What Will California's New Water Restrictions Mean For Golf?

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Adam Nagourney of the New York Times on the overdue water restrictions imposed by California Governor Jerry Brown after another awful year for the snow pack.

Naturally, golf gets mentioned and in many comment sections/social media, held up as the most evil of water wasters.

Water has long been a precious resource in California, the subject of battles pitting farmer against city-dweller and northern communities against southern ones; books and movies have been made about its scarcity and plunder. Water is central to the state’s identity and economy, and a symbol of how wealth and ingenuity have tamed nature: There are golf courses in the deserts of Palm Springs, lush gardens and lawns in Los Angeles, and vast expanses of irrigated fields of farmland throughout the Central Valley.

Given that backdrop, any effort to force reductions in water use could be politically contentious, as Mr. Brown himself acknowledged. “This will be somewhat of a burden — it’s going to be very difficult,” he said. “People will say, ‘What about the farmers?’ Farmers will say, ‘What about the people who water their lawns?’”

John Strege talks to one of golf's few defenders with politicos, Craig Kessler, who says courses have done a lot to cut back and prepare for this day.

“Most water providers, especially the biggest among them in Southern California, have mechanisms in place to deal with large landscapes,” Kessler said. “They’re already in a reduction mode. To meet what the government is asking for will require an additional five percent to what they are saving now.

“So in terms of process it’s not going to be particularly difficult. There are mechanisms that make sense in place for the reduction.”

The conundrum for the state was best presented in this Mother Jones infographic looking at the stunning amounts of water used in farming--80% of the state's "developed water"--compared to all other areas.

As the maps above show, much of California's agriculture is concentrated in the parts of the state that the drought has hit the hardest. For example: Monterey County, which is currently enduring an "exceptional drought," according to the US Drought Monitor, grew nearly half of America's lettuce and broccoli in 2012.

However, where golf takes the greatest image hit is in its association with Palm Springs where water use is totally out of proportion with the rest of the state. No doubt some of this will be attributed to golf and course developments, whether true or not.