Tempe Begins Full Irrigation Replacement at Ken McDonald Golf Course

The City of Tempe began the first phase of improvements at Ken McDonald Golf Course in June 2026, launching a full replacement of the municipal facility’s existing irrigation system.

The work is an ongoing facility improvement project rather than a one-day event. It matters to residents who use the city-owned course because irrigation construction can affect maintenance and course operations while work is underway. The city’s approved materials do not say that the course is closed or specify whether all holes and amenities will remain open during construction.

What the project includes

The first phase includes full replacement of the current irrigation system at Ken McDonald Golf Course. The City of Tempe identifies the golf course as a city facility, placing the work within the city’s broader municipal-facility improvement program.

The June 2026 Tempe Today newsletter is the official source for the project’s start and scope. It says the first phase of improvements began in June and specifically describes the irrigation work as a full replacement of the existing system.

That distinction is important: the available information describes work that has begun, not a completed replacement. The source packet does not provide an engineering schedule, construction milestones or a date for the end of the first phase.

What golfers and residents should know

Ken McDonald Golf Course is a public recreation facility operated by the City of Tempe. Because the project involves the course’s irrigation system, construction has a direct connection to how the facility is maintained and potentially how course operations are managed during the work.

However, the city materials supplied for this article do not announce a course closure, a reduction in available holes, or restrictions on other amenities. They also do not state whether temporary irrigation arrangements will be used. Those details should not be assumed from the announcement that replacement work has started.

The same materials do not include a total project cost. There is also no confirmed completion date in the approved source packet. As a result, residents cannot yet determine from the available announcement how long construction will last or what, if any, changes to public access will occur.

Project remains current in August

Tempe’s newsletter archive identifies the August 2026 issue and continues to list the Ken McDonald Golf Course improvement project as current background for residents. That provides a later city reference for an effort that began in June, but it does not add a completion date, cost or closure schedule.

The next confirmed development is therefore the continuation of the city’s improvement work and its public updates about the facility. Until Tempe releases more specific operational information, the confirmed facts are limited to the project’s location, its June start, and the full replacement of the existing irrigation system.

For course users, the practical takeaway is to treat operations during construction as unsettled rather than presume either a closure or uninterrupted access. The approved city materials establish that the work is underway; they do not establish a final construction timeline or the precise effect on daily use.