For more than a decade, worldwide concern for the adequacy of our freshwater supply has been on the rise. Water, as the saying goes, is the new oil. The energy crisis of the past has taught us more than one lesson: scarcity potentially brings with it a new set of choices, a need for adjustment and maybe even a realignment of public policy, private institutions, specific interest groups and for our purposes—clubs.
The water issue is complex and impacts each club differently. Pick your variable—club geography (drought-stricken California versus the relatively cool and wet North Central region), club type (golf club versus city club) or membership size (small versus large)—and you are likely to find that clubs must sort issues like supply and demand, revenues and costs, and opportunities and threats in very different ways against a backdrop of unique resource constraints and availability to align with their specific priorities.
But whatever the precise club context, the trends in club management have positioned most clubs to develop water management practices that are both fiscally and environmentally smart. Strategic planning cycles—a standard practice for most clubs—now look carefully at the larger environment in which the club exists and seeks to anticipate both threats and opportunities before they appear on the immediate horizon. This increased professionalization and specialization of club managers also provide the innovative insight and expertise to achieve optimal solutions.
For their part as well, club members have grown increasingly aware of their collective responsibility to support environmentally friendly practices and to adopt sustainable lifestyles that are healthy and that contribute to the greater good of the community and future generations. Therefore, club members take pride when their club steps forward to engage in far-sighted initiatives and sustainable resource practices. Clubs are, after all, voluntary associations, and as such are often composed of like-minded people who share similar values and ambitions for a better future. Increasingly, those values point to preserving the beauty of the natural surroundings and supporting social responsibility that enhances the quality of life in communities. Club life is rich in traditions and values that set high standards that point the community in the right direction.
CASE IN POINT: GOLF & WATER
At the outset of the twenty-first century, responsible water stewardship became a top environmental issue. Clubs, for their part, responded in kind. After all, golf courses provided an attractive target for what some would deem “excessive” use of water, and this to support a recreational pursuit that could be considered non-essential.
Fast-forward to the present era and the response of the golfing community, often led by the private club industry, has been remarkably successful, both deep in its effectiveness and broad in its reach. This is a trend that is gaining momentum and promises to extend into the broader arena of water conservation and many other sustainability initiatives.
HOW MUCH WATER IS BEING USED?
The Golf Course Superintendents Association of America (GCSAA) tracks water use closely. In its recent Golf Course Environmental Profile (Phase II, Volume 1), “Water Use and Conservation Practices on U.S. Golf Courses,” GCSAA looks back over a decade and finds that at a macro-level, U.S. golf courses are using substantially less water. Courses used an estimated 1,859 million acre-feet of water in 2013, which was a decline of more than 20 percent as compared to 2005. Staying at this macro-level, golf courses’ share of all U.S. irrigation water is quite small and decreasing as an overall percentage. GCSAA reports that in 2013 golf courses used 1.44 percent of all irrigation water in the U.S., down from 1.66 percent in 2005.
One acre-foot is equal to 325,851 gallons of water, and is equivalent of an acre of land covered with water to a depth of 1 foot.
Source: GCSAA Golf Course Environmental Profile, Phase II, Volume I, 2015.
If we analyze this positive accomplishment, there are three principal factors that explain the reduction. One factor is that the number of golf courses in the U.S. has declined from just over 16,000 about a decade ago to about 15,200 today—a reduction of approximately five percent, which represents more of a market correction than any conservation initiative. The lion’s share of water reduction, however, can be traced to better practices, which include water conservation strategies and voluntary reductions in irrigated acreage. Indeed, the GCSAA estimates that these practices amount to more than 500,000 acre-feet water savings captured from 2005 to 2013.
Private golf clubs represent about 25% of total U.S. golf facilities according to the National Golf Foundation for the analysis of the 2013 survey.
Source: Golf Course Environmental Profile, Phase II, Volume I, 2015.
HOW IS WATER BEING CONSERVED?
What are the techniques and practices and innovations driving these remarkable results? Improvements in irrigation systems have been a key. There have been all manner of advancements in technology, design and operation that have, in many cases, worked itself all the way down to the individual sprinkler head. Coupled with this, there is increased reliance on the use of wetting agents that make the water more effective in spreading over and penetrating the surfaces, tighter and smarter scheduling of irrigation and systematic monitoring and maintenance of these systems. The net result is gains in irrigation efficiency gains that have maintained high playability and aesthetic standards.
There is also a vast and growing repertoire of other water conservation practices. The nearby table summarizes these and documents their growing diffusion by those maintaining our courses.
Percentage of U.S. Facilities Using Water Conservation Practices
| Water conservation practices | 2005 | 2013 |
| Wetting agents | 88 | 94 |
| Keep turf drier than in past | 72 | 77 |
| Mulch landscape beds | 43 | 48 |
| Use irrigation scheduling* | 50 | |
| Adjust fertilizer practices | 42 | 52 |
| Soil amendments | 29 | 40 |
| Drip irrigation for landscape plants | 13 | 16 |
| Hand-held moisture sensors* | 33 | |
| Increase no-mow acreage* | 46 |
*Items not asked in 2005 survey
Source: GCSAA Golf Course Environmental Profile, Phase II, Volume I, 2015.
The changes made by golf courses in sourcing the water they use for irrigation have been just as dramatic. The nearby comparison of 2013 relative to 2005 reveals a dramatic uptick in the percentage of recycled water used for course irrigation (from 15 percent in 2005 to 25 percent in 2013). The greatest increase in the use of recycled water has occurred in precisely those areas with the highest demand for water, the Southeast and Southwest regions.
Source: GCSAA Golf Course Environmental Profile, Phase II, Volume I, 2015.
Mike Vogt, a golf and turf care consultant, has been tending to golf courses for decades. He points to yet one more area from which we can expect a continuing stream of savings, namely, the science of agronomy. As early as the 1980s, millions of research dollars have been funneled into the development of new turf grasses that use less water, require less chemical and fertilizer inputs or have other properties that facilitate their maintenance. For example, varieties of Buffalograss are replacing high water use grasses on fairways and roughs in a large geographic area of the Midwest, resulting in water savings of 50 percent or more. And then there are other types such as seashore paspalum that are extremely salt tolerant and can be irrigated with high-salt or brackish water will little effect on turf quality.
Ongoing Challenge
Like other members of the private club industry, Vogt takes the long view when considering water use, noting that this longstanding problem continues to yield to smart maintenance practices, conservation techniques and human ingenuity. All the same, it’s no small problem we face here. Vogt noted that President Kennedy was aware of the challenge water conservation presented our nation. When it came to water, President Kennedy certainly had his eye on the prize(s), saying, “Anyone who can solve the problems of water will be worthy of two Nobel prizes—one for peace and one for science.”
Club Trends Summer 2016