SPORTS PROBLEM: What can golf courses do to more effectively conserve water and cut costs? We have all heard news reports about the historic drought that has had a significant impact on California and the state’s efforts to deal with it. Since California is also home to a large number of excellent golf courses, how are those superintendents handling the numerous restrictions put on them regarding water usage, and how can golf courses elsewhere handle this issue better?
INTELLIGENT SPORTS SOLUTION: In order to address the ongoing problem of water conservation, the USGA is using a number of fresh, creative, and clever solutions. The new grasses being created and tested to determine which ones are best suited for the various environments they would be used in are listed below.
Improved Grasses that Require Less Water
Through a university grants program, the United States Golf Association has given out more than $18 million since 1982 to study environmental issues associated with the game of golf, with a focus on the creation of new grasses that use less water and pesticides. For example:
Turfgrass breeders at the University of Nebraska have created a number of enhanced cultivars of buffalograss (Buchloe dactyloides), a native of the American Great Plains. In a significant portion of the Mid-West, this grass can replace grasses with a high water use on fairways and roughs, resulting in water savings of 50% or more.
Breeders at Oklahoma State University have created enhanced cultivars of the seeded-type, cold-tolerant bermudagrass (Cynodon dactylon), which enables this stress-tolerant, low water use grass to be established in the transition zone as a replacement for high water use cool season grasses. It is possible to save 30% to 50% or more on water. When the Ruby Hill G.C. in When Pleasanton, California was built, its fairways and roughs were established to bermudagrass instead of the cool-season grasses used at nearly all other courses in Northern California. Compared to comparable courses that use cool-season grasses, they predict a water savings of about 40%.
The University of Georgia’s turfgrass breeders have created enhanced cultivars of seashore paspalum (Paspalum vaginatum). High-salt or brackish waters can be used to irrigate this exceptionally salt-tolerant grass with little impact on the quality of the turf. There are cultivars for greens, tees, fairways, and roughs, and some of them can even be watered with ocean water!
Current breeding efforts are being made on zoysiagrass (Texas A&M), saltgrass (Colorado State and Arizona State), annual bluegrass (Minnesota and Penn State Universities), alkaligrass (Loft’s), fairway crested wheatgrass (Utah State), colonial bentgrass (Univ. of Rhode Island) and a number of grass species at Rutgers University and at other commercial seed businesses will produce new grass varieties for golf that save water and pesticides for decades to come.
New Irrigation System Technologies
Tremendous strides have been taken in recent years to improve irrigation system efficiency through the use of technology, including:
reducing over-irrigation by accurately estimating daily irrigation replacement needs using sophisticated on-site weather stations, weather reporting services, and other resources. Additionally, a significant effort is being made to adapt various types of sensors, such as tensiometers, porous blocks, heat dissipation blocks, neutron probes, and infrared thermometry, to assess the needs for replacing turf soil moisture.
enhancing irrigation uniformity through careful consideration of sprinkler head design, nozzle selection, head spacing, pipe size, and pressure selection. The Center for Irrigation Technology (CIT) is located at 5370 N. To achieve the greatest water savings on golf courses and other turf areas, Chestnut, Fresno, CA 93740; phone 209-278-2066, is a leader in combining sprinkler uniformity and relative turfgrass quality needs. Numerous golf course irrigation design firms and individual golf courses routinely employ CIT services to lower the water and energy usage on golf courses.
Modern computerized control systems, portable handheld controllers, and variable frequency drive pumping systems are used to apply water in the most effective way possible to lower water and energy consumption.
With the help of these technologies, significant water and energy resource savings can be made. For instance, the SCGA Members Club in Murrieta, California, recently installed a completely new, cutting-edge irrigation system and has decreased water use by about 35%. Additionally, their high energy costs have been reduced by about 50% as a result of being able to complete their irrigation schedule in a constrained window during the night.
Best Management Practices for Golf Course Irrigation
The combination of wise plant selection and cultural upkeep procedures that provide sufficient turf quality for the game of golf while consuming the least amount of water could be referred to as best management practices for water conservation. These could include:
choosing turfgrasses, groundcovers, shrubs, and trees for the course that require little water.
supplying the turf with enough nutrients, including a balance of potassium and nitrogen while avoiding too much nitrogen.
reduce water evaporation losses in shrub and flower beds by using mulch.
adjusting mowing heights to the ideal values based on species and seasonal water use traits.
using soil cultivation methods to increase water infiltration and reduce runoff during irrigation or rainfall events, such as spiking, slicing, and core aerification.
Improved irrigation systems that can draw moisture from a larger volume of soil will result in a healthier turf where drainage needs to be improved.
limiting cart traffic to designated paths to reduce soil compaction and turf wear.
To ensure good infiltration and reduce runoff, alternate irrigation sessions.
To avoid trees competing with the turf for moisture and nutrients, root pruning trees close to important turf areas is necessary.
Alternative Water Sources
It is easy to understand why many communities are concerned about golf courses using potable water supplies, whether from municipal sources or from on-site wells, during times of drought and water use restrictions. As a result, many golf courses have created non-potable irrigation water sources as an alternative. These include:
Storage ponds to catch storm runoff water that might otherwise be lost and wasted.
Utilization of tertiary treated effluent from municipal sewage treatment facilities. While assisting the municipality in avoiding the discharge of effluent water into nearby rivers, this recycled water helps the golf course by providing moisture and nutrients. The turf does a great job of removing nutrients from the water and degrading different chemicals and biological contaminants. In some Southwest locations, using recycled water on golf courses is required, and it is thought that more than 1000 courses currently do so nationwide.
use of ocean water or even brackish water to supplement other water sources. Golf courses are able to irrigate with brackish waters that would otherwise have little other use because Bermudagrass and seashore paspalum are quite tolerant of high salt content water. For instance, the Old Collier Golf Club in Naples, Florida, is introducing two of the new seashore paspalum varieties developed by the University to its greens, tees, fairways, and roughs. of Georgia breeding program, and will irrigate the turf with ocean water from a nearby estuary bay. The entire course will be irrigated during six off-peak hours to reduce energy costs, and a state-of-the-art irrigation system will allow precise application of this water so as to not affect native plant materials.
Building on-site desalination facilities using reverse osmosis (RO) to produce irrigation water from seawater or brackish water in locations where other supplies are scarce or prohibitively expensive. The Jupiter Island Club in Hobe Sound, Florida; the Sombrero Country Club in Marathon, Florida; the Everglades Club on the Barrier Island of Palm Beach, Florida; and the Mahogany Run Golf Course in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, have all constructed RO plants recently and established high-quality, dependable, and affordable supplies of irrigation water while allowing others in their communities to use the scarce supply of potable water.
Golf Course Design Concepts that Save Water
Modern golf course designers employ cutting-edge design principles to help conserve water.
Runoff and subsurface drainage water are collected in on-site storage lakes using careful earth shaping and good drainage design.
Water is saved by at least 50% by limiting the amount of turfed areas and water-intensive landscape features.
In order to allow for uniform water infiltration and a significant reduction in water use by reducing runoff and avoiding over-application of irrigation water, golf course sites with poor or inconsistent soils are covered with a 6-inch layer of sand.