FORE Magazine

Top Menu

  • About Me
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Home

Main Menu

  • Current Issue
  • Profiles
  • Sustainability
  • Travel
  • 19th Hole
  • Classic Course
  • FORE Her
  • More
    • Know the Rules
    • Handicap Hints
    • SCGA Junior
    • Where Are They Now?
    • News
    • Public Affairs
  • scga.org
Sign in / Join

Login

Welcome! Login in to your account
Lost your password?

Lost Password

Back to login

logo

FORE Magazine

  • Current Issue
  • Profiles
  • Sustainability
  • Travel
  • 19th Hole
  • Classic Course
  • FORE Her
  • More
    • Know the Rules
    • Handicap Hints
    • SCGA Junior
    • Where Are They Now?
    • News
    • Public Affairs
  • scga.org
Fall 2015Public Affairs
Home›Issues›Fall 2015›Golf and Water: The industry is ready for what comes next

Golf and Water: The industry is ready for what comes next

By Craig Kessler
October 1, 2015
4117
0
Share:
water-and-golf

The only reliable way to predict the future is to invent it. That’s a line attributed to computer pioneer Alan Kay, but I’ve long suspected that Yogi Berra was his inspiration.

In many ways the Southern California golf industry “invented” this particular moment; not the drought…that’s not something anyone in his right mind would invent. Rather, the industry invented a set of responses that anticipated the demands of the drought so well that it managed to navigate a set of challenges many thought would cause a cascade of failures and closures.

Hardships and struggles there have been; failures and closures very few and far between. The whys and wherefores are documented elsewhere in this and previous editions of FORE — investment in maximally efficient irrigation technologies, elimination of certain water intensive practices, turf removal, recycled water, wetting agents, drought contingency plans and regular engagement of regulatory/legislative authorities.

All of the above can get the industry through a fifth year of drought should the anticipated El Nino not come to pass. But there’s a future to invent beyond the current emergency that we need to start thinking about.

More good news: The industry is already heading down that road. Just as the game took the lessons it learned from the 2007-2009 drought and put them in place for the current crisis, the game is learning and doing as I write these words.

We will not be reverting to any recognizable version of the status quo once it begins raining and snowing again. Thoroughly understanding that reality, the golf industry is not relying upon the “whys and wherefores” of the moment; it is plowing new ground — some of it technological, some of it cultural.

When environmentalists decry the inappropriateness of irrigating golf courses with “drinking water,” the game has stopped disagreeing and begun to make removing all of California’s golf courses from the potable grid the central organizing principle of its Sacramento legislative agenda. An aspirational goal to be sure, but one that is increasingly coming to fruition through means that just a few years ago seemed more science fiction than science fact.

The City of Pacific Grove (adjacent to Pebble Beach) has awarded a $7.4 million contract to a private firm for the construction of a facility that “scalps” available urban effluent and turns it into recycled water for its municipal golf course, an adjoining park and a nearby private cemetery.

Diablo Country Club in Contra Costa County is slated to invest $10 million in an identical facility that provides recycled supply for just one golf course. They are the first out of this particular box, but as the cost of water goes steadily up and access to it becomes ever more precarious, what was once a bad return on investment begins to look like today’s version of the prescience that saw the industry so well through this fourth year of drought.

Much has been made of the rich financial incentive that spawned so much turf removal in 2015. Too little has been made of those turf removal programs that were either performed without benefit of rebate dollars or with benefit of rebate dollars so meager that they hardly constituted much of an incentive.

Examples in the former category generally are such “examples” because they didn’t want to publicize their respective projects. Examples in the latter category would be the 17 golf courses in the Coachella Valley that are performing turf reductions right now with benefit of a rebate that maxes out at $105,000, a mere fraction of the cost of a typical turf reduction project. Contrary to what you may have heard, the demise of the MWD rebate program won’t spell the demise of golf course turf reduction in Southern California.

Many predicted that golfers acculturated to the “Augusta syndrome” wouldn’t warm to firm and fast playing surfaces, a “golden” look, and California-friendly, drought-tolerant species in lieu of turf — in other words a “Mediterranean” look where the climate is semi-arid and a desert look where the climate is desert. They predicted that once the region’s golf courses cut back on irrigation, the region’s golfers would cut back on golf. That didn’t happen; indeed, in many places the opposite happened — a hopeful harbinger of how golfers are likely to respond to the new normal that awaits us.

Inventing our own future?  That may be a stretch. But adapting successfully to changed circumstances; that is starting to look like a given.

Previous Article

Music to your Ears: A ringing Endorsement ...

Next Article

Checking in with Johnny Miller: On playing ...

