You Can Lead Your Course To Water...

Golf Business Magazine questioned 669 golf leaders about what they felt was the predominant environmental issue impacting the golfing industry. The survey reported that 77 percent of respondents felt water management topped the list. What I found was that these golf leaders do have reason to worry...
Did you know that a golf course can use as much water in a year as a small town? And in places where water is scarce, such as the ever popular and dry Las Vegas, golf courses make up more than 25 of the 100 biggest water users in the state.

Other findings show that courses in the United States each use 300,000 gallons of water a day on average.

According to the United Nations Environmental Programme's 2007 report, it is possible that by the year 2025, nearly 2 billion people on the planet will be living in absolute water scarcity conditions, while the majority of the world’s population will be living in under water stress.

Some have even dubbed water as "the new oil."

There may be hope. At least that is what some are saying.

More and more courses have opted for more expensive water conservation technologies, irrigation systems, and drought-resistant grass. Specifically, many experts are saying that the answer is in recycling water and growing hardier varieties of grass. Suggestions have been made to use substitutes of layers of synthetic soil. For example, there is a product on the market called Fytofoam which is a unique amino-plastic substrate material and readily absorbs water and nutrients and most importantly, retains them. In fact, it also retains at least 37 percent of air for vital good grass growth.

The following is what the USGA has to say about water conservation. They have provided best management practices for golf course irrigation below.

"Best Management Practices for water conservation could be described as the combination of proper plant selection and cultural maintenance practices that provide adequate turf quality for the game of golf while minimizing water use."

These could include:
· Selecting low-water-use turfgrasses, groundcovers, shrubs and trees for use on the course.
· Providing adequate levels of nutrients to the turf, including a balance of potassium and nitrogen, while avoiding excessive levels of nitrogen.
· Using mulches in shrub and flower beds to reduce water evaporation losses.
· Adjusting mowing heights to the ideal levels, depending on species and seasonal water use characteristics.
· Using soil cultivation techniques such as spiking, slicing and core aerification to improve water infiltration and minimize runoff during irrigation or rainfall events.
· Improving drainage where needed to produce a healthier turf with better root systems that can draw moisture from a larger volume of soil.
· Limiting cart traffic to paths to minimize turf wear and limit soil compaction.
· Cycling irrigation sessions to ensure good infiltration and minimize runoff.
· Root pruning trees near critical turf areas to prevent tree root competition with the turf for moisture and nutrients.

In short, you will see that all these studies popping up are showing that if courses continue the way they are going, there simply won't be enough water to go around in the long run. Can you imagine a world where golf courses are prohibited? But, golf is getting better at innovations and adapting to the challenge of conserving water. We'll see what happens.