To reduce water usage and demand, maintained turf at Diablo (Calif.) Country Club was reduced by 35 acres primarily in out-of-play areas. Drought-tolerant fescue and native California grasses, whose texture and color provide an appealing contrast to the manicured turf, were planted on 23 acres of open expanses on the golf course perimeter.
To reduce water usage and demand, maintained turf at Diablo (Calif.) Country Club was reduced by 35 acres primarily in out-of-play areas. Drought-tolerant fescue and native California grasses, whose texture and color provide an appealing contrast to the manicured turf, were planted on 23 acres of open expanses on the golf course perimeter. The remaining portion of the 35 acres was covered with mulch under trees or along property lines. Over time, more drought-tolerant or native plants will be planted to further enhance golf course aesthetics and to provide select screening.
“Once they’re established, they will no longer require irrigation,” Frank Cordeiro, Diablo’s Chief Executive Officer, says of the naturalized areas.
In another effort to conserve water, the property installed a $3.4 million, state-of-the-art, dual irrigation system that is expected to create annual water savings of about 30 percent. Features of the new system include greater efficiency, a dual system for potable and effluent water, and three to four times more heads than the previous 30-year-old system, which was past its useful life.
“Now we can put water only where we need it, when we need it,” says Cordeiro.
In addition, Nicholson says, the new irrigation system has provided aesthetic and functional advantages, by eliminating unsightly satellite control boxes from the golf course.
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