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.”