Golf course watering...more squawking

[davepratt]

http://www.thestar.com/News/GTA/article/469579

[Guynick]

This is the new reality, in my opinion. Like other industries and private citizens, golf courses are going to have to find a way to thrive with less water. There are many people who think the game will be better off for learning how to do this, myself included.

[dekker]

Makes me cry when environmentalists gather to disseminate their collective wisdom. Do they compost their shiat or flush it like the rest of us?

[ben_82]

I agree golf courses need to figure it out themselves. The stat at the bottom of the article was shocking in terms of how much water golf courses use.


I think those courses should be looked at (fined or closed if they did do anything illegal).

I know in the west GTA courses rely on rain to get watered.

[davepratt]

I agree golf courses need to figure it out themselves. The stat at the bottom of the article was shocking in terms of how much water golf courses use.


I think those courses should be looked at (fined or closed if they did do anything illegal).

I know in the west GTA courses rely on rain to get watered.
No course can rely on rain water alone. They all pull from streams, wells, lakes to fill the ponds that they use for irrigation. Rain water certainly helps but can't do the job alone.

[Bellyhungry]

I have a novice question on this topic:

Do link-styled golf courses use less water than parkland-styled?

[brianfrench]

First off a caveat - I know nothing about this from ascience perspective. I do understand political economics, and I know how organizations use straw men (non-salient arguments) to frame a debate in a way they can influence opinion.
As an example someone with an agenda could criticize golf as being sexist, because many fewer women play golf, therefore there must be barriers to such (but not taking into account that maybe most women have more sense than to play the silly game).

Any study like this one throws out figures that need more context - the license is for 3.1 B l. Is that a lot or a little?
What is the actual usage and what is the net annual usage - how much doesn't return to the aquifer, and where does it go? Unless they are splitting the H20 molecule to produce nuclear coolant, it doesn't disappear - it remains somewhere in the ecosytem as water.

It seems that the report focusses mainly on the lack of accountability for compliance, which is a fair argument, but one that can be applied against almostanything the govt does. Including allowing tax breaks and funding for enviro advocacy orgs.

[davepratt]

I have a novice question on this topic:

Do link-styled golf courses use less water than parkland-styled?
I would guess that because virtually all of the watering on any style course is dedicated to greens, fairways and tees the difference would be insignificant. Speaking of watering, I always wondered how greenskeepers were able to turn sprinklers on and off between groups. Some courses have a system where each sprinkler site has a unique number. The greenskeeper can cruise the course and when he sees a gap between groups, he dials up the number for that sprinker and tells it to fire up for a certain length of time. Amazing.

[akrus]

Get ready for "grey water"...

People will be looking less for pond balls when that becomes the norm.

Bring nose plugs...

[Andru]

There's nothing wrong with being more efficient with water. They do it in the Arizona, Nevada etc.

Conservation is never a bad thing.

And a note on environmentalist. They have their place in our society as do corporations. It's ok to have that squawking bird. You can choose to respond or not to their calls.

Unfortunately corporations ( Especially ones with foreign owned interests ). will rape the environment for profit. There are too many instances to list. The corps are not evil or bad. They're just doing what that have to do to make profits. It's up to us as citizens to set the rules for corporations to follow.

[brianfrench]

No problem with grey water - just sourcing it in adequate amounts, I expect.
If I understand grey water isnt sewage, it's just been used for non-sewage purposes.
I'm all for conservation, but on reasonable terms (ie, legislation aimed at say 300 courses x 100 acres = 30,000 acres, when this area is of no account compared to the supply of land, and the huge amount that is absolutely untouched by man)
I get back to my post on this issue this morning - Lobbying for Golf Course restrictions (ie pesticides and water) aint about the environment - it's older marxists trying to dump on the golfers who have higher incomes and younger kids who are p*ssed off at their Dads for not giving them the car keys.

[moneyjism]

I should chirp in on this as I am a student in a turf program to become a superintendent. Yes grey water which is treated human waste water is being used with golf courses having treatment plants on site, but courses that do use this still need fresh water to water greens. This is often used on resort courses. The big thing is to get ready for Bentgrass tees and fairways to be changed to Kentucky Bluegrass. Dwarf Kentucky Bluegrass can be cut at 1/2", it uses far less water and does not die during drought but goes dormant unlike bentgrass, there is less need to spray it as it is not as susceptable to diseases. Unfortunately alot of courses are wall-wall bentgrass and it takes alot of water to keep it alive during the drought we had last year. The Dwarf Kentucky cut at the same height as bentgrass fairways stands up more and you don't get those tight bentgrass lies so it is not as nice to play off of.

I have a novice question on this topic:

Do link-styled golf courses use less water than parkland-styled?

Not necessarily because the fairways, tees, and greens, are typically all bentgrass which uses the same amount. The only difference would be if the parkland course was watering the rough, because the links style does not have to water fescue.

[hogannut]

I would agree with the tree huggers on this one. With the rain this year water usage should be minimal. I have no problem with monitoring water usage on golf courses. Growing up beside the Donalda club we as kids would go down and putt sometimes after dark. ON a clear night with a full moon it actually gave enough light to play, particularily by the holes along the DVP. ANyway back then in the 80's the course just pumped water from the Don. They soaked the course every night to the point of saturation. NOw they have holding ponds.

Holding ponds should be mandatory for all courses, and there is nothing wrong with using grey water. The only way the hippies will stop hassling the courses is if the courses can show they are self sufficient in their water use.

Also, most watering systems are computerized, so if it rains don't water that night. No need to water tonight. I can't stand driving by a business or residence and seeing their sprinklers on and it is raining or just has rained.

[moneyjism]

Also, most watering systems are computerized.

Some of the new systems are linked directly to a weather station that reads humidity levels, precipitation rates, wind velocity and calculates how much water the plant is losing and how much water is needed to replenish the plant.

[dpdp]

well, one thing I know is that Rolling Hills can't be one of those courses, since they never water their fairways! :rofl:

[goshawk]

well, one thing I know is that Rolling Hills can't be one of those courses, since they never water their fairways! :rofl:They do water their fairways....from November to February!:p


sorry, I just couldn't help myself!