Summing It Up
• Incorporating landscape elements such as xeriscape (desert landscaping) can save millions of gallons of water without compromising the beauty of a course. |
Less is more when it comes to golf course water management, and properties are becoming increasingly creative in their efforts to conserve water. Many facilities are now looking more to technology, such as computerized, state-of-the-art irrigation systems, to help them retain this increasingly precious resource. Savvy superintendents, however, realize they will miss the boat if they rely solely on bells and whistles to manage their available water supplies.
Earning the “Golden Hose”
“The first misconception is that if you have the technology, you take out the human element. It’s the exact opposite,” says Anthony Williams, Certified Golf Course Superintendent and the Superintendent of Grounds at Stone Mountain (Ga.) Golf Club by Marriott.
Williams, who oversees two 18-hole golf courses that are part of the Evergreen Conference Resort in the state’s public Stone Mountain Park, leans heavily on his staff to manage the property’s available water.
“We depend an awful lot on staff members physically scouting the turf,” he reveals.
The crew also records its field observations in a daily log book, which, in turn, provides a historical record of water needs.
“It starts with having quality people with great technology, and a commitment to apply that technology,” Williams explains.
Employee recognition also factors into that commitment level. The superintendent, who joined Stone Mountain GC two years ago, recognizes outstanding crew members with an annual “Golden Hose” award, which includes a plaque and a cash incentive, for exemplary water conservation efforts.
“It is a way to get full buy-in,” adds Williams. “The entire staff wants to win the award.”
Less Turf is More
Other properties, such as Angel Park and The Legacy golf clubs in Las Vegas, are lowering water consumption by reducing out-of-play turf acreage.
Working in conjunction with the Southern Nevada Water Authority, Angel Park, which includes two 18-hole golf courses and a lighted, par-3 course, began to remove turf from a test area five years ago. The property will have removed about 70 acres of out-of-play turf by the time the project is complete later this year. Separately, the Legacy is also removing over 50-acres.
“It takes about three years to see a drastic return. We’re already seeing a reduction in water usage, though,” says Bill Rohret, Certified Golf Course Superintendent and Director of Maintenance for the two courses, which are managed by OB Sports Management.
For every acre that is removed, Angel Park plants xeriscape, or desert landscaping, that will eventually cover 50 percent of the area at mature growth.
“We hope to save 80 million gallons (of water) per year,” notes Rohret.
The public facility also hopes to boost its bottom line in the process. “Our course was built in the ’80s when land and water were inexpensive,” Rohret says. “Times have changed.”
Twenty years ago, he recalls, Angel Park paid 75 cents per 1,000 gallons of potable water from Lake Mead. Now, the property pays $2.33 per 1,000 gallons of 100-percent recycled water from a Las Vegas Valley Water District wastewater treatment plant.
In addition, he says, with fewer acres to mow, the property saves on fuel and overseeding costs.
“Our greens fees aren’t going up, but our expenses are because of fuel and irrigation costs,” Rohret says. “We need to set the example for the rest of the community. Changing the landscape to be more eco-friendly will help us achieve that end.”
The xeriscaping project has resulted in other benefits as well. Golfers can find their balls in out-of-play areas more easily, and in some instances, wayward shots bounce back on to the playing surface. “It’s helped the speed of play, and golfers like the look,” says Rohret.
Stone Mountain GC has also assumed a water conservation leadership role by changing landscaping practices to customers’ satisfaction.
The property, which has been under severe drought conditions since late September, canceled its fall rotation of seasonal planting, without a single complaint from its patrons.
“In the great scheme of things, we thought it was more important to lead from the front than to follow from the back,” Williams notes.
Coping with Sparse Supplies
While efficient water management is vital to every golf course, it is especially critical to properties such as The Landings Club, a private facility featuring six, 18-hole championship golf courses 12 miles southeast of Savannah, Ga., on Skidaway Island. “We’re so far away from any city-provided sources,” notes Michael Perham, Director of Golf Course and Grounds Maintenance.
A waste-water treatment plant sprays treated water onto two large spray fields, while pumps and a piping distribution system move water around the island to the golf courses.
Perham says the land planning for the island, which features fresh water lagoons, occurred in the 1970s. However, a shallow-well field system, which pulls the treated wastewater up from the ground, was added to the spray fields in 2000-01.
Even though half of Skidaway Island’s rainfall came in a five-week period in 2007, Perham notes, the total amount for the year was almost normal. Nevertheless, that did not change the property’s need to conserve water.
“We don’t have access to unlimited funds. We have a membership that we’re accountable to, and we have to utilize our resources as best we can,” he says. “We save electricity when we don’t have to pump as much water.”
The same is true for Glendale Country Club, an 18-hole private property in Bellevue, Wash., near Seattle. “We don’t have to pay for our water, but we do pay pumping costs,” says Certified Golf Course Superintendent Steve Kealy.
Reducing water usage translates into other advantages. “We try to keep it dry,” Kealy reports. “Nobody likes to play a wet golf course.”
Like many golf course properties around the country, White Horse Golf Club in Kingston, Wash., across the Puget Sound from Seattle, has developed best management practices to conserve water. “It helps us do things in a way that the course doesn’t use more water than it needs,” says Bob Screen, who owns the 18-hole, semi-private property.
The facility purchases water from a local public utility district, and it has a two-acre manmade lake, which boasts a lined bottom to keep water from seeping out, for stormwater retention and irrigation.
“We want to use as little water as possible because we are paying for it,” Screen adds.
The golf course layout also features forested ridges and wetlands buffers, to minimize its environmental impact.
“[The buffers] are all marked as sensitive areas,” Screen says. “When we built the course, we identified all the wetland areas first before we did the routing, so they were well-protected.”
At one time, Angel Park GC had more than 20 surface acres of lakes, Rohret says. However, the facility has filled in three of those lakes in the last 10 years—and reduced its water usage by almost 18 million gallons.
“We had them for aesthetics,” Rohret says of the filled-in lakes. “We didn’t need them. Now we don’t have to fill them.”
Stone Mountain GC reduced its water usage by 24 percent last year, Williams reports. Although the crew watered only the greens during the Level Four drought conditions, the property did not lose any of its agricultural assets.
“Each gallon of water that we save in a drought situation is another gallon of water that goes downstream that keeps mussels, wildlife and people alive,” Williams adds.
Testing the Waters
Golf course superintendents also realize that the quality of the water on their properties is just as important as the quantities they use.
Glendale CC, which features two Chinook salmon-bearing streams, tests its water in the spring and fall. “We test the water as it comes in and again as it leaves. We then compare that to any pesticides we’ve applied in the last six months,” Kealy says.
The property has been testing its water for six years, including 24 straight months in 2002-04, as part of a Northwest Turfgrass Association study.
“We need to show the community that we’re environmentally responsible,” notes Kealy.
Tests have indicated low levels of pesticides in the water from an upstream source, he reports, but none of the pesticides have gotten into the streams as a result of Glendale’s maintenance practices.
White Horse GC tests its ground and surface water three times a year according to state Department of Ecology protocols, and the results are sent to county and public utility district authorities.
The Landings Club tests water from the shallow fields each month, and the property tests the freshwater lagoons twice a year.
“We are concerned about salt water intrusion into the freshwater lagoons,” notes Perham.
Stone Mountain GC tests water quality in potential problem spots, such as irrigation sources and primary drain collection areas, several times a year. However, Mother Nature may offer the best indicator that the water is pure.
“We love to see salamanders, turtles and amphibians alive and well, because they’re the first life forms that would suffer from any runoff,” reports Williams.
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