Water Conservation on Golf Courses

• Visible – Yes!

• Irresponsible – No!

Playing Golf is a Game!

Operating a Golf Course is a Business!

70% of golf courses are public access

2000 Florida Golf Economic Impact Study

• Revenues = $4.4 billion dollar industry

• Employs 72,000 people. Compares to 80,000 in theme and amusement parks and 66,000 wage and salaried in Agriculture.

• Travel expenses in Florida by golf playing visitors = $22.9 billions with $5.4 attributed directly to golf. Translated to $9.2 billion in personal and net income (valued added) and 215,873 jobs.

• Total county property taxes w/golf courses, based on avg. county millage rates in 1999, estimated at $214 million.

• Charitable contributions = $12 M cash, $25 M in-kind.

Golf Water Use Facts from 2000 Study

• Total area owned by courses = 207,582 A

• Total irrigated acres = 140,530. Compare to 800,000 A of citrus and 4-5 million acres of home lawns.

• 49% of courses surveyed in 2000 used reclaimed water, 29% used surface water, and only 21% used deep wells from the aquifer.

• Compared to 5 years ago water use per acre decreased or remained unchanged on 84% of surveyed courses.

• 94% of courses surveyed used automatic or computer controlled irrigation systems.

• **2005 USGS report: Golf Course acreage was about the same in 2005 as it was in 2000. Use =3% statewide. This number has held steady since 1995 report.

Golf Water Conservation Tools• Computerized Pumping Stations and

Control Systems

• Alternative water sources

• Golf Course Design & Maintenance

• Environmental Stewardship

Weather Stations record and send data to the computer in the Superintendent’s office.

Watering times are monitored and adjusted daily for soil moisture and weather conditions

Potable Water Conservation

• Statewide nearly 33% of all courses irrigate with reclaimed water.

Conserving Potable Water

Alternative sources for irrigation water:• Reclaimed Water • Storm Water Runoff Retention • Surface Water • Horizontal Wells – surficial ground water• Reverse Osmosis• Brackish Water – Requires Seashore

Paspalum Turfgrass and periodic fresh water flush.

Water Conservation – Course Design

Target Golf ConceptUnirrigated Areas in Roughs

Unirrigated out of play areas Minimize Turf Acreage – 50A Pete Dye Course Port St. Lucie

Other Design & Maintenance

Water Saving Ideas• Native plants on tee

slopes. Only tee top watered.

• Naturalizing out-of-play areas on the golf course

• **Incentives and grants for modernizing systems and converting turf acreage to naturalized areas.

Hand watering of hot spots on greens: Putting water only where it’s needed!

Other Maintenance Water Savers

Use of wetting agents and soil amendments

What About Tomorrow?

• Consider reduction of irrigated turf area for future golf course designs – consult with Florida-based architects. See Southwest USA for potential examples.

• Encourage existing golf courses to convert irrigated but out-of-play areas to un-irrigated native areas. Some courses are doing this as part of Audubon International Cooperative Sanctuary programs.

• Encourage the use of salt tolerant Seashore Paspalum turfgrasses in coastal areas where brackish aquifers could be tapped. Some fresh water will be required to flush accumulated salts from root zones.

Florida Golf Course Superintendents Association

• 1,067 members statewide

• 12 local chapters:

Calusa* Ridge

Central Florida Seven Rivers

Coastal Plains South Florida*

Everglades* Suncoast

North Florida Treasure Coast*

Palm Beach* West CoastChapters with * in SFWMD

Summary

• Golf is not a “big” water user (3% or less – SFWMD reports golf use is 2.3% of total consumption)

• Golf Irrigation systems are monitored, inspected, repaired and reset daily based on weather, turf stress and playing conditions

• Over watering is not practical or economical – it runs up electric bills, fosters soil compaction, weeds, disease and poor playing conditions – which means dissatisfied customers.

Sources

UF publication EIR 02-4:

http://economicimpact.ifas.ufl.edu

USGS Web Site: http://fl.water.usgs.gov and http://usgs.gov/infodata/wateruse.html

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