This article appeared as part of a compilation of articles in the Newsletter of Autumn, 2010, revisiting the history of Irrigation at Liphook and reporting on the effects of dry summers in 2006 and 2010. For photos of Irrigation work on the course, click here

When the course was first built, its greens were watered by  a thousand-gallon tank hauled round the greens on a trailer pulled by the Club’s black mare. This proved to be inadequate in hot weather and in 1924 negotiations started with Blake Bros of Accrington, to provide a piped system to the 18 greens.

By 1928 a sump was installed near the Links Hotel and water flowed in to it from drainage ditches, the Wheatsheaf pond and a smaller pond on the other side of what was then the A3. A pump was installed in the 10th Tee car park, with a suction pipe under the road to the sump. Pressure pipes were then installed to valves beside each green and hoses were taken round to each green in turn. The pipes were laid in galvanized wrought iron and whilst some corrosion took place, it was not until 1970s that leaks began to appear in the suction and pressure pipes.

Dry summers demanded more water on the greens and some on the tees. In the 1980s a water storage tank and mains water supply were installed in the 10th Tee car park, and a new plastic pipeline system was laid round the course. In the 1990s the ponds and drainage system were drying up, and a bigger tank was installed near the clubhouse, together with a bore hole, sump pump and a re-vamped green and tees watering system.

/-- Liphook Archive Information --/
#Medium:Document#
#Location:Website#
#Date Of Event:1921 - 2000#
#Date Item Created:October 2010#
#Author:Tony Rudgard#
#Copyright:#