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Drought in California


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This is rather concerning. It has been called the most arid stretch of dry weather in more than a millennium. How do you think it will affect your golf course conditions with the 25% reduced water usage (up to 36% in some areas)?

http://www.desertsun.com/story/news/2015/04/18/california-require-golf-courses-cut-water-use/25987925/

Vishal S.

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I mostly play at Balboa Park Golf Club in San Diego and plan on playing Torrey Pines more in the future.  They are both owned by the City of San Diego.

I talked to a greens-keeper at Balboa Park and he said they will cap the spinklers the furthest away from the fairways and work towards the fairways from there until they meet the 25% requirement.  He thought this would have a minimal affect on the playability of the course.

Torrey has a lot more extraneous grass than Balboa, so I think there will by little affect at Torrey also.

Also because Torrey is right on the ocean and Balboa is only a couple miles from the ocean, they get a lot of morning dew and marine layer effect.  Courses near the ocean will hold up better to these water restrictions.

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This is rather concerning. It has been called the most arid stretch of dry weather in more than a millennium. How do you think it will affect your golf course conditions with the 25% reduced water usage (up to 36% in some areas)?

http://www.desertsun.com/story/news/2015/04/18/california-require-golf-courses-cut-water-use/25987925/

Well one of the courses I liked for being centrally located actually closed, partly due to the cost of water.

http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2015/feb/16/carmel-highland-closing-golf/

I don't worry about conditions so much. I actually like Oceanside Muni which is kind of shabby. I only worry about disappearing courses.

I use old Taylor Made clubs from eBay and golf shops.

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Well one of the courses I liked for being centrally located actually closed, partly due to the cost of water.

http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2015/feb/16/carmel-highland-closing-golf/

I don't worry about conditions so much. I actually like Oceanside Muni which is kind of shabby. I only worry about disappearing courses.

Ah, that's too bad.  I used to play there a couple of times per year when I lived closer because they always had specials running and it was nice and central.

On the bright side ... it rained a bunch last night. :beer:

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I know and it is attached to a Double Tree hotel. Some of the problems might be management. Other courses survive with less advantageous locations. The home owners around the course are not happy

I use old Taylor Made clubs from eBay and golf shops.

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My course will be making some changes, going to more of a "desert style" on some holes, basically reducing non-playing turf. We've also been converting to bermuda grass which requires less water.

It's too bad Palm Springs gets a bad rap, yes per-capita they use a high percentage of water but the valley doesn't have a water problem. The area has an underground aquifer with a supply of at least 12 trillion gallons.

Mike McLoughlin

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Mike, I posted in the other drought thread that that's basically what my course is doing too, lol. Much of the non playing areas are just gonna be allowed to become desert like.
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Much of the non playing areas are just gonna be allowed to become desert like.

California in 20 years

Mike McLoughlin

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It's too bad Palm Springs gets a bad rap, yes per-capita they use a high percentage of water but the valley doesn't have a water problem. The area has an underground aquifer with a supply of at least 12 trillion gallons.

Yeah, and many of the courses already have quite a bit of desert landscape, so I wonder what they'd reduce. The community my folks live in has converted some of their landscaping to desert too. Also, that bunker you had in your next post... scary.

-- Michael | My swing! 

"You think you're Jim Furyk. That's why your phone is never charged." - message from my mother

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Misallocated Resources.

Bringing common sense to the game would help.

Apparently, agriculture uses a bunch of water, and produces only 2% of the gross product and only 3% of workers.

It takes a gallon of water to produce one almond... one!

From the NY Times...

But now, just about everyone in California knows that it requires a gallon of water to grow a single almond, or that agriculture accounts for 80 percent of the water used by humans here. Meanwhile, the cities have become leaders in conservation. It takes 106 gallons of water to produce an ounce of beef — which is more than the average San Francisco Bay Area resident uses in a day. Mayor Eric Garcetti of Los Angeles wants to reduce the amount of water the city purchases by 50 percent in the next decade, cutting back through aggressive use of wastewater and conservation.

