What would happen if you turned off the irrigation on a US Parkland Course?

[PCCraig]

Watching the Open this morning it has made me think about fairway irrigation here in the US.

Obviously there are advantages in the UK with sandy soil and different turf types. However, it is a joy to see a course playing in conjunction with its recent weather pastern.

Which got me thinking. What would happen at a local "parkland" course in the US if the fairways were never irrigated? Would they completely die in a drought? Would it eventually lead to a more consistent, firm and fast surface? Would it contain a number of dead patches and be unsightly? Would players lose their minds? What courses in the lower 48 have had success just turning the water off in the fairways?

[Paul OConnor]

Course Superintendent would be fired.

[Kalen Braley]

When historic temps and rainfall look like this.....Fairway irrigation isn't really needed.


http://www.intellicast.com/Local/History.aspx?location=UKXX0555


But when they look like this.....it is for at least 3-4 months out of the year.


http://www.intellicast.com/Local/History.aspx?location=USUT0225

[Bill Shamleffer]

When I was a student at Mizzou in the mid 80s, the university owned course (A. L. Gustin) had no irrigation system.  The tees & greens were hand watered, and that is all.  The course somewhat looked like how the fairways & rough look on TV from Carnoustie.


I loved it.  First, it kept the rates low.  Second, the tees and greens were in fine condition, but the rest of the course was hard, especially the summer I stayed on campus.


I believe in the 90s some of the regulars joined with the grounds crew and did finally put in an irrigation system.


I wish muni courses would adapt a "water conservation" approach, and do very little watering of fairways, and let sell it by keeping the rates lower from the money saved on lower water bills.


By the way if you are in Columbia, MO, I highly recommend a round at AL Gustin (just to the west of the football stadium).  It is a fun course.  I like it so much, that if I lived in Columbia, I would not be talking about it so as to keep it as my secret.

[Duncan Cheslett]

I'm not an expert on growing grass in the USA but I imagine that if there was no fairway irrigation the native grasses would simply go dormant at times drought and go brown. Unless the grass was stressed by too low a cut it would survive just fine.


If a course is reliant on a non-native grass requiring constant irrigation, you've got a problem.



Greens and tees are different, They need daily watering.


Even in the driest areas of the UK only a tiny proportion of golf courses have any fairway irrigation at all. Most have irrigation to tees and greens, but it is sparingly used.

[Joe Zucker]

It seems like this happens at some of the munis in Seattle.  While Seattle is a pretty rainy climate for 8 months a year, the big secret is that it doesn't rain in the summer.  I think last year had 70 straight days without measurable rainfall, so the budget courses are really firm in the summer.


I recently played at West Seattle Golf course (1940 Chandler Egan design) and the fairways and rough are brown and wispy.  I'm not sure if/how much they are actually being watered but it certainly doesn't seem like much.  The grass recovers and is thick all winter, so it can't be completely dead in the summer.  The look is similar to Carnoustie and the ball rolls forever.  It is lovely.

[Brian Ross]

They haven't irrigated the tees or fairways at Northland CC in Duluth since 2016.

[Pete Lavallee]

I grew up on a muni in Mass. with no fairway irrigation. The fairways were fescue and could take the extended lack of water in the summer. Our premier tournament was the 4 ball played Labor Day weekend and invariably we would get some rain to green things up. We were allowed to bump the ball 6” which fairly mitigated the poor conditions. There were 2 par 5’s with water 250 yards off the tee and even with persimmon woods we had to hit 3 wood or less to keep from running into the drink. Sadly there was a huge toxic dump across the street which leaked into the waterways and caused one of the nations biggest Superfund toxic cleanups. They installed fairway irrational during the project and after that the course was nowhere near as fun to play. On recent trips back I couldn’t dream of reaching those waterways with titanium drivers and Pro V 1’s! In retrospect the fescue could handle the lack of water and watching the ball actually bounce was great fun. Given a different strain of fairway grass no one would have played there; yet we had a great group of regulars who loved golfing there.

[Peter Flory]

Spring Valley in WI is exactly what would happen.  They only water the greens and it looks a bit like Carnoustie with the bright contrast between them. 


The ground is baked out and the ball bounces and rolls forever. 


Their grass seems to always come back when it rains. 

[Ken Moum]

I grew up on a muni in Mass. with no fairway irrigation. The fairways were fescue and could take the extended lack of water in the summer. Our premier tournament was the 4 ball played Labor Day weekend and invariably we would get some rain to green things up. We were allowed to bump the ball 6” which fairly mitigated the poor conditions. There were 2 par 5’s with water 250 yards off the tee and even with persimmon woods we had to hit 3 wood or less to keep from running into the drink. Sadly there was a huge toxic dump across the street which leaked into the waterways and caused one of the nations biggest Superfund toxic cleanups. They installed fairway irrational during the project and after that the course was nowhere near as fun to play. On recent trips back I couldn’t dream of reaching those waterways with titanium drivers and Pro V 1’s! In retrospect the fescue could handle the lack of water and watching the ball actually bounce was great fun. Given a different strain of fairway grass no one would have played there; yet we had a great group of regulars who loved golfing there.

I assume that's an auto-correct issue, but it's still hilarious.


On topic, I grew up on a nine-holer that never had irrigated fairways, in northern Minn.  I always looked forward to July and August because the fairways got fast.  I does rain up there, so it never got like Carnoustie.


OTOH, in the mid 70s I moved to Pierre, SD, where the local public course only had single-row quick-coupler in the fairway, and a completely undersized pumping system.  Every summer my handicap would drop at least a shot in late summer thanks to picking up an additional 30-50 yards off the tee.


We'd get cracks in the gumbo soil big enough that a golf ball could fall into them.


But the grass always came back from it.


Grass is resilient.

[Matt_Cohn]

Newport Country Club?

[Cal Seifert]

I assume it would look something like fishers island club or gardiners bay cc. Both of which have no fairway irrigation last I was aware of.

[V. Kmetz]

I assume it would look something like fishers island club or gardiners bay cc. Both of which have no fairway irrigation last I was aware of.

Neither of which (like Newport also mentioned) is a "parkland course"

[John Cowden]

It happened at Pasatiempo at the height of the California drought several years ago.  The fairways turned a lovely, firm and bouncy brown, and played much like the good Doctor intended with his design.  The ground game around the greens became, once again, an exciting alternative and a very cool way to exploit the bumps and humps and natural contours that are so well suited to the course’s sandy soil.   Alas, the golfing public seemingly prefers to pay for green country-club lushness, and revenues suffered.  No more.  The club’s heroic efforts to assure its water security for the future have been well-reported.  Some, however, might prefer a bit more rationing ala mild drought conditions to enhance the playability around the greens.  Despite what I suspect is the prevailing sentiment on this site, brownish doesn’t sell like green. 

[Jim Nugent]

When I was a student at Mizzou in the mid 80s, the university owned course (A. L. Gustin) had no irrigation system.  The tees & greens were hand watered, and that is all.  The course somewhat looked like how the fairways & rough look on TV from Carnoustie.


I loved it.  First, it kept the rates low.  Second, the tees and greens were in fine condition, but the rest of the course was hard, especially the summer I stayed on campus.


I believe in the 90s some of the regulars joined with the grounds crew and did finally put in an irrigation system.


I wish muni courses would adapt a "water conservation" approach, and do very little watering of fairways, and let sell it by keeping the rates lower from the money saved on lower water bills.


By the way if you are in Columbia, MO, I highly recommend a round at AL Gustin (just to the west of the football stadium).  It is a fun course.  I like it so much, that if I lived in Columbia, I would not be talking about it so as to keep it as my secret.

Gustin leaped immediately to my mind as well.  It played very differently from spring (late May), when it was green, lush with little roll, and summer (August) when the ball bounded everywhere. 

Bill, Gustin was short even when I played it, in the late 1960s and 1970.  Does it really stand up to the hyper-distances that come with new tech?  Unless they lengthened the course (seems hard to my memory) and beefed up its defenses, I would think the Mizzou team players would take it apart. 

[Bill Shamleffer]

When I was a student at Mizzou in the mid 80s, the university owned course (A. L. Gustin) had no irrigation system.  The tees & greens were hand watered, and that is all.  The course somewhat looked like how the fairways & rough look on TV from Carnoustie.


I loved it.  First, it kept the rates low.  Second, the tees and greens were in fine condition, but the rest of the course was hard, especially the summer I stayed on campus.


I believe in the 90s some of the regulars joined with the grounds crew and did finally put in an irrigation system.


I wish muni courses would adapt a "water conservation" approach, and do very little watering of fairways, and let sell it by keeping the rates lower from the money saved on lower water bills.


By the way if you are in Columbia, MO, I highly recommend a round at AL Gustin (just to the west of the football stadium).  It is a fun course.  I like it so much, that if I lived in Columbia, I would not be talking about it so as to keep it as my secret.

Gustin leaped immediately to my mind as well.  It played very differently from spring (late May), when it was green, lush with little roll, and summer (August) when the ball bounded everywhere. 

Bill, Gustin was short even when I played it, in the late 1960s and 1970.  Does it really stand up to the hyper-distances that come with new tech?  Unless they lengthened the course (seems hard to my memory) and beefed up its defenses, I would think the Mizzou team players would take it apart.

Jim,


In the mid-80s, the Mizzou Men's golf team practiced at The Country Club of Missouri.  They only played at Gustin for unscheduled practice.  Even then, with persimmon & balata, one team member had a 62 at Gustin in summer of 86.


In 2007, The Club at Old Hawthorne opened just outside of Columbia.  This is a private club that is also the home for both Mizzou golf teams.  Each team hosts a tournament there, and it has hosted a Big 12 Women's Championship, and an NCAA Men's Regional.
[/size]
[/size]It is a Keith Foster design that can play to just over 7200 yards.
[/size]
[/size]I have no idea what the financial situation is between the club and the university.  I do know the club is also part of a residential community.
[/size]
[/size]I have never seen it and heard little about it.

[Tony_Muldoon]

I wish muni courses would adapt a "water conservation" approach, and do very little watering of fairways, and let sell it by keeping the rates lower from the money saved on lower water bills.

If London UK is any guide, 'muni' prices have reached rock bottom and still golfers talk more about conditining than anything else. Make the game less familiar to them and they'll just go elsewhere.


People would see brown as near bankrupt in every sense.

[Peter Pallotta]

I think that if you had a golf course with zero debt, and had some money saved in the bank (for yourself) and could find other employment for all but one staff person in the meanwhile, and you turned off the water and closed the course for two years and went on vacation, you'd come back to a much much better, healthier, more sustainable and profitable golf course than ever before -- and, if you marketed this two-three year 'journey' correctly through media/social media, you'd also have the most popular one in town (especially if that one staff person spent most of his time cutting down trees).

[Andrew Buck]

Watching the Open this morning it has made me think about fairway irrigation here in the US.

Obviously there are advantages in the UK with sandy soil and different turf types. However, it is a joy to see a course playing in conjunction with its recent weather pastern.

Which got me thinking. What would happen at a local "parkland" course in the US if the fairways were never irrigated? Would they completely die in a drought? Would it eventually lead to a more consistent, firm and fast surface? Would it contain a number of dead patches and be unsightly? Would players lose their minds? What courses in the lower 48 have had success just turning the water off in the fairways?

I grew up playing a small town Country Club in Illinois with ryegrass/bluegrass fairways that did not get fairway irrigation until the mid 90's.  By late summer every year, fairways would get clumpy and die and in places the "dirt" would crack to the point it was impossible to play the ball down.  I believe bent grass would eventually die and crack as well in dry years.  The lower the grass is cut the more likely for the clay/dirt soils to crack I believe. 

I think the late 80's early 90's was unusually dry and hot in the midwest, so that influences my memory. 

Many members enjoyed the roll (because the ball was played up) and the one good contrast was if you missed a green you'd end up 40 yards deep because greens received water. 

I think it's completely valid to increase the stress, but I think this thread is romanticizing it a bit too much if it really does get dry on non-sandy souls where fescue or bermuda are not the native grass.  If bluegrass/ryegrass is kept a bit longer, it will get very patchy and if it's mowed short, the ground can begin to crack. 

[Thomas Dai]

• I’m curious to know what the situation is in areas where the courses are shut through the winter.
• Do such courses dry out so much during the main season that they need irrigation to keep the grass healthy or do they just need it to keep the visual appearance of the grass nice and green and lush?
• As I say, just curious.

Atb

Not sure why there are numbers above. Must have touched an icon by mistake!

[Tom_Doak]

America is a very big place with lots of different climate zones.  There are some places where you'd have a decent chance of playing golf without irrigation, but others like Arizona where it would be folly.


Realistically though, it's only going to happen if the government cuts off the water or makes it too expensive.  The manager of a club I know of in California (not one where we consult) told me their water budget last year was up to $1.6m and it's been going up 15% per year ... not every golf course can afford that.


Any newer course will install irrigation so they can establish grass to start with; cut off that and new construction will go to zero pretty quickly.

[Kalen Braley]

• I’m curious to know what the situation is in areas where the courses are shut through the winter.
• Do such courses dry out so much during the main season that they need irrigation to keep the grass healthy or do they just need it to keep the visual appearance of the grass nice and green and lush?
• As I say, just curious.

Atb

Not sure why there are numbers above. Must have touched an icon by mistake!

Thomas I live in an area where this is the case, with extremes in both winter and summer.


The courses in the mountains and on the benches will close for at least 3-4 months due to being covered in several feet of snow.  During a mild winter, some courses in the valley bottom will stay open (as long as they aren't covered in snow), and the grass will go dormant due to the cold, not from a lack of moisture.


Then in the summer time when the daily highs are in the high 90s,low 100s with overnight light lows in the high 60s, low 70s these courses will get water for 3-4 months.  Some courses put less water on them and they go a bit brown, but for the most part they are green.


The fall is the peak season from what i've noticed as the temps starts to cool and ground firms up in Oct/Nov from low overnight temps before closing again from December thru March.

[Andrew Buck]

America is a very big place with lots of different climate zones.  There are some places where you'd have a decent chance of playing golf without irrigation, but others like Arizona where it would be folly.

This is the most important factor in the discussion. 

[John Foley]

Any newer course will install irrigation so they can establish grass to start with; cut off that and new construction will go to zero pretty quickly.

Tom - how did the courses establish turf back in the day where there was no irrigation? Lots of hand watering during drown in? Longer grow-in time?


Whats the last course built w/out irrigation?

[Wayne_Kozun]

I think that if you had a golf course with zero debt, and had some money saved in the bank (for yourself) and could find other employment for all but one staff person in the meanwhile, and you turned off the water and closed the course for two years and went on vacation, you'd come back to a much much better, healthier, more sustainable and profitable golf course than ever before -- and, if you marketed this two-three year 'journey' correctly through media/social media, you'd also have the most popular one in town (especially if that one staff person spent most of his time cutting down trees).

I don't think so - if you did that you would have something akin to what Highlands Links is today.