Our sod didn't get much of a chance to get healthy last year because it was planted late in the season and it was incredibly hot with watering restrictions for a few weeks, and then it froze very early. I'm hoping by getting started early I can get the grass healthy enough for the kiddo to play on by June. If it looks like we're going to have a hard freeze, I'll drain the system. In Colorado, it's very possible to have a hard freeze well into May or even June, depending on your elevation. I didn't blow my sprinklers out this winter and everything worked fine when I fired them up this week.
So McJunior, am I thinking on the right track? I'm no landscaper, I just played one for a summer in high school.