Water Use Habits Get a Splash of Fresh Ideas

Tim Hiers had a problem: He was in charge of a golf course, but didn't have an easy way to keep it green. There was not enough fresh water to support a golf course near Naples, Fla., where Hiers was about to become course manager at the soon-to-be-built Old Collier Club.

Hiers's predicament is becoming increasingly common to golf course managers and superintendents as the game's effect on the environment gains attention. Golf courses consume 762 billion gallons of water per year, a number that represents about 0.5 percent of the nation's yearly water use, according to the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America's latest survey in 2005.

That's an alarming figure, one that has drawn the attention of officials at the highest levels in the game. At issue is how to provide golfers paying either daily greens fees or extravagant membership dues with the lush, green playgrounds they expect without using an inordinate portion of a fresh water supply that is increasingly in demand. The latest solutions lie in two related areas: different kinds of water and different kinds of grasses.

"It's becoming more obvious, as time goes on, that there's going to be increasing competition in the need for potable water sources," Rutgers turfgrass professor James Murphy said. "It's something the golf industry is aware of."

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