The case for a sustainable approach to golf course irrigation should be easy to make. We can point to the role which the owners of a golf course play as stewards of that land for future generations and we can emphasize the ethical imperative of behaving in a sustainable manner during the midst of a rapidly changing climate where water, land and other natural resources need to be used carefully and with respect.
A Strong Business Case Is Not Hard To Make
But how do we make a strong and compelling business case? Because there is a strong business case for instigating sustainable irrigation practices at your golf course. By putting the need for sustainable irrigation at the heart of any argument, you automatically guarantee a fair hearing throughout the management structure of your golf course. Why? Because you can state a business case that’s sensible, achievable and economically sound - striking the right balance with better environmental and ecological stewardship of your course.
It Doesn't Need To Be Either/Or
Historically, the choice when approaching issues of sustainability has tended to be framed as one which pitches sustainability against profits or business success; and viewing things through this prism has had many people retreating from working toward sustainability. The current situation is such, however, that worries about drought conditions and water shortages in many parts of the world mean that turning a blind eye to irrigation sustainability is no longer a practical action. Many golf courses now realize that if they don’t take the steps needed to irrigate in a more responsible manner and reduce their use of potable water, the powers that be – in the form of governments and water authorities – may start compelling them to do so.
The Scale Of The Issue
The statistics outlining the sheer size of the game of golf as a global phenomenon are fairly breathtaking. According to figures published by Golf Monthly golf courses take up 120,000 square miles of the surface of the earth through 34,011 golf facilities scattered across 207 countries. 143,000 golf events take place each year and there are no fewer than 80 million players, with the ‘golfing industry’ as a whole generating $70 billion every year.
The unique position which golf finds itself in is that – in contrast to many other sports which rely on irrigation systems to operate – the golf courses themselves, as well as being sporting arenas, are part of the natural landscape, capable of enriching the quality of life of anyone who comes into contact with them. As such, the custodians of golf have not only a responsibility to behave sustainably but also an opportunity to position golf and golf courses as being leaders in the fields of environmental awareness and sustainable practices.
Customer Satisfaction
One other very good reason for working toward sustainability is that it is increasingly what customers demand. According to research published by the Harvard Business Review in 2023, consumer attitudes are undergoing a major shift, from an era in which sustainability was seen as something which was ‘nice to have’ for the brands they chose to purchase, to one in which it will start to become a baseline consideration for investing in a brand.
Much of the research into consumers’ attitudes toward sustainability tends to focus on issues such as products, packaging and manufacturing, but it would be a mistake to imagine that golf and golf courses are immune to the same thinking. In simple terms ‘golf’ as a whole is a brand with a specific brand image, and if that image is one of using more than its’ fair share of an increasingly precious commodity like water then consumers will increasingly turn away from it.
The research carried out by the Harvard Business Review found that the issue of trust was paramount, and that those brands perceived to be merely ‘greenwashing’ (i.e. making claims about sustainability which don’t actually amount to anything) would find themselves usurped by the brands which generated the most trust. Indeed, according to the figures, highly trusted companies outperform others by as much as 400%, and one of the factors most likely to generate trust amongst the public was sustainability. This is particularly true across younger generations, with Gen Z and Millennial customers 27% more likely to make a purchase if they believe a brand cares about its impact on people and the planet. What’s more, this cohort of the population – Gen Z and Millennial – are expected to surpass the Boomers in terms of spending power by the end of the 2020s.
Millennial Golfers
Figures from Deloitte, published in their Sustainable Consumer 2023 report, backed up this shift, with 30% of consumers saying that they stopped purchasing a brand or product due to concerns around ethics or sustainability.
People working in the golfing industry who are tempted to dismiss findings such as those detailed on the basis that they reflect the concerns of people who are probably younger than the average golfer should resist for two reasons. Firstly, the young people of today are the golfers of tomorrow, and if they grow up with an image of golf as being a sport which doesn’t care about sustainability then interest in the sport will drop off. Secondly, market research carried out by CGA Partners and Nextgengolf looked specifically at the attitudes of both Millennial and Generation Z golfers toward a range of issues, including the social and environmental behavior of golf venues. The findings were striking:
- 60% prefer golf venues which actively exhibit environmental and social responsibility
- 19% see this as being a ‘very important’ factor when choosing a golf venue
- 64% say that the social and environmental behaviors of a golf venue would influence the likelihood of them making a purchase
- 12% say that this influence would be considerable
- 73% would be prepared to pay more if the excellent social and environmental activities increased the costs of the venue
- The average increase they would be willing to pay was 7.1%
Figures such as this helped to drive the conclusion of the report, which was as follows:
“To succeed in attracting the next generation of members, golf facilities and private clubs must build their reputations around diversity, inclusiveness, and environmental stewardship.”
Enhanced Playability
The traditional approach to golf course management may have been to draw a distinction between sustainability and playability, feeling that cutting back on irrigation might damage the quality of the golfing experience and thus the business model of the golf course.
This is an understandable position to adopt at first glance, but one which may be somewhat out of step with current thinking for a couple of reasons.
The first involves the issues of sustainability in and of itself. According to research published by the Players 1st golfing platform 59% of golfers surveyed in places such as California, Florida, Arizona, Colorado, and Connecticut would be willing to accept a slight reduction in the quality of the fairways of a course if it meant the club being able to reduce water consumption (it should be noted that when the same question was asked with regard to greens, the percentage disagreeing with even a slight reduction in quality was 51%). Even though this figure is fairly encouraging in its own terms – particularly for those concerned about the possible impact of prioritizing irrigation sustainability – it doesn’t tell the whole story.
