AColorado golf courses play an essential role in protecting the state’s most precious resource: water. With more than 90,000 miles of rivers, over 270,000 acres of lakes, and growing demands across sectors, it’s more important than ever to protect water quality. Rivers, reservoirs, and aquifers support drinking water, agriculture, recreation, and wildlife across the state and far beyond its borders.
Colorado golf courses implement science-based best management practices (BMPs) designed to protect water quality, conserve resources, and support healthy ecosystems - making golf courses powerful contributors to environmental stewardship.
Colorado’s golf courses play a critical role in filtering stormwater - especially in urban areas where impervious surfaces like roads and buildings dominate. Turfgrass on golf courses helps absorb rainfall, slow runoff, and trap sediments before reaching nearby rivers, lakes, or groundwater.
Golf course landscapes are natural filtration systems that support clean water and healthy aquatic ecosystems. That’s why water quality BMPs are so important. They build on this natural advantage, ensuring that golf courses continue to enhance environmental quality while offering recreational and community value.
The following BMPs are commonly implemented by Colorado golf courses to protect water quality:
Buffers Zones: Native grasses, wildflowers, and wetland plants around waterbodies filter runoff and slow water movement, protecting aquatic systems.
Water Quality Monitoring Plans: Regular sampling of waterbodies for nutrients, pH, and other indicators helps superintendents track performance and detect changes.
Integrated Pest Management (IPM): Golf course teams carefully minimize use of chemicals, using various methods of pest management including mechanical and biological practices.
Wetland Protection: Sensitive wetlands are preserved and enhanced as natural water filters and habitat zones.
Stormwater Management: Courses use swales, rain gardens, and pervious surfaces to reduce runoff and allow water to soak naturally into the ground.
Silt Fencing and Erosion Controls: Critical during construction, these controls prevent sediment from washing into creeks or storm drains.
These strategies are essential for protecting water in Colorado’s diverse ecosystems - from the Front Range to the Western Slope. Whether near major river systems or in sensitive high-alpine environments, superintendents utilize science-based BMPs to support watershed health.
The Colorado Golf Economic & Environmental Impact Report demonstrates how golf courses serve as open spaces providing measurable environmental services. Golf courses across the state protect over 31,000 acres of greenspace, much of which serves as important water filtration, flood mitigation, and habitat areas.
In addition to recreational and economic value, these lands deliver key ecosystem benefits - such as improved infiltration, groundwater recharge, and carbon storage - that align with Colorado’s broader environmental goals, including watershed protection, climate resilience, and sustainable land use.
Golf course superintendents recognize their role as stewards of the land and are committed to protecting these resources for future generations. Through the adoption of BMPs - supported by platforms like BMP Hero and endorsed by organizations such as the Rocky Mountain Golf Course Superintendents Association and Colorado Golf Association - the industry is demonstrating leadership in sustainability.
By working together, Colorado golfers can continue to enjoy the game of golf all while knowing they are supporting the protection of the Rocky Mountain State’s most valuable resource: clean water.