Club and resort properties throughout the country are implementing permanent solutions to reduce their usage of, and dependence on, water in ways that don’t affect product quality.
There’s nothing quite like droughts of historic proportions to motivate golf course properties to take a good, hard look at their water inputs. And certainly, golf courses in parched, water-restricted California have devoted extra effort this year to doing just that.
But so are properties throughout the rest of the country. Because while mandatory water restrictions and financial incentives have become driving factors to curb water usage in many areas, there’s another reason more golf courses and clubs are now searching for ways to conserve every drop of water they can: It’s simply the right thing to do, and not just in a crisis situation. As a result, many new conservation tactics that golf course superintendents have learned to employ are here to stay.
SUMMING IT UP • Replacing managed turf with native vegetation and using state-of-the-art irrigation systems with pinpoint accuracy can help superintendents manage water resources effectively, efficiently, and permanently.• Golf course superintendents can lead water conservation efforts in their communities by reducing water consumption on their properties and by educating people about their initiatives.• The best reason for using efficient water- management strategies on golf courses is a simple one: It’s the right thing to do. |
Ahead of the Game
This past April, Gov. Jerry Brown of drought-stricken California issued an executive order directing his state’s Water Resources Control Board to implement mandatory water reductions requiring communities statewide to decrease water usage by 25 percent.
The order, which went into effect in June, also required golf courses and other large, landscaped areas to make significant cuts in their water use. Some properties in the state, though, such as North Ranch Country Club in Westlake Village and Pelican Hill Golf Club in Newport Beach, were already well in front of the issue.
“We have a history of implementing water-conservation [best-management practices],” says North Ranch Golf Course Superintendent Ryan Bentley. “It’s been a common theme as far back as 2000, when the golf course paid substantial money to pipe in reclaimed water.”
That dedication to water conservation has continued at North Ranch, a 27-hole facility located 30 miles north of Los Angeles, with the removal of 38 acres of irrigated turf in response to the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California’s turf-removal incentive program. North Ranch, which also underwent turf-conversion projects in 2008 and in 2010, started the planning process for its latest endeavor in February 2014. Construction began in October 2014, and the project was completed this summer.
When the water district doubled its incentive program to $2 per square foot, Bentley dived in. North Ranch’s leadership came on board when the superintendent showed them how the program would save the property $500,000 annually, after the initial costs and rebate, within five years.
“We had done other things in the past, so redesigning areas and removing turf was the only thing left to do,” Bentley explains. “Water prices continue to go up, and it was the right thing to do, economically and environmentally.”
Under the rebate program, participating properties are required to replace the turf with California-friendly vegetation and drought-tolerant landscaping, and to use mulch or other ground cover that allows water and air to penetrate through the soil. North Ranch planted more than 200 native oak and sycamore trees and 21 acres of wildflowers and grassland mixes. In addition to the turf removal and replanting, the $3 million project also included new irrigation installation and adjustments.
“We want to be as sustainable as we can be, and water is the most difficult area in which to be sustainable,” notes Bentley. And with savings of just under 5 million gallons of water in the project areas, he adds, “We were way under the water budget.”
In addition to reducing its irrigated turf acreage and replacing it with native areas, North Ranch has enjoyed other benefits as a result of the project. The maintenance staff has reduced chemical and fertilizer inputs, lowered fuel and water consumption, and improved stormwater quality and watershed health. The property has also created wildlife corridors in the native areas, and the wildflowers have enhanced habitats for pollinators.
North Ranch uses potable and reclaimed water, along with a small amount of well water, Bentley reports.
“Our goal is to reduce our use of potable water as much as possible,” he notes. The property used about half reclaimed and half potable water in 2009, and currently uses about 70 percent reclaimed and 30 percent potable. “We hope to get to 80-20 percent,” states Bentley. “We use every technology and resource we can find to improve our reclaimed water use.”
Free and Clear
Since opening in the early 1990s, Pelican Hill GC has irrigated exclusively with recycled water—which, unlike potable water, is not under any current usage restrictions. When the property closed its two 18-hole golf courses from 2005 to 2007 for renovations, the project included updating and improving the irrigation system and drainage, changing the tees and fairways to drought-tolerant Bermuda grass, and installing five underground cisterns and several catch basins.
The cisterns, which collectively hold 1.2 million gallons of water, are emptied within 10 days following each rainfall to continue capturing runoff throughout the rainy season. The two irrigation reservoirs collectively hold more than 5 million gallons of rainwater above their normal levels. In addition to capturing and recycling runoff, the system reduces the amount of pollutants, debris, and contaminants in the water.
“We went to unprecedented lengths to design and install a water-management system based on conservation and recycling, designed to protect the area’s most important asset—the Pacific Ocean,” says Steve Friedlander, Pelican Hill’s Vice President–Golf. “With this state-of-the-art system, our golf courses have consistently used about 30 to 40 percent less than our recycled water allocation allows.”
