Securing Water Supply for Shiskine Golf Club

For golf courses across Scotland, maintaining consistent green quality increasingly depends on having a reliable and sustainable water source.  At Shiskine Golf & Tennis Club, on the Isle of Arran, Igne recently completed the drilling of a new abstraction borehole to support the club’s future irrigation system, delivering a resilient water supply despite challenging winter logistics.

Many course managers across Scotland will already know the team behind this project by our previous name, Raeburn Drilling & Geotechnical.  Today, as part of Igne, we continue to deliver the same specialist drilling expertise that Scottish courses have relied upon for years.

Logistical Challenges - Managed Without Disruption

Working on an island location always requires careful planning, but this project came with an additional layer of complexity.

Just as mobilisation approached, planned ferry maintenance, port changes and winter weather disruptions began affecting sailings to Arran.  Strong winds led to cancelled ferries and significant uncertainty around access to the island.

Rather than allowing this to impact the programme or the client’s planning, the Igne team adapted quickly.  Alternative ferry routes were identified, and we mobilised via a different port to maintain progress wherever possible.

Throughout the process, clear and consistent communication with the club was maintained, ensuring the team at Shiskine always knew when equipment and crews would arrive.  This transparency allowed the club to plan around the shifting travel conditions without disruption to their own operations.

Flexibility is often the difference between delay and delivery on remote projects, and it’s something our drilling teams are well accustomed to managing across Scotland.

A Strong Water Strike and Specialist Expertise

Once on site, the drilling operation quickly delivered an excellent result.

The borehole intercepted a strong artesian groundwater source, producing a significant upward pressure of naturally rising water, an ideal outcome for an irrigation abstraction borehole serving golf course greens.

However, artesian strikes also require specialist experience to manage safely and effectively.  Uncontrolled artesian flow can destabilise boreholes and lead to complications if not handled correctly.

Igne’s drilling teams are among the very few in the UK with extensive experience managing unstable artesian conditions, allowing us to control the strike, stabilise the borehole and ultimately harness the natural upward pressure as a positive feature of the water supply system.

The result is a borehole capable of delivering reliable groundwater for Shiskine’s future irrigation needs.

Delivering on Programme

With early weather delays affecting mobilisation, the drilling team went the extra mile to ensure the programme was recovered.

Once established on site, our drillers worked extended hours and through the weekend, efficiently completing the borehole and bringing the schedule back on track.

The result was a successful installation delivered on time, ready to support the club’s long-term irrigation strategy.

A Proven Partner for Scottish Golf Courses

Across Scotland, golf courses face increasing pressure from changing weather patterns, water restrictions and the rising cost of mains supply.

Groundwater abstraction boreholes provide a reliable, sustainable and cost-effective solution for irrigation, particularly when designed and drilled by specialists who understand both the geology and the operational needs of golf courses.

Through Raeburn and now Igne, our teams have supported projects across Scotland for decades, delivering water supply boreholes in some of the most challenging geological and logistical environments in the country.

For golf course managers considering a future irrigation solution, this project at Shiskine demonstrates exactly what the right drilling partner can deliver:

• Adaptability when logistics become challenging
• Clear communication throughout the programme
• Specialist expertise in complex groundwater conditions
• Efficient delivery that keeps projects on schedule

Igne remains one of Scotland’s most experienced drilling partners for golf course water supply.  If your course is considering a groundwater abstraction borehole for irrigation, our team would be happy to discuss how we can help secure a reliable water source for the seasons ahead.