Tech Notes Issue 3

Water Use and Conservation Practices on U.S. Golf Courses

Just recently a comprehensive study on golf course water use and conservation was  published (1). The Environmental Institute for Golf sent a survey to superintendents at 16,797 golf facilities in the United States. Of these surveys, 15 percent were returned. The entire report can be found at: http://www.eifg.org/programs/EIFG_GCEP_Vol_2.pdf

Although done in the United States some of the interesting points include:

• Golf courses comprise an estimated 484,978 ha of irrigated turfgrass in the United States, and their total annual water use averaged over 3 years (2003-2005) is estimated at 2,852,675 megalitres

• Twelve percent of the golf courses use re-use water (effluent, reclaimed)

• In the eastern United States 57 to 64 percent of the golf courses do not pay for irrigation water. In the southwestern United States, only 18 percent of the golf courses do not pay for irrigation water.

• Golf courses that used various types of water conservation methods:
     • Wetting agents (92%)
     • Hand watering (78%)
     • Keeping the turf drier (69%)
     • Mulch landscape beds (51%)
     • Utilize irrigation scheduling techniques (weather stations, forecasts, etc.) (47%)

Reference:
1. Throssell, C.S., Lyman, G.T., Johnson, M.E., Stacey, G.A., and Brown, C.D. 2009. Golf course environmental profile measures water use, source, cost, quality, and management and conservation strategies. Online. Applied Turfgrass Science doi:10.1094/ATS- 2009-0129-01-RS

Table: Water characteristics for golf facilities in the USA and within each agronomic region (NE- northeast, NC - northcentral, Trans - transition zone, SE - southeast, SW - Southwest, UW/Mtn - Upper West/Mountain, Pac - Pacific