Facing steady decline in the last decade, the Alondra Park, Calif. property has been identified as one of five Los Angeles County golf courses that could be repurposed for additional parkland in the area. The course sits between North Torrance and Lawndale, which have been identified as two areas in need of additional green space.…

The first phase of the project at the 97-year-old Somis, Calif. property includes the removal of bunkers and trees as well as a fairway expansion with new Santa Ana Bermuda turf. In addition to restoring aspects of William F. Bell’s original golf course design, improvements under the club’s new ownership and Troon Privé management will also…

The app officially launched in November 2017, and is described as “Uber for golf.” Users request tee times at nearby golf courses and the app tracks the holes played with GPS. After playing as many holes as they want, those using the app are then charged accordingly. With his new mobile app, Pascal Stolz is…

The proposed golf course in Newport Coast, a community in Newport Beach, Calif., would sit on the former Coyote Canyon Landfill, which was open from 1963 to 1990. The development would include an 18-hole golf course, fast-play short course, practice facility, a double-deck driving range, bar and grill, and a 2,000-sq. ft. clubhouse. The County…

A report compiled after county supervisors questioned a proposed $7.5 million upgrade to the Lakewood (Calif.) CC course recommended opening up some of the county’s 18 facilities to include a wider range of activities. “This is big open space, and I think there’s less and less people who are actually taking the time to spend the day golfing,” one supervisor said in assessing the usage and profit picture of the country’s largest golf system of its kind.

The Orange County Board of Supervisors has given approval for lease negotiations to begin with potential developers of about 200 acres of the former Coyote Canyon landfill outside of Newport Beach, Calif. The leading plan would build an 18-hole short course, a double-ended, double-decker driving range, 12,000-sq. ft. clubhouse, 16,000 sq. ft. of ballrooms and wedding gardens, and a food court with a patio.

As with previous offers, clubs and courses in the Palm Springs, Calif. region are being offered a new round of $15,000 rebates for each acre of irrigated turf that is removed, with a cap of seven acres. “It is not about being in an emergency or reacting to the emergency,” said a water-district official in explaining the program’s continuation.

The news for the industry isn’t as bad as often portrayed, Paul Levy, who is also the General Manager of Toscana CC in Indian Wells, Calif., told those attending an industry summit. “There are a lot of really great things happening out there and we as an industry, especially the leaders, have to talk positively,” he said.

Though the Southern California Golf Association reports that the industry is doing fairly well overall, the Inland Empire region faces operations challenges, due to increased costs for water and energy, as developers seek new swaths of land to build homes and commercial space.

The two-day symposium brought together industry leaders and experts to discuss golf’s issues and barriers. The organization has released recaps and takeaways from these discussions, including insights on pace of play, resource management, and course design influence and case studies.

The draft regulations would require golf courses using private wells and other commercial properties relying on an “independent source of water supply” to limit irrigation to two days a week or achieve a 25 percent reduction in water use.

Using “smart” watering technology designed to prevent unneeded irrigation, replacing grass with drought-tolerant plants and relying on recycled water when economically feasible are among the tactics that properties are using to comply with restrictions imposed by a 2009 law that mandates 20 percent statewide usage reduction by 2020. A drought emergency declared this year has intensified the need for conservation.

Following up on an agreement made last year, the Palm Desert, Calif., club has begun using recycled water for irrigation, reducing the pumping of groundwater from an aquifer that has been declining. The Berger Foundation loaned the water district more than $2.2 million to complete the pipeline that officials say expedited the project by two or three years.

The commitment was made at a meeting with officials of the region’s water district, “not as a response to the drought,” said the group’s spokesman, “[but as] a response to the whole notion of long-term sustainability.”