It’s outlandish, urban critics note, for big farm units to be growing alfalfa — which consumes about 20 percent of the state’s irrigation water — or raising cattle, in a place with a third of the rainfall of other states. And by exporting that alfalfa and other thirsty crops overseas, the state is essentially shipping its precious water to China.

Still, casting California farmers — who produce about half of the nation’s fruits, nuts and vegetables — as crony capitalist water gluttons may not be entirely fair. Yes, the water is subsidized, through taxpayer-funded dams, canals and pumping systems. But that water, in some cases, ends up as habitat for birds and wildlife. As it drains away, it can recharge badly depleted underground aquifers. Farmers have already let more than 400,000 acres go fallow and took a $2 billion hit last year. They may add 600,000 acres to that total this year. Almonds, after all, are a healthy food source.

Or consider that wealthy communities — say, Portola Valley, woodsy home to many an environmentally conscious tech multimillionaire — use far more water per capita than do the poor of Compton, in the Los Angeles area. When cost is no object, there is very little incentive to cut back.

But there is no getting around the fact that agriculture, for all its water needs, still produces barely 2 percent of the state’s gross product, and employs only about 3 percent of its workers.

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It takes a gallon of water to produce one almond... one!

While I totally agree that some farming in what is really a desert probably doesn't make a ton of sense, I do have to ask: one gallon of water for an almond -- is that a lot or a little? I know how much a gallon is; I don't know how much water various agricultural products consume per unit that reaches market (nor do I see why that's the metric being used).

-- Michael | My swing! 

"You think you're Jim Furyk. That's why your phone is never charged." - message from my mother

Driver:  Titleist 915D2.  4-wood:  Titleist 917F2.  Titleist TS2 19 degree hybrid.  Another hybrid in here too.  Irons 5-U, Ping G400.  Wedges negotiable (currently 54 degree Cleveland, 58 degree Titleist) Edel putter. 

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While I totally agree that some farming in what is really a desert probably doesn't make a ton of sense, I do have to ask: one gallon of water for an almond -- is that a lot or a little? I know how much a gallon is; I don't know how much water various agricultural products consume per unit that reaches market (nor do I see why that's the metric being used).


From the hub-bub they've made about it, a gallon for a tiny almond may be misallocated scarce resources.

At the same time, it made me rethink meat....  over 100 gallons to an ounce? And it's not even Waygu.

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From the hub-bub they've made about it, a gallon for a tiny almond may be misallocated scarce resources. At the same time, it made me rethink meat....  over 100 gallons to an ounce? And it's not even Waygu.

Could be, or could be some reporter(s) heard a stat and made a big deal out of it for clicks. Without a comparison, or even any reasonable economic analysis of it, I'm not even sure that's really that much of a misallocated resource.

-- Michael | My swing! 

"You think you're Jim Furyk. That's why your phone is never charged." - message from my mother

Driver:  Titleist 915D2.  4-wood:  Titleist 917F2.  Titleist TS2 19 degree hybrid.  Another hybrid in here too.  Irons 5-U, Ping G400.  Wedges negotiable (currently 54 degree Cleveland, 58 degree Titleist) Edel putter. 

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  • 2 weeks later...
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http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2015/05/21/scientists-now-predicting-100-chance-of-strong-wet-el-nino-in-california-this-year/

Quote:

(CBS SF) — Climate experts say El Nino is growing stronger and could bring drought-busting wet weather to California this year. While the ocean condition is nearly guaranteed, rainfall doesn’t always follow the sea temperature increase.

On Thursday, scientists at the International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI) said chances for El Nino this season are close to 100 percent, with simulations suggesting it could even exceed the devastating 1997-1998 event that brought flooding and hurricane-force winds to most of California.

Mike McLoughlin

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Oh great, more of this awful weather we're having in Southern California. Well, if it's good for the golf courses, I can tough it out.

-- Michael | My swing! 

"You think you're Jim Furyk. That's why your phone is never charged." - message from my mother

Driver:  Titleist 915D2.  4-wood:  Titleist 917F2.  Titleist TS2 19 degree hybrid.  Another hybrid in here too.  Irons 5-U, Ping G400.  Wedges negotiable (currently 54 degree Cleveland, 58 degree Titleist) Edel putter. 

