Perugia, Italy: Antognolla Golf has been selected by global irrigation leader Rain Bird as its flagship course in Italy.

Rain Bird counts Rio de Janeiro’s Maracana Stadium, Melbourne Cricket Ground, and Ryder Cup, US Open and USPGA venue Oakland Hills near Detroit among its roster of iconic partners.

Rain Bird will now also showcase the stunning Umbrian course by installing its latest software technology.

Antognolla’s relationship with Rain Bird dates back to 2018 when the Nimbus II Irrigation Central Control system was installed. This new agreement will see the whole network updated with CirrusPRO Central Control software.

Antognolla is already equipped with the most advanced irrigation control technology in the market, the Rain Bird IC System. CirrusPRO will maximise the features of the system and enable the ultimate precision irrigation, combining the superior diagnostics capabilities with the ability of the system to send real-time messages to the user about system status.

The new set-up will continually monitor course conditions and issue alerts if there are potential issues, provide greater watering accuracy and frequency by seconds, rotations and millimetres, and make control of the system available to multiple devices across the agronomy team.

César Burguière, Director of Golf at Antognolla, said: “Rain Bird has been an excellent partner and helped us develop Antognolla into the stunning facility we see today. This endorsement shows the faith they have in our course and highlights that there is no finer place to demonstrate their cutting-edge products than here.

“Working with Rain Bird has helped bring focus to our sustainability programme, especially with improvements around water usage and efficiency. We look forward to making further progress here, too. We are committed to ensuring we have a positive impact on our environment here from our strategy to minimising chemical fertiliser usage to responsible water use.’

Julien Guigny, Regional Sales Manager for Rain Bird Europe, said: “Antognolla is widely considered one of the most iconic golf courses of Italy; its reputation for incredible customer experience, together with the property’s attitude to invest for excellence, perfectly matches our definition of an Ambassador Site for our latest technologies and state-of-the-art solutions.”

Antognolla Golf has a long record of safeguarding and protecting its environment, receiving GEO certification in 2021 in recognition of its commitment to sustainable practices.

The club relies on artificial lakes replenished by rainfall to irrigate the course, conserving water resources without impacting local farmers. It also operates a weather station that monitors climate conditions in real time, and the team uses this data and the computerised irrigation system to optimise water usage, saving on average 25% water compared with traditional irrigation methods.

Over the past three years, the course has also reduced its reliance on chemical fertilisers, with organic fertilisers now accounting for 80% of the fertilisers used, and mineral fertilisers making up the remaining 20%.

*Rain Bird is an Executive Member of the Asian Golf Industry Federation.