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Millbrook Council Accepts $489,055 Bid To Replace Irrigation System at Pines Golf Course

BY SARAH STEPHENS, OWNER/EDITORPHOTO FROM CITY OF MILLBROOK

Maintaining an 18-hole-golf course is challenging at best. Add to that long, hot, drought conditions often seen in Alabama, and it takes on a whole new level.

The Pines Golf course, which is city owned, will soon see a huge improvement in their irrigation system, after the Millbrook City Council accepted a bid Dec. 10 at their regular council meeting from Pro Rain, to install a new watering system for the course.

Pro Rain was the lowest, qualified bidder with $489,055, and it was accepted by the Council.

The average life span of any watering system for a course, officials said, is about 20 to 25 years. The current system meets that, and then some. The original course was constructed in the early 1990s, and has had some improvements along the way, Mayor Al Kelley said. But this will be an entirely new system that can be manned from inside the office.

Currently the groundskeeping staff at the Golf Course has to manually turn on the watering heads for each hole and green. It takes about 18 hours to water the course as it stands now, according to a former owner of the course, John Price. Today Price is a consultant for the city and works at the golf course.

He said with the new system, it will take only three and a half hours to water the entire course.

The funds for this expenditure were already budgeted, and will come out of Capital Improvements, Mayor Kelley said.

Mayor Kelley praised the staff at the golf course for their ability to keep up the course under less than perfect circumstances.

“They have done an amazing job out there, and the course is very popular with our residents,” Kelley said. “This is just another quality of life issue that we feel is important for our residents and guests to Millbrook.”

The city purchased the golf course around 2004 when it went up for sale, in the hopes of keeping the green space and a source of recreation and quality of life for the city. There were other possible plans for the 130-acre tract of land that included a large housing development that would have fed a tremendous amount of traffic on to Deatsville Highway.

“It was important to us to keep the course for the general public,” Mayor Kelley said. “I thought we needed to think about this. We bought the course from the owners in 2004. I just didn’t want to see it turned into a subdivision. There is already so much traffic there. We didn’t want to run the risk of a 130-acre housing development coming out on Deatsville Highway.”

Mayor Kelley continued, “We have a $4 million investment up there. The worst thing for a golf course is heat and drought. Our summers here are sometimes really rough. The system we have up there now is an antique. The new one is automatic and can be controlled from inside the building. We don’t have to pay a water bill. The water comes out of the treatment plant. Other than a couple of cities in south Alabama we are probably one of the few in the state that plant water can be used. Our outflow is so clean we can use it on that golf course. We have to maintain that and we have a valve at the treatment plan. If we need water at the golf course in that pond, we turn that valve on and it runs the water to the pond.”

About the Pines Golf Course in Millbrook:

The Pines Golf Club is a public facility owned and operated by the City of Millbrook.  The 18-hole scenic golf course features 6,318 yards of golf from the longest tees for a par of 72. The course rating is 68.5 with a slope rating of 113.

Rental services are available including pull carts and golf clubs. The practice area at the facility includes a separate putting green. Snack food and beverage options are available in the clubhouse.

For tee times and green fees, please call (334) 285-7529. The Pines Golf Club is a terrific choice for your regular rounds of golf or a new destination for you and friends when visiting Millbrook. Memberships are also available.