio that includes eight of the ten Open venues, Mackenzie & Ebert occupies an enviable position in the golf design industry. Adam Lawrence spoke with principal Martin Ebert to learn how they got there

Designs for the big screen

Chad Goetz and Agustin Piza discuss their design decisions for the virtual holes that featured in the first season of TGL

Bob Harrison: Wizard of Oz

The Australian designer has had a long career and, like many of his countrymen, has spent much of it away from home. Adam Lawrence listened to his tales from the road

Ben Cowan-Dewar: Shock and awe

Golf development firm Cabot now has properties in six countries. Richard Humphreys speaks with co-founder and CEO Ben Cowan-Dewar about what makes a great site, selection of golf course architects, and more

Team building

Turfgrass has launched its US arm with the appointment of John Lawrence, Adam Moeller and Brad Owen. Richard Humphreys speaks with them, Turfgrass founder John Clarkin and director of agronomy Julian Mooney to find out more

Brian Curley: Life of Brian

The designer has surely clocked up more air miles than anyone else in the business. Adam Lawrence caught up with him in between flights to discuss his career and his new venture with Jim Wagner

Oakmont: An interview with Gil Hanse

With the 2025 US Open arriving at Oakmont, Richard Humphreys spoke with the architect, who renovated the course in 2023, about what to expect

Martin Ebert: Design journey

With a portfolio that includes eight of the ten Open venues, Mackenzie & Ebert occupies an enviable position in the golf design industry. Adam Lawrence spoke with principal Martin Ebert to learn how they got there

Designs for the big screen

Chad Goetz and Agustin Piza discuss their design decisions for the virtual holes that featured in the first season of TGL

Bob Harrison: Wizard of Oz

The Australian designer has had a long career and, like many of his countrymen, has spent much of it away from home. Adam Lawrence listened to his tales from the road

Ben Cowan-Dewar: Shock and awe

Golf development firm Cabot now has properties in six countries. Richard Humphreys speaks with co-founder and CEO Ben Cowan-Dewar about what makes a great site, selection of golf course architects, and more

Team building

Turfgrass has launched its US arm with the appointment of John Lawrence, Adam Moeller and Brad Owen. Richard Humphreys speaks with them, Turfgrass founder John Clarkin and director of agronomy Julian Mooney to find out more

Brian Curley: Life of Brian

The designer has surely clocked up more air miles than anyone else in the business. Adam Lawrence caught up with him in between flights to discuss his career and his new venture with Jim Wagner

New Toro irrigation for Sonning
AML
/ Categories: News

New Toro irrigation for Sonning

Sonning Golf Club in Berkshire, England, is the latest course to install Toro’s Golf Decoder Controller (GDC) irrigation system.

Irrigation consultant Irritech designed the new system for the course’s greens, greens surrounds, approaches, tees and fairways, as well as overseeing the tendering process and supervising the installation.

Contracting firm Ocmis won the tender to install the new at Sonning, which was originally designed by five-times Open champion JH Taylor. Ocmis also carried out extensive remedial and upgrade work to the course’s existing irrigation infrastructure, completing the installation in spite of delays when wet weather left the greens saturated.

Sonning course manager Matt Smith says choosing Toro equipment was a natural choice. “Both myself and the club’s management had knowledge and experience of Toro equipment and irrigation, so going with GDC seemed the obvious choice,” he said. “We’re now a Total Solutions customer, which provides us with a good deal for both machinery and irrigation for five years as well as aftercare for both.”

Smith added: “We received good training from Toro and are getting to grips with features like the PC control system and weather station. The main benefit though is that we now have minimal water wastage. We’ve just had a hot spell and I’m comfortably managing the course and using a fraction of the water we’ve used in previous hot summers.”

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Sean Dudley

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