Water Is ‘Biggest Obstacle’ Facing Golf, Says USGA

“We happen to think that, long term, water is going to be the biggest obstacle in the game of golf…. It’s not going to be a question of cost. It’s a question of: Will you be able to get it?”

Course architects, led by two-time Masters champ Ben Crenshaw, “removed 650 sprinkler heads, and they now have a more streamlined irrigation system that runs down the center of the fairways.” And 35 acres of rough are completely gone. What’s left on the sides of the fairways “is a combination of sand … and more than 200,000 wiregrass plants and other native grasses and weeds, giving it a look that’s natural and gnarly.”

The result of these changes: “Pinehurst No. 2 has gone from using 55 million gallons of water annually to 15 million, Davis said.”

The USGA knows climate change is going to require golf to change. They had a big conference in November 2012 on the subject resulting in the 70-page report, “Golf’s Use of Water: Solutions for a More Sustainable Game.” The welcoming remarks by USGA President Glen Nager explained that among the “increasingly complex and broad challenges” facing golf were “environmental and climate pressures.”

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/06/12/3448331/brown-is-the-new-green-golf-water/

In the Coachella Valley, courses use 24 percent of the area water consumption.