New £100,000 irrigation system for Montrose Golf Links

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Montrose Golf Links has announced details of one of the largest investments ever made in the celebrated east coast course.

The new, far-reaching irrigation project will enable significant improvements to be made across the links and coincides with Montrose receiving the most comprehensive sustainability award in golf, a spokeswoman has said.

The automated irrigation system addresses a swathe of issues that have affected the presentation of the course, which has twice hosted final qualifying for the Open Championship. It replaces the previous system that had been in situ for more than 30 years and suffered from insufficient pressure, poor and uneven water coverage and limited irrigation options.

“The new irrigation system is a significant improvement on what we had before,” said Jason Boyd, PGA professional and operations manager at Montrose Golf Links. “It addresses a lot of on-course issues and will enable our greenkeeping team to present the 1562 course like never before. This is a massive investment that will have a huge impact.”

The introduction of the £100,000 irrigation system follows the renaming of the world’s fifth oldest golf course in 2018. More importantly, it will free up the Montrose greenkeepers to present the 450-year course to the highest possible standards.

“Because so much time was spent hand-watering greens, the new system will have a number of knock-on effects, especially for the greenkeepers,” explained Boyd. “The time released by the new system will now be spent improving greens, tees, fairways and approaches as well as focussing on smaller, detailed jobs that are so important.”

According to Darren McLaughlan, head greenkeeper at Montrose, the addition of the new irrigation system is hugely significant. “The need for a fully functioning irrigation system was overwhelming,” he says. “The new system will not only allow greenstaff to concentrate on course improvements while reducing disruption to play, it will also provide the foundation for producing true and consistent putting conditions and a more sustainable approach due to using less water.”