WATER, WATER EVERYWHERE, BUT NARY A DROP FOR GOLF?

[Sean_A]

http://www.daily-times.com/ci_16889912

The above link is quite an interesting article and serious eye opener for me.  I knew many courses would be badly effected by water supply issues in the coming years,  but I had no idea we were talking about tripling the price in such a short period of time.  For a great many courses that difference in water cost could easily eat the entire profit margin.  Do supers on this site have roundabout figures to compare with Pinon Hills?  Is the Pinon example an unusual problem or one we can expect to see more of the coming years?

Ciao  

[Adam Clayman]

Sean, Pinion is is specific problem. I think. When I left that town, the talk was about the water and how the local tribe was going to get their hands on more. It scared the hell out of the politicians because they were going to have to acquiesce some power to local indian politicians.

As I recall 2/3 of the fresh water that flows through the entire state, runs through Farmington. The San Juan River is world famous for it's fishing.

[Jeff_Brauer]

I know that in California, many courses are facing a huge increase in water rates, even for effluent.  As a result, many are converting acres of turf to native plantings and bark mulch, etc.  They are also considering no overseeding, use of paspalum to conserve water (and deal with increasing salts) and other measures to keep water bills near where they are now.

[Tom_Doak]

Sean,

Water is going to be a huge issue going forward in many parts of the world.

Nearly everywhere we look at anew project, the first thing they tell us is how bad the water quality is.  Supply and cost are also problems in a lot of areas.  And as you can see firm the article, golf courses are such big users that they are easy targets for reductions when the problem comes to ahead ... Residential users' rates were raised 18% at the same time the golf course's rates went up 200%.

I will say that when I played Pinon Hills many years ago (and hopefully under a different superintendent), I thought it was being heavily overwatered, although we were one if the first groups out in the morning, and it might be that the irrigation needs a bit of time to soak in there.  Bluegrass fairways in the mountain west are difficult to irrigate correctly.

[Steve Lang]

 

$/yr   mmgal   m3   $/gal                  $/m3
42000   134   507337   0.000313433   0.082471796
151000   118   446759   0.001279661   0.336709909


still cheap water..

whole affair there reminds me of gas companies selling gas to themselves.. bumping prices down each pipeline section

for reference a worldscale seawater desalination plant can sell water to industrial customers at ~$1.5/m3 (0.0057$/gal) so another 5x multiplier and Farmington will be there!  hmmmm

[Mike_Trenham]

One thing the water companies are facing is a failing infastructure. 

You may not want to hear this but a big fraction of the water that leaves the treatment centers leak from the pipes along the way.  Also many older systems are riddled with lead pipes.  Massisve work is getting done each year in my area to address these hidden costs.

My club uses public water and it is a big concern and line item on the budget.

[Duncan Cheslett]

That looks a lovely course; the thing is though, it's in the middle of the bloody desert!

If, as we are continually being told, there is a looming water crisis for many parts of the world, syphoning off vast quantities to irrigate golf courses is likely to become politically impossible. I know we're all golf nuts on here, but 99.9% of people aren't - and it is their opinion which will ultimately have the upper hand.

Desert golf will probably prosper in the middle east and parts of Spain where wealthy tourists from across Europe will provide the needed revenue stream, and environmental concerns are subservient to the allure of incoming money. A municipal course in New Mexico which has already lost a fifth of its revenue in the last few years? It's difficult to see a future for it.

How glad I am to live in a wet region of England with a river running right through the middle of my local club course. Would it be too simplistic to suggest that inland golf couses generally should be located by rivers, thereby providing the means of both irrigation and drainage?

[Adam Clayman]

Duncan, That's not exactly accurate that the course is in the middle of a desert. It's technically in the high desert, adjacent to an abundance of fresh water. The run off from the snow pack in the San Juan Mountains is enormous.

The problem with PH has always been with the city manager. His insistence that the course be green has nothing to with anything other than a total lack of understanding about the sport or the great gca Ken Dye created for the community. The designer knew the climate was arid and designed a course that was suppose to be firm and brown.

Farmington's ancient Indian name translates to "where three rivers meet". The area is know for it's amazing soils and the ability to grow great crops. As matter of fact, before there was a Washington State Apple, there were Farmington Apples from which the seeds then became Washington Apples.

[Duncan Cheslett]

I stand corrected, Adam.

What accounts then, for the precipitous drop off in popularity of the course? Is this endemic across municipal courses in the US?

At what point do the local authorities come to the conclusion that a terrible mistake has been made in building a course in the first place, and either close it down or sell it off to a private operator or club?

From this side of the Atlantic the final option sounds like the obvious one.

At a time when our news programmes are full of your 'Tea Party' movement, it feels a little odd for an old Mancunian socialist to be preaching 'small government' to Americans!

[Adam Clayman]

Duncan, There are many reasons why PH is not more recognized. I'm not even certain if it has enough votes to garner an "America's Best" by Golfweek. So, part of the problem is it's location. There are no interstates nearby, no Rail. To get there, you have to want to. They have also switched the nines, which IMO, has ruined the ebb and flow of the course. Their justification for switching was to ease the starter's view of the groups playing the first hole. Now, throw in the ridiculousness of a lush turf, in an arid climate, and you have a couple of reasons why I believe they have slipped. 1989 was a long time ago now, and, just as with Chamber's Bay, it got a lot of press for being a good venue based on the Muni aspect. I first visited there in 1996 and my friend said it best. It's a 4 start course that gets the 5th star because price is low. After having played it many many times now, I do feel it's the second best design  in the state. Black Mesa being the first.

As for figuring what the local authorities will think, well, that's a lesson in futility when discussing Farmington's political landscape. A big part of that community, and the building of the course, involves the local junior college, San Juan College. They are the most adept at using people and the grants that governments have available. It's not uncommon for them to hire a grant writer, then as soon as the money comes in, fire them. It's a very strange place where people fear that newcomers are going to take something away from the old guard.

If they shut off the water and let the turf become use to less, the course will be a much more fun experience. So, in the end, this could be a good thing for the course.