The Golden State is in a drought. A bad one.
This has caused Golf courses in California to have to look look at ways to increase their saving and recycling of water. This will prove a difficult task, as many California courses are already very efficient and regulated in the way they use water while maintaining optimal playing conditions.
Speaking on what golf superintendents are trying to do in California, Rhett Evans, CEO for the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America said, “They are continually using improved irrigation technologies and turf grasses that are more drought resistant. Water management and drought management programs continue to be priorities for our industry.”
One company that has played a huge part in all of this is The Toro Company, which has helped golf course superintendents manage their water usage with key innovations. Products like their Lynx Central Control Software help superintendents apply water to the course with precision while other products even allow courses irrigation watering to be controlled by the second.
Toro’s Turf Guard, another one of their water saving products, is a wireless soil sensing technology, which can measure soil moisture, salinity, and temperature, while also telling the golf course managers when certain thresholds are exceeded. All of this allows courses to monitor the status of their soil. This is different from the traditional ways in which watering decisions are made based on how weather and sun exposure impacts turf and plant health (referred to as Evapotranspiration).
On the capabilities of the Turf Guard, Tom Hogan, Landscape Operations and Director at Ocean Hills Country Club said, “The sensor data provides feedback from multiple locations on the golf course, allowing me to adjust watering to match the specific requirements of every green, tee and fairway.”
Toro’s golf sprinklers have also changed the way golf industries save water with their industry-leading flexibility, nozzle options, and adjustment capabilities. It was the first time that anyone had offered a golf sprinkler with multiple watering patterns with a quick adjustment, and it has allowed for the application of water in a very precise manner.
Toro’s Center for Advanced Turf Technology (CATT) has developed innovative site assessment technology. This technology, which is also known as PrecisionSense, is used by golf courses and sports fields and helps identify areas for improvement by measuring certain soil and turf health attributes and by showing course managers what exactly occurs after the application of water to the soil.
The Poppy Hills Golf Course in Monterey, California is a great example of how Toro’s products have helped golf courses maintain optimal playing conditions while staying efficient. After completely renovating and upgrading their irrigation system last year, they are in a better position in terms of water usage efficiency. Matt Muhlenbruch, superintendent of the Poppy Hills Golf Course, said of the results, “Using Toro products helped us quickly achieve our water savings goals and improve course conditions overall. We are well positioned to help the state achieve 25 percent water savings going forward.”
Water usage has been a hot topic around the world and it is definitely nice to see companies doing their part to do something about it. We have seen an improvement in water use indoors through high efficiency shower-heads and low flush toilets, and it seems like companies are now starting to follow suit with creating improvements in water use for sports like golf that require high amounts of water.