0
Shares
  • 0
  • +
  • 0
  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

Craig Kessler

Craig came to the SCGA via the merger with the Public Links Golf Association (PLGA), where he served as Executive Director for 11 years and pioneered the development of the nation’s most active and accomplished advocacy component. He has been tasked with doing the same for the SCGA as its first Director of Governmental Affairs, albeit on a much larger stage. In addition to his current and previous job responsibilities, Craig has served as a USGA Committeemen continuously for 15 years, Chair of the Los Angeles Golf Advisory Commission, Chair of the Los Angeles County Golf Advisory Committee, Member of the City of Los Angeles’ Griffith Park Master Plan Board, Member of the Ventura Golf Advisory Group, Member of the Los Angeles County Junior Golf Foundation Board of Directors and Chair of the Los Angeles Junior Chamber of Commerce First Tee of Los Angeles Advisory Committee. In 2008 Craig was inducted into the Long Beach Golf Hall of Fame.

Related articles More from author

  • The hidden charms of riverside- Goose creek
    Fall 2015Travel

    The hidden charms of Riverside: The brunch is good, but wait until you hit the links!

    October 1, 2015
    By David Weiss
  • For the love of her club- Betty Bowler
    Fall 2015Profiles

    For the Love of her club: Historian Betty Bowler is right at home at Woodland Hills CC

    October 1, 2015
    By Jill Painter Lopez
  • Public AffairsSummer 2021

    Out of COVID’s Frying Pan And Into Drought’s Fire

    July 16, 2021
    By Craig Kessler
  • Public AffairsWinter 2017

    A Miserable Year for Politics, a Great Year for Golf

    February 15, 2017
    By Craig Kessler
  • Brentwood-CC
    Classic CourseFall 2015

    An Enduring Legacy: Celebrating 100 Years at Brentwood CC

    October 1, 2015
    By Jay Stuller
  • Public Affairs

    It’s All About The Water

    October 1, 2014
    By Craig Kessler

Leave a reply Cancel reply

Recent Posts

  • FeaturedGolf GroupsSpring 2022

    Wednesday Special: San Diego’s Hookers And Slicers Celebrate 50 Years

  • FeaturedPublic AffairsSpring 2022

    Golf’s Wakeup Call: Facts Matter… Perceptions Matter More

  • FeaturedSpring 2022The Podium

    Fan-Demonium: Up Close & Personal at WMPO’s 16th

  • FeaturedSpring 2022State of the Game

    Tee Time Tribulations: Searching for the Elusive L.A. County Tee Times

  • FeaturedProfilesSpring 2022

    Bob Does Hollywood: The Hardest Working Man on Instagram Finds Gold in Golf

FOLLOW US

Facebook Fans
Twitter 0Followers
Instagram 0Followers
Youtube 0Subscriber
  • Recent

  • Popular

  • Comments

  • The Pubs of St Andrews

    By Mike James
    April 21, 2022
  • Scotland Must-Plays & Hidden Gems: 10 Terrific Tracks that Prove the Old Course Isn’t the ...

    By Joe Passov
    April 21, 2022
  • Bob Does Hollywood: The Hardest Working Man on Instagram Finds Gold in Golf

    By Adam Hawk
    April 21, 2022
  • Not Your Father’s Game: With Two Facilities Newly Open and Callaway at the Helm, the ...

    By Scott Kauffman
    April 21, 2022
  • The Provisional Ball: What? How? When?

    By Jimmy Becker
    April 21, 2022
  • The Diva Golfer

    By Azucena Maldonado
    January 31, 2017
  • The USGA’s Major Proposed Changes to the Rules of Golf

    By admin
    December 14, 2017
  • Stand By Me: Temecula Native Joe Skovron On Life As Rickie Fowler’s Caddie

    By Jonathan Coe
    October 26, 2016
  • Remembering Jim Murray: Best of the Best

    By Bill Dwyre
    February 14, 2017
  • Watching the Tiger Watchers

    By Andy Brumer
    February 20, 2018
  • free proxy list
    on
    December 5, 2018

    Top 4 College Golf Names You Need To Know

    Hello,I log on to ...
  • Adela C. Garcia
    on
    November 17, 2018

    Revolutionizing the “Ladies Club”

    Azucena Maldonado is a ...
  • Rose Sauceda
    on
    November 15, 2018

    Revolutionizing the “Ladies Club”

    Congratulations my lovely Amiga ...
  • Judy Carls
    on
    November 15, 2018

    The Gilded One: Eldorado CC

    Excellent magazine..thank you Judy Carls LPGA ...
  • SUE KNIGHT
    on
    October 19, 2018

    FULL HOUSE: First FORE Her Golf Outing

    I enjoyed the article ...

RECENT COMMENTS

  • free proxy list on Top 4 College Golf Names You Need To Know
  • Adela C. Garcia on Revolutionizing the “Ladies Club”
  • Rose Sauceda on Revolutionizing the “Ladies Club”
  • Judy Carls on The Gilded One: Eldorado CC
  • SUE KNIGHT on FULL HOUSE: First FORE Her Golf Outing
© 2016 FORE Magazine About Us | Contact Us | Advertise