SPRINKLER TALK FORUM - You Got Questions, We've Got Answers

First of all, I apologize that I basically know nothing about sprinkler systems. I'm going to try my best to explain my issue and have pics to show what I cannot describe. Thanks in advance and I'm sorry if this is a struggle to read. But anyways...

After noticing that my grass in the backyard isn't growing well and dying in some areas, I went out to investigate -- It seems that some areas were flooding while some areas were bone dry.

Today, I told the lawn guy about the problem and asked him to clean out the sprinkler heads. He scoped it out and brought this broken piece to me, indicating that this is my problem.


As far as I understand, all of the sprinkler heads are connected in series, so when this thing has been broken off, there's insufficient water pressure for the rest of the yard.

The top of it looks like this and it fits into a tight little hole in the center of my yard. I don't see where it connects to at the end of the hole -- it is fairly deep and the connection should be pretty far in there.


So my questions are these:
•What is it?
•Is there a part that I can buy to replace what is snapped off? Is it expensive?
•How do I reconnect it? Am I going to have to grab a shovel and dig til I find the connecting portion?
•Do I need extra tools/supplies?
•How big of a job is this? Do I attempt to do it myself or should I hire a professional? Any guesstimations on what someone would charge for this?
•How did this happen? It doesn't seem like something that would snap off randomly. I was theorizing that maybe the lawn guys snagged it with the mower and accidentally yanked it?

Again, thank you again and I appreciate any time and help.

Thanks for the reply, Wet Boots! Looks like I will call service then. That cost sounds more than reasonable to me. Any idea what this thing is called so that I can communicate my issue over the phone?