Golfers who have played Bangor Municipal Golf Course for many years learned to hit their approach shots short and run the ball onto the green.

They, as well as the pros who come up for the Greater Bangor Open, will be in for a surprise this year upon completion of the new irrigation system currently under construction on the 18-hole course.

“In the [GBO] long drive contest, for instance,” said Bangor Muni head pro Brian Enman, “anybody who has been here knows to hit down the left side [of No.1] and it will run right down there [near the green]. They won’t be doing that anymore.”

The reason is the new irrigation system, which replaces the one originally put in for the course’s opening in 1964, will provide more thorough water coverage.

Construction started in October and should be completed by the middle to end of June.

Said Enman, describing how the sprinkler heads will be positioned down each side of the fairways, “The fairways are quite wide, and to get enough coverage, we had to go to a double-row system. We’ll be going from treeline to treeline.”

That means the rough will also become thicker and heavier. The old system ran down the center of the fairways, and the rough was seldom touched by the water.

“We had 120 sprinkler heads before, we’ll have 500 now,” said Enman. “The course should play longer and tougher, but it will be lusher, too.”

The effect is expected to be reflected in players’ scores.

“It will make the course play totally different,” said Enman. “Handicaps will go up.”

He said that’s what happened at Penobscot Valley Country Club in Orono when it put in its new system.

For Enman, the best part of the new irrigation will be the increased control he has.

“In front of 12 is usually wet, so we might have to wet that for only five minutes. In back of the green is dry, so we might do that for 20 minutes,” said Enman.

On a hole such as 17, he said he might need to water the bottom of the hill for only 15 minutes, whereas the top of the hill might need from 30 minutes to an hour.

Enman will have that control for two reasons: design of the system and the computer software which will control it.

The main piping will run down one side of each fairway with lines branching off to cross the fairway with two sprinkler heads on each line. A valve will control each branch line, and the computer has control of each valve.

And Enman will also have a hand-held remote in which he just has to press a couple of buttons and on comes the water.

Under the old setup, a night waterer had to turn the sprinklers on and off by hand. And water pressure was a problem.

“Before, we could do the tees and greens and two or three fairways in a night,” said Enman. “Now we’ll be able to do the whole [course] in six or seven hours.”

Enman expects to use more water, but not much more.

“With the number of heads, there’s no question it will probably be more,” said. “It won’t be a lot more water, but it will be used more wisely.”

Irrigation Control and Engineering Inc. of Pepperell, Mass., designed the system, and Atlantic Golf Construction of New Brunswick, which built Bangor’s nine-hole layout, is doing the work.

The total cost is estimated to run approximately $530,000. That number will be affected by the amount of ledge rock encountered and the time it takes break that up. No blasting is allowed.

Players have to wend their way around the construction, which doesn’t appear to be too intrusive at the moment.

“I think people are excited to see it, truthfully,” said Enman. “I haven’t heard one complaint at all.”