Distance Markers

The Brisbane Golf Club recently installed distance markers on selected sprinklers that were as part of the irrigation project completed in December 2021. 

This story has been prepared by Lloyd Cotterill for historical and general interest purposes to highlight the steps undertaken to complete the project and more importantly thank those involved in its implementation. 

The Committee decided to install distance markers to those relevant sprinklers over the course to enhance our player’s experience.

When approached by Geoff Kuehner (CEO) and Mark Deuble (President) to oversee this undertaking I did not hesitate, naively.

First up a meeting with the above and Director of Golf, Joe Janison, his assistant, Reece McRae and Richard Garnham (Course Chair) to decide which sprinklers to add a distance marker to, what information would be included, the design, strategies to employ and timelines. Fortunately the cost of the distance markers was included in the original tender so we had a blank cheque regarding numbers and design.

It was agreed to install distance markers on sprinklers between 300m and 50m from the centre of the green, with each distance marker to show distances to the front, middle and back. While only a few members hit it 300m we believed this distance would reduce indecision for players waiting for the green to clear before hitting their shot. As well, 50m out was also deemed adequate.

The next issue was to determine how we would measure the actual distance and to what accuracy with the front/middle/back being subjective, blind holes and dog legs, (to just to name a few of the challenges) which made the process interesting.

We discussed the need to investigate the cost and availability of modern technologies to ensure precision distances. BGC Member, Rob Strutt (surveyor) was asked and he advised such precision was an unjustified overkill given a player’s ability to control a golf ball to such precision was zilch. With the knowledge that hand held lasers are accurate to 2-5m (but line of sight limitations) and GPS’s 3-10m (but limited satellite access and significantly impacted by weather, topography, manmade structures), we decided they would be good enough, and Rob agreed with us.

Rob lent us a couple of his surveyor’s tripods (see insert left) with large reflector prisms attached, eliminating the need to hold a flagstick forever on the greens. It is contentious to a degree on where the front/middle/back of a green is because of their irregular shapes and the different lines of approach that exist. To diligently measure these three distances to 21 greens from 502 sprinklers was deemed irrational so we decided to measure to the green middle, and then add/subtract half the green length/depth for consistency at every distance marker on every hole. While the course was closed for green renovations on Tuesday, 5 October 2022 and Wednesday, 6 October 2022 a group consisting of Richard Garnham, Les Nathanson, Reece McRae, Mark Deuble and Stephen Deane met to find, label and measure the relevant sprinklers.

Toro supplied scaled maps (see insert right) showing where the sprinklers were as planned, but sporadically there was some annoyance when the proposed location and the final location had little similarity. Obviously during construction the location of some of the sprinklers had changed to improve the coverage of water across the course. These types of changes were always expected. The laser and GPS measurements were more often than not disagreeing, sometimes the different was up to 15 metres with the occasional flukey agreement, and this was bewildering. Despite the hiccups we we finished measuring all of the holes the contractors had complete by that stage in 6 hours, including a welcome lunch break. The last hole was measured on Thursday, 2 December 2021.

Unfortunately wet weather had delayed the irrigation project as a whole on numerous occasions at the start of the install and this was also the case at the end. A couple of days later an Excel formatted spreadsheet of all 21 holes showing 503 sprinkler numbers plus 3 front/middle/back measurements were compiled by Stephen Deane and forwarded to Toro for production (see insert left). To the best of our knowledge these were manufactured in Melbourne. On Thursday, 27 January 2022 a large box of distance markers duly arrived, looking great, and Richard Garnham and I began the search, unclipping and re-clipping on holes 10 and 11 some six days later. Almost one and a half hours afterward we had clipped 50 distance markers into place and had some idea of an efficient process needed to complete the remaining 19 holes.

On Monday, 14 February 2022 at 6am Richard Garnham, Phil Lonsdale, Ty Bramley and I headed off to see how many holes we could complete by 9am. Ty and I took off searching, flagging and unclipping (see insert right) the plastic part to be replaced by the new distance markers. Richard and Phil followed sorting the correct distance markers before clipping into place. Setbacks included the former white text, showing sprinkler number and distance, had been worn away in many instances meaning Richard and Phil needed to annoyingly re-measure the distance to ensure the correct marker was clipped into place, very time consuming. Overgrown sprinklers were very hard to find and at times course staff was called on to actually turn the sprinklers on so we could locate them, but 3 hours later we had completed the front 9 holes.

To efficiently complete holes 12 to 21 it became essential for all of the sprinklers to be checked to ensure the written sprinkler number and distance was still in place, and on Tuesday, 21 February 2022 in the late afternoon, I surprisingly managed to cart myself around to check and/or rewrite all those sprinklers in a couple of hours.

So Monday, 28 February 2022 at 7am was locked in for seven of us to complete the task for holes 12 to 21 but no one mentioned the rain, rain and more rain, closing the course, due to flooding, for 17 consecutive days and bringing back the bad memories of the 2011 devastating flooding of the course. Distance markers were quickly forgotten as Member volunteers, friends and course staff began to clean up the damage as the waters receded and access was permitted, an unlucky start for our newly appointed Course Superintendent, David Mason.

The new completion day would become Monday, 27 March 2022 at 7am and surprisingly the vital and newly written sprinkler numbers and distance were still intact on holes 12 to 21.

Team 1, Mike Murphy and I, found and flagged all sprinklers (bar a couple), Team 2, Les Nathanson and Rob Brown, unclipped the plastic part on flagged sprinklers and cleaned that area, Team 3, Mark Deuble, Phil Lonsdale and Garth Crichton, clipped into place (see insert) the new distance markers collecting flags and plastic parts.

Great plan but yet again finding the sprinklers after a flood, mud and rapid growth became a maddening and time consuming exercise, meaning the three teams just backed into each other with everyone looking for underground sprinklers like Easter eggs, cheering wildly when found.

On target we finished at 9am, packed up and headed to the Member’s Lounge for a debriefing coffee and muffin, reflecting on six months of what should have been, barring rain. Since the distance markers have been in place many Members have kindly commented on this great addition to the course and despite the existence of lasers, GPS’s, course books and other distance measuring devices, these markers are well received, look smart, save time and will enhance the Member add on service we strive for, at little cost.

Lastly and most importantly a sincere thanks to all the voluntary participants for their time and patience over the journey of this project. – Lloyd Cotterill