This leads directly to our second reason which is that no less a body than the Unites States Golf Association (USGA) has gone on the record as stating that the trend in golf course design is shifting toward making courses less difficult and more ‘fun’. How? Well, in addition to widening fairways, removing trees and reducing the size and number of bunkers, they discuss other changes such as making the fairways firmer, making it more likely that approach shots will bounce and run up onto the putting surface. A firmer fairway will also make it easier for players of every skill level to practise their ground game in the approach to the green, while softer approaches make shots like chips even harder.
What all this means is that sustainable irrigation needn’t come at the cost of reducing the quality of the fairway of a course, but rather with the added advantage of helping to create the kind of fairways that today’s golfers like to play on.
Talking of soft greens, one of the key reasons for approaches to greens being overly soft and spongy is overwatering, and amongst a range of measures recommended by the USGA are the following:
- Fertilize and irrigate only enough to meet the turf demands;
- Eliminate overlapping irrigation coverage;
- Take water draining from the greens to the approach into account when planning irrigation;
- Monitor soil moisture closely;
- Adjust sprinkler arcs and nozzles to decrease overspray in the approach as much as possible.
- Try to avoid part-circle sprinklers changing direction over the approach area, as a sprinkler will apply 30% to 40% more water on an area as it changes direction
Real World Examples
It isn’t that difficult to find real world examples of the kind of approach being extolled by the USGA.
The Pinehurst Resort and Country Club, North Carolina, opted, ahead of the 2014 U.S. Men’s Open and Women’s Open, to renovate the historic No. 2 course, to make it look like it did back in the 1940s and 1950s. The initial motivation was purely business. At the time the club found itself losing players to Oregon’s Bandon Dunes Golf Resort and Destination Kohler in Wisconsin, both of which were newer and, as a result, had firmer, faster surfaces offering greater playability.
The renovation included the removal of 40 acres of turf and a halt to the practice of overseeding – planting rye grass to cover the brown spots when Bermuda grass becomes dormant. Not only has this embedded more sustainable golf course irrigation practices, it is also proving incredibly popular, with players more than willing to trade immaculate looking surfaces for the fact that the course is more fun to play.
So much so that the same approach was replicated at two more on-site courses. Maintenance Director of the course, Bob Farren, summed it up neatly when he said “When I think about sustainability I think of the three P’s: people, planet, and profit. In all three areas, the renovation was a home run.”
The Wider Golfing Community
In a previous article on the latest trends in golf course irrigation we highlighted the initiative launched by the USGA in 2023, in which it pledged to invest $30 million dollars over 15 years in an attempt to cut the amount of water used by US golf courses by 29%.
We cited the above as an example of the way in which the overarching golfing community is now taking irrigation sustainability extremely seriously.
Back To The Future
The same approach is demonstrated by the Royal & Ancient (the revered ‘home of golf’) Golf Course 2030 initiative aimed at helping clubs to maintain “Course Condition and Playability in the context of wider pressures, such as changing climate, resource constraints and regulation.”
The in-depth report published by the R & A quotes extensively from industry insiders and those responsible for the maintenance and management of golf courses in painting a picture of what it terms a ‘back to the future’ approach.
This envisages a future in which the thirst (if you’ll pardon the pun) for sustainability, particularly around irrigation, pushes golf course design and maintenance away from the Augusta aesthetic of lush green grass, perfectly manicured bunkers and picture perfect Azaleas, and toward a ‘rugged and natural’ environment more akin to the games origins on the links courses of the UK.
These courses, according to the R & A will emphasize firmer, faster turf and an increased reliance on shot making and creative golfing. The report is packed with quotes such as the following:
- “It’s starting to happen already: the hot courses are not as dutiful apostles of Augusta: they are unique, wild, and woolly-looking layouts... [like] the rugged natural links of the British Isles, where the game began. That’s where we’re headed: back to the future”
- “One of the main things you see now is less manicured, irrigated, or groomed space, because we’re paying attention to what environmental issues are – protection of the habitat, woodlots, animal homes, and buffer strips by the waterways. The focus is trying to keep more acreage in its natural state. That means less chemicals, pesticides, and water, which is good for everyone”
- “We try and be a lot more natural with things, if things brown off then we’re ok with that, its all about the playability”
A key component of this shift, as outlined in the R & A report, will be communication with the golfers themselves, making them aware of the challenges faced by golf courses, particularly in terms of irrigation, and communicating the desire to offer a traditional, unique and less manicured golfing experience.
It is here that the marketing of a golf course and the golfing experience will come to the fore, and the drive toward sustainable irrigation can play a key role in that marketing – being sold not only as the ecologically ethical choice but also as a means of crafting an authentic golfing experience.
Final Word : The ‘Why’ Of Sustainability
We’ve written many times in the past about the advantages to be gained from the kind of highly automated irrigation systems we design and install for facilities such as golf courses. That represents the ‘how’ of sustainable irrigation, and covers everything from irrigation lake health and remote control of sprinkler heads to smart monitoring of weather and soil conditions and the use of data analytics.
In this article, we’ve attempted to look more at the ‘why’ of sustainable golf course irrigation, and in particular at how shifting to sustainable practices – via the irrigation system and the make-up of the course itself – could become a key selling point in the years to come. It’s never too soon to start thinking about making your golf course as sustainable as possible but – if your competitors steal a march on you – it could well be too late.