With the underground cisterns, Pelican Hill can use only as much water as needed, by monitoring how much water the vegetation needs and how much moisture the soil can hold.
“Our proactive approach to water conservation and use of recycled water at Pelican Hill has resulted in savings of more than 50 million gallons of water each year,” reports Friedlander. In addition, he notes, “Using recycled water for irrigation saves millions of gallons of potable water, while serving an important purpose in filtering recycled water into underground aquifers. That water will eventually make its way back into our potable water supply in the future.”
Passion in the Prairie
While Glencoe (Ill.) Golf Club, in Chicago’s northern suburbs, is not under any type of water restriction, Golf Course Superintendent Dave Arden is still passionate about water conservation. He started looking for ways to reduce water consumption in 2008 when the property began pursuing Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Program certification, which it achieved in 2011.
Glencoe GC also created a new retention pond on the golf course in 2009. The pond increased its capacity to store rainwater by 10 percent and reduced its dependency on irrigating with treated municipal water. A natural grass pond buffer was planted on the banks to prevent erosion as well. In addition, the pond creates an a wildlife habitat for shore birds and amphibians.
“It’s a good thing for everybody and a good, positive outlook for the game,” Arden says of water conservation and other eco-friendly maintenance practices.
Going Native
As part of its turf conversion project, North Ranch removed about 17 acres of turf from the Lakes Course, about 16 acres from the Valley Course, and about five acres from the Oaks Course. The property also removed turf around the driveway and the front entrance of the clubhouse, as well as the tennis clubhouse.
The majority of the turf was removed from out-of-play areas. For areas that are in play, North Ranch added low-density planting, because the property did not want to affect pace or increase the difficulty of the golf courses. “We tried to minimize the impact on play,” explains Bentley.
The property also converted 35 acres of fairway on all three nines to warm-season, low-water Bermuda grass, which has eliminated the need to overseed. “The goal is to have 100 percent Bermuda grass in the fairways shortly,” Bentley reports.
As part of Pelican Hill’s renovation, turf areas also were converted to drought-tolerant landscape in out-of-play zones. “Ornamental plants were selected for their minimal water requirements,” says Friedlander. “Mediterranean plants and succulents in particular are used for outdoor landscape and indoor design.”
In addition, the property converted cool-season, needy turf to warm-season, drought-tolerant turf such as Bermuda grass, to reduce irrigation requirements.
Glencoe CC also has low-water turf grass, groundcovers, shrubs, and trees in its natural areas, which has lessened the need for water or fertilizer. In addition, the property uses mulches in shrub areas and flower beds, to decrease losses from water evaporation.
Glencoe also increased its natural areas, which cover about 10 of the golf course’s 100 acres, to create more habitat areas for wildlife and decrease maintenance. In addition, the property built a butterfly garden two years ago and a pollinator garden, to help increase the honeybee population, last year.
Irrigation Overhauls
As part of its ever-evolving water-conservation efforts, North Ranch also overhauled its irrigation system in 2005, upgrading it in conjunction with the turf project. Upgrades included the elimination of old heads and pop-up heads and the installation of individually controlled heads. In landscaped zones, the grounds crew uses a drip system and subsurface irrigation.
The property eliminated more than 1,200 irrigation heads, Bentley says, and went to a low-flow drip system and low-flow spray heads. The new system also replaced wall-to-wall irrigation with direct irrigation on a single plant.
“We regularly check irrigation heads for leaks,” Bentley adds. “We perform irrigation audits at least once a year, but we’re trying to do it quarterly now.”
With updated irrigation inputs, the property can concentrate its maintenance practices and water usage on the playable parts of the golf course. “We’re trying to push firm and fast as best we can,“ Bentley says. North Ranch is also trying to go as long as possible without watering out-of-play areas. Instead of watering those zones every five or six days, the crew now waits as long as 10 to 20 days between watering.
Pelican Hill also uses a state-of-the-art, high-efficiency irrigation system to reduce water consumption in its landscaping. The systems feature smart irrigation controllers, drip and low-flow irrigation, and master valves with flow sensors.
The smart irrigation controller system bases the amount of water that is used for irrigation on plant and soil types, and on weather conditions. “The system uses real-time weather satellite data that, for instance, shuts off the irrigation system during rainy or cold conditions,” notes Friedlander.
Pelican Hill’s drip and low-flow irrigation allows water to seep slowly into the soil, drastically reducing water usage and the overspray of traditional sprinklers onto non-landscaped areas. The master valves with flow sensors allow the water to be turned off automatically when a leak is detected.
To apply water efficiently and reduce water and energy consumption, Glencoe GC uses state-of-the-art computerized irrigation control systems and variable-frequency-drive pumping systems. The club has also decreased the water levels in its pond, which increases water-holding capacity and allows the maintenance staff to use rainwater to irrigate. Recycled rainwater is collected in drain tiles that lead to the irrigation pond, and the maintenance crew can pull water from the pond to irrigate the course. “If it rains on the golf course, and I can keep that water on the course, it saves it from going downstream,” Arden notes.
