From risky beginnings to industry leadership: how ISCO’s commitment to innovation shaped golf course irrigation. 

Tried

From its roots in pioneering HDPE irrigation on golf courses – to maintaining a place as the industry leader, and now ISCO CEO Jimmy Kirchdorfer’s role as lead owner of Valhalla Golf Course in Louisville, Kentucky, ISCO’s name is synonymous with golf. 

One doesn’t ascend to these heights by chance or luck. 

When Jim Kirchdorfer Sr. installed an HDPE irrigation system at Quail Chase golf course in Louisville in 1987 there was risk involved. It was a new material. There was skepticism from the outside. Internal knowledge of the qualities that HDPE possessed knew it was a minimal risk. 

With that approach, ISCO has been able to sit in the clubhouse with the low score on the card while other suppliers hack away on the metaphorical course. 

You can pass along your mistakes to your clients through trial and error as you grow, but that isn’t how ISCO operates. 

Tested

With multiple testing labs in the 39 North American locations, any errors that come as a result of a trial happen in-house, as opposed to the job site. 

With that experimentation, the best possible practices are implemented in the countless golf courses where ISCO has installed HDPE irrigation systems. 

One of the more debated practices is the joining of pipe and fittings with dissimilar DRs. 

There are clear American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) standards that address this process, and ISCO has utilized this process at virtually every golf course installation.   

The use of pipe and fittings with dissimilar DRs is not limited to irrigation but is also prevalent with other applications including the most volatile: natural gas. 

But there is somehow still reluctance among some installers. 

Much like those who hesitated at the HDPE installation Quail Chase in the 80s. 

The mindset marked by hesitancy toward innovation has led to extra time and cost with more expensive fittings and labor devoted to beveling the ends of the pipe. 

In a transparent effort to erase any doubt – ISCO returned to the lab and fused a single piece of six-inch DR 11 HDPE to a pair of 13.5 fittings: an end cap on one end and a flange on the other.  The same was done with DR 11 pipe and fittings. 

The heat soak and pressures when fusing unlike DRs are outlined in ISCO’s fusion manual, which accompanies all ISCO fusion equipment and is available online.   

In the hydrostatic testing lab, engineers attached a blind flange plate to the flange end of the spool piece, filled the pipe with water, and attached it to the air hose. 

In the testing tank pressurized air was forced into the spool piece until it failed.   

The process gives answers about the durability and integrity of the pipe and welds but also confirms the leak-free quality of fused HDPE pipe and fittings, otherwise, the test could not be performed. 

Per ASTM standards the spool piece should reach a failure point at 3.2 times its working pressure to be within specifications. 

The spool piece with DR 13.5 pipe and DR 11 fittings has a pressure rating of 160 PSI and did not fail until 760 PSI – 4.75 times the pressure rating.  

True 

Despite the differing DRs, the fusion points and fittings were not compromised. 

The thicker-walled DR 11 pipe and fittings, which have a pressure rating of 200 PSI, sustained pressure up to 900 PSI before failure – 4.5 times the pressure rating. 

Once again it was the pipe that eventually failed, not the fusion joints and fittings. 

With experimentation, the best possible practices are once again implemented in the field. 

ISCO has tried it. 

ISCO has tested it. 

And it remains true. 

ISCO is synonymous with golf.