I took the top picture at the end of August when the course was being prepared for the Club Championship Weekend. We had not had rain since the middle of July, but the cool temperatures and low humidity made it possible for me to conserve water and keep the course as dry and firm as possible knowing that everything would green up with the first rain storm that rolled through the area.
In the weeks that followed we watched rain events fall apart as they approached the area, one after another.
I do everything I can to conserve water for a few key reasons. First, we purchase our irrigation water, therefore conserving water helps me manage the line item in my budget. Second, it is better for the golf course and the turf. Coastal golf courses are meant to play firm and fast with well played drives bounding down fairways and poorly played approach shots bouncing off greens. Drought stress places selective pressure on the turf, and each season the turf that cannot survive the stress is replaced by more durable, reliable plants through over seeding, or by healthy, resilient plants creeping to fill voids. Finally, fresh water is the most valuable natural resource on the planet, and golf is a luxury consumption of that resource. Ultimately this boils down to sustainability.
Each time I water fairways I use over 50,000 gallons of water, so I work very hard to rely on irrigation solely for the purpose of getting from one rain event to the next. In order to keep the course lush and green this summer I would have had to run irrigation cycles four or five times per week instead of once or twice. Not only would that break my budget, it is irresponsible from an environmental standpoint and would have ruined the playing conditions that we work so hard to produce. For the majority of the season the contrast of the dark green fairways against the bronzed rough was as appealing to most golfers as the extra twenty yards they were getting on their drives. As the drought persisted, some fairway areas thinned a bit more than I intended, but rarely to the detriment of the playing surface.
The bottom photo was taken one day after the first significant rainfall in over two months, and thanks to all the aeration, seeding, and fertilizing we have done over the last few weeks in anticipation of the rains that I knew had to come eventually, the course is beginning to return to its healthy green color. Was I always pleased with the condition and appearance of the course? Certainly not, but I was certain that the turf was resilient enough to recover once the favorable conditions returned, and I am proud of the fact that I was able to weather the storm (or lack of storms) without wasting valuable resources. In the long run the turf will be more resilient due to the stress that was imposed, and for the lessons we learned along the way. In the coming weeks I will be reviewing my programs to see where I can make adjustments and improvements so that we can continue to satisfy the golfers that enjoy a firm, fast golf course without upsetting the club member who prefers more of a parkland look to the property.
This post has inspired me to begin a series on sustainability, and what this concept means to the future of golf. The decisions I made this season were sometimes unpopular, but they were all well thought out and intentional. No one forced me to conserve water or scale back on fertility. I did it because it is the right thing to do, and the weather conditions were ideal to test this philosophy. This won't always be the case. There will be years when excessive heat, humidity, or other extreme conditions require reliance on additional inputs. In my corner of the world, this was the year to turn the water off. Many superintendents have admitted they did not, and their courses remained lush and green, and in some cases soft.
If the golf industry doesn't take the lead on matters such as water conservation and responsible use of fertilizers and pesticides, someone else will do it for us. As a good friend of mine often says "It's better to have a seat at the table than to find yourself on the menu."
If the golf industry doesn't take the lead on matters such as water conservation and responsible use of fertilizers and pesticides, someone else will do it for us. As a good friend of mine often says "It's better to have a seat at the table than to find yourself on the menu."
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