Balboa Park Golf Course

Client: City of San Diego

Location: San Diego, California

Golf Irrigation Designer:  Brent Harvey Consulting

Retrofitting to a tee. In 1915, the Balboa Park Golf Course opened as the fourth course in the country. Back then, the humble course had dirt fairways and oily sand for greens. It wasn't until 1931 that turf came on the scene. As the years wore on, many aspects wore out. Our project involved a massive 27-hole irrigation retrofit, which utilized HDPE mainline and laterals. We replaced the antiquated system with 2,000 sprinkler heads controlled by computer. (So long, days of dirt.)

Like many projects, the installation schedule was tight. And that's not all we were doing. In addition to the irrigation work, we remodeled the driving range, several tees and the greens complex, which included installing a new cart path. Today, the lush landmark remains a vibrant part of Balboa Park, and happily challenges -- and frustrates -- golf enthusiasts from all over.