Improving drainage where needed has enabled the Glencoe staff to grow healthier turf with better root systems that can draw moisture from a larger volume of soil. By cycling irrigation sessions, the grounds crew also promotes good infiltration and minimizes runoff.
Diving Into Details
While Pelican Hill GC developed its sophisticated water conservation program long before California’s current drought crisis, the property has continued to seek out, and employ, new water-management practices. “Since we’ve done so much to conserve water already, our current efforts focus on identifying smaller, more detailed opportunities that support the larger-scale practices implemented during the past few decades,” notes Friedlander.
For example, the staff tests evaporation-reduction products for the irrigation lakes that hold captured rainwater in the cisterns. In addition, Friedlander says, “Our irrigators use moisture meters to measure every green daily and to accurately adjust irrigation, based on real-time data, instead of irrigating when greens look dry. Essentially, we meticulously micro-manage water use across every corner of the golf course that requires irrigation.”
In addition to also using soil-moisture meters, North Ranch CC has a drought-contingency plan and an emergency plan that designates some parts of the course as non-irrigated areas as well. The grounds crew also has a closed-loop wash station for its equipment. In addition, as part of the turf removal project, the North Ranch maintenance staff produced wood chips on site and spread them around plantings by the clubhouse and on the golf courses.
To reduce the possibility of over-irrigating at Glencoe, the maintenance staff uses weather reporting services and other resources to determine accurate daily water-replacement needs. The crew adjusts mowing heights to ideal levels, depending on species and seasonal water-use characteristics. Maintenance employees also use soil cultivation techniques such as spiking, slicing, and core aerification. These practices improve water infiltration and minimize water runoff during irrigation or rain events. In addition, root-pruning trees near critical turf areas prevents the competition for moisture and nutrients between tree roots and turf.
Part of the Solution
While superintendents have been implementing permanent tactics to manage precious water resources for years, not everyone is aware of their initiatives.
“Because golf courses tend to be green, the public perception is that golf courses are large water users,” states Bentley. “But California golf courses use less than 1 percent of ground and surface water. New golfers and people outside of the game look at us as being part of the problem, where really we are part of the solution.”
North Ranch is doing its best to educate the public about its efforts. According to Bentley, the club has a good relationship with its local water district, which initially contacted the golf facility about its turf removal projects. And North Ranch’s Board of Directors and Greens Committee members were happy to take part in the conservation efforts, he notes.
“Our membership values leading the way in our community and in the nation,” he adds.
The property used aerial and other photographs, as well as artists’ renderings, to explain what they were doing with the turf-reduction project—and why—to the membership and to the residents of the 200-plus homes surrounding the property. The staff also discussed the project with the nearby homeowners’ associations.
“We are taking on water conservation to help them as best we can as well,” says Bentley. “Change is difficult, but a lot of folks have said, ‘Great job.’”
North Ranch has also promoted firm, fast conditions with the evolution of golf course maintenance practices in the last decade. “When we use less water, we have fast, firm, healthier turf,” Bentley explains.
Although Glencoe CC is fortunate enough to border the Forest Preserves of Cook County on the north and the Chicago Botanic Garden on the west, its Golf Course Superintendent, Dave Arden, agrees that golf courses need to be good neighbors, particularly in heavily populated cities and suburban areas.
“I think it’s important in the public eye,” he says. “There’s a lot of negativity from the public about golf if you don’t play golf. We can prove that we provide more green space and manage it with priorities.”
Honored by Golf magazine’s Eco-friendly Green Hall of Fame Awards and Golf Digest’s Green Star Environmental Awards, Pelican Hill Golf Club, in Newport Beach, Calif., has received recognition for its conservation efforts. From the outset, the property has worked closely with outside agencies to advance water conservation initiatives as well.
“Orange County Coastkeeper, an environmental organization that we consulted during the planning process, has deemed our water-management system as the most advanced of any seen on the California coast, and it’s likely to become a model for the state,” notes Friedlander, who believes it is essential for the golf industry to play a leading role in water conservation and sustainability initiatives as well.
“Golf courses generally improve the environmental quality of our communities as green spaces that filter water into underground aquifers, while also producing oxygen that’s vital to people and wildlife,” Friedlander explains. “Golf courses provide better air quality, preserve wildlife habitat, and capture urban runoff before it gets to the ocean.”
He also expects that Pelican Hill’s long-term investment in state-of-the-art conservation practices and environmental stewardship will reduce costs and continue to pay off for future generations.
“We try to get the message out that golf has led the way for a long time and will continue to save even more [water],” says North Ranch’s Bentley. “We’re stewards of the land.”
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