It’s crunch time. You find yourself late in a big match with a putt that you must make. It’s do or die, make or go home. Fortunately, you have done your due diligence, spent lots of time on the practice green and confidently roll in the putt to survive and head to the next tee.
Now, let’s apply that analogy to a golf course during the next drought. It’s crunch time, there hasn’t been any measurable rainfall for a month. The well is going dry, the irrigation pond level is dropping or the municipal water supplier has put restrictions on water consumption. Has the golf course done its due diligence? Have they been practicing water conservation measures all along to be prepared? Will they be able to survive to play another day?
Golf courses in Arizona find themselves in this situation right now. The state created the Groundwater Management Act in 1980 and since then, in four subsequent phases, has encouraged and/or required progressively stricter water conservation measures. What Arizona understood 45 years ago is that water conservation is not about restrictions; it’s about using water efficiently. Only now, after all those years of working on efficient conservation practices, the latest Phase 5 measure enacts flow restrictions. On some courses this could be up to 20% in 2025. Due to the conservation practices that are now second nature, most will be able to meet the new requirements.
But Illinois is not Arizona. Most golf course irrigation systems sit idle for half the year. Water tables recharge, ponds and lakes fill up. Many of us take for granted that when the turf at the courses we play needs water, it will be available. That is not always the case, as courses discovered back in 2012 when many areas in Illinois went six months without measurable rainfall. Recognizing this, the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America (GCSAA) has put together Best Management Practices (BMPs) for water conservation state by state. Additionally, the USGA created a Water Conservation Playbook as part of the Association’s 15-year, $30 million investment to help golf courses reduce overall water usage. You can find the Illinois BMPs by scanning the QR code (GCSAA BMPs, opposite page, top) and the USGA playbook by scanning the QR code (USGA Water Conservation Playbook, opposite page, bottom).
Every course is unique. Some of the BMPs may work for some courses that may not for others. As technology improves and situations change, the BMP guide is easily updated. The important thing for golf courses is to evaluate how the BMPs can be initiated. Golf courses may already be doing some of them – after all, they are historically very good stewards of the environment.
Here are some examples of the recommended practices you may see go into effect at courses you play.
Irrigation system efficiencies: leak detection, maintenance of sprinkler heads, audits for flow rates and pressure, distribution testing, moisture measurement and documentation, rain gauges, infiltration rates and timing.
Water conservation efficiencies: limit irrigated acres of turf, use of natural vegetation that does not require irrigation, use of drought tolerant grasses, documentation of use for comparisons.
Even though the Nature Conservancy predicts an overall increase of precipitation, our drought risk is not expected to go down. Why is that? Higher temperatures will increase evapotranspiration rates creating more demand for irrigation, summer precipitation is expected to decrease and more heavy rain events could increase the number of consecutive dry days. Opportunities for short-term drought are not going away.
By dialing in water conservation skills, courses may discover that their water demand is not as high as they thought. When the drought hits (and it will), the hope is that they will be ready when crunch time arrives thanks to the GCSAA and USGA’s advice on water conservation.