I live in Sun City, a subdivision in Roseville, California, right outside of Sacramento. The land was previously orchards and small farms and a lot of oaks. When it was being developed in the 1990s, the bulldozers pushed the topsoil away and built the houses on hard pan clay. They dug holes and planted trees and shrubs. They installed drip lines and covered it all with landscape fabric and/or 2-3 inches of topsoil, and then a light layer of bark.
The houses are slightly elevated above the street. Now, when people water their yards for more than 5-10 minutes, the water ends up in the gutter!

I decided to go with a fixed schedule and use the soak feature. I will keep an eye on it and see how that works.