Water Week And Goat Hill: Morning Drive's Coverage
/I understand that on the list of sexy television topics, water issues in golf sounds about as thrilling as the early rounds of the National Paint Drying Championship. And while I'm biased because I'm on the show and much of the coverage focused on issues facing California courses, we all know that water use is a big deal in golf going forward for three reasons.
One, the playability of a course is just better and more fun when it's not overwatered.
Two, the game will not survive if most of the world thinks that a golf course is a place where water goes to disappear.
And finally, a generation of people whose annoying name starts with an "m" have already shown they are not afraid to make decisions about purchases or associations based on how something fits into the world. If golf is a water waster, the m's and the Gen Z's are probably not going to want to get near it.
So in case you missed it, and the chances are you have a job and did, here are three of the better moments from Morning Drive's Water Week coverage.
A look at the experimental work at Poppy Hills by Toro to develop new technologies gives a wonderful visual and behind the scenes look at what smart people are doing to make a golf course not waste water. There was also the backlash Pasatiempo received after photos appeared in Golf Digest showing it parched, with insight into the effort to reduce water and change community perceptions in Santa Cruz.
And the third piece involves Matt Ginella going to Goat Hill in Oceanside, California to learn about both saving the course, the effort to re-imagine the affordable muni going forward in the face of water shortages and all of the other great things they are doing to make it a true 21st century "community" course.
**GolfAdvisor.com has this roundup of what courses are doing to conserve or rethink their approach.