Water Hammer can be calculated as a function of waterline length, as well as pressure, and the speed of valve closing, so the longer the line, the more the hammer force can be. Despite whatever pipes are banging in a house, the lawn sprinkler system itself isn't being damaged. If a system has a poly main line and high supply pressure, it would have pressure regulation, so supply line water hammer would be stopped at the regulator.
Now consider a golf course, with an old sprinkler system with large heads, without any check valves. Turn on a zone, and the water rushes at higher-than-normal speed while air is rushing out of the head(s) - when the air is finished rushing out, WHAM comes the hammer, and another head gets blown off the end of the line. Instead of refitting the entire golf-course system, they can use special control valves that will only open partially, until the air is pushed out, and the zone pressure comes up to a set point. (Cla-Val)