Team Member Spotlight: Jaret Vasey

Here at the grounds department we often refer to Irrigation Technician, Jaret Vasey, as "The Glue." Jaret has worked at Wakonda Club for fifteen years and has a wealth of knowledge and experience that keep the wheels turning here at the club. Jaret has his hands in everything we do. He maintains our fleet of equipment and often repairs machinery and systems for other departments. Jaret is also responsible for sharpening all of our mowers- he maintains a 'quality of cut' that is experienced by every golfer.

Jaret is an excellent mechanic and fulfills our needs very well, however, his true expertise lies in irrigation. There are very few irrigation problems that he cannot fix. Jaret was here when the irrigation system was installed and knows every inch of pipe that lies beneath the soil. He charges the system in the spring, maintains the irrigation heads through the season, and winterizes the system in the fall. The proper function of the irrigation system is crucial during the hot, dry summer months. Illustrated below are some photos of various aspects of the irrigation system.

Here, Jaret is replacing a solenoid which was fried by a recent lightning strike.
We have over 800 large turf sprinklers at Wakonda Club. Each one has hundreds of parts and systems that must function correctly in order for effective watering. Above are the workings of a typical sprinkler- each head is composed of over 20 parts. Below is one of our control boxes. Each box is essentially a computer. We have 37 control boxes throughout the property.
Pictured here are photos of the inside of our pump station. Our pump station is the small brick building located to the north of hole number 5. This station is computer controlled and is capable of pumping a whopping 1200 gallons of water per minute at 140 PSI. A typical irrigation cycle will take approximately 8 hours to complete overnight.