Complete control of irrigation at your fingertips

With several acres of turf area and easily about 1,600 sprinkler heads spread accurately across the property, a golf club's sprinkler system is a strong piece of engineering. For the greenkeepers and technicians who manage and maintain the system, it can be a hefty challenge. Increasingly, therefore, greenkeepers are turning to smart software systems to remotely monitor and control sprinklers and other components. Recent years have seen huge leaps in the capabilities of such systems, and with the Rain Bird CIRRUS PRO software, a new standard has now been born, according to Raf Besseleers, operations manager at Hydroplan.

Hydroplan, which until the end of 2022 was known in the industry as VBS Irrigation, now has 35 years of experience as an irrigation specialist. Hydroplan is a distributor of high-quality brands such as Rain Bird, but aims to offer irrigation solutions in addition to irrigation materials. 

Therefore, each project starts with a comprehensive analysis of the situation, the necessary calculations for the dimensioning of pump groups and water supplies, among others, and the design of a unique customized irrigation plan. In order to relieve the burden on greenkeepers, more and more attention is being paid to the control systems. These advanced systems allow for maximum control of the installation with minimal effort.

Maximum control, on site and remotely

In terms of onsite control, the new CIRRUS PRO software from Rain Bird is definitely the cream of the crop, according to Raf Bresseleers. This system offers complete and precise control over the sprinklers, which can be set and live monitored individually and depending on needs and preferences by rotation, by mm or by time. 

A connection to a weather station is also possible, so that irrigation is controlled fully automatically and according to evapotranspiration (ET). 

"The technology was updated such that the irrigation system can also be controlled via CIRRUS PRO both locally and remotely via smartphone or tablet. The app is user-friendly, clear and can be fully personalized. 

You can set certain alarms or generate reports by day, week, month or year. And that for different users, each with their own profile and access level. This way, different greenkeepers can log into the system perfectly at the same time and each has exactly the information and functionalities at their disposal that are relevant to them."

The new standard

Barely a year after CIRRUS PRO was added to Hydroplan's portfolio, five golf courses in Belgium have already started using the new software. "That proves how great the demand is, and that this system could well become the new standard. All the greenkeepers who start using it are in any case surprised by the speed and ease of use, and the GPS localization is also considered a great asset. This makes it very easy to find out exactly where a specific sprinkler is located. No superfluous luxury when you have 1,000 to 1,600 sprinklers, spread over x number of hectares, under management."

In symbiosis

One of the golf clubs already using CIRRUS PRO is Royal Waterloo. There, Hydroplan also recently installed a new Grundfos pump group with a capacity of 145 m3/hour, equipped with remote control. "An irrigation system is nothing without the right pumps," Raf Bresseleers emphasizes. "That is why we make sure that all our pumping systems can also be monitored and adjusted remotely, just like, for example, the water supply in the citernes, flow rates, and so on. By having all these systems working in symbiosis, we ensure that greenkeepers have the exact science in their hands both in the field and remotely."