Losing prime on my shallow well

I have a shallow well with 4 points at about 17 ft. I have a check valve right before the intake with a filter after outflow. I turn my centrifugal pump on and let it run for about 5 mins. and get a good 35 gpm. When I turn it off and keep it off for several hours it takes 5 mins again to get the water start flowing again. I need to have immedate flow don't I in order to run sprinklers?

Help
Bob.

Move the check valve to the furthest possible point from the pump. Like where all the wells tee together.

bob...

Thanks for the quick response. I will try that today. Can I have two check valves?
Thanks
Bob

Nope, bad idea, its the one at the pump that is allowing air to get into the piping. With the one at the wells only, the entire suction line will stay pressurized.

bob...

Thanks again for the answer. I will put the check valve underground near the connection point of all the wells.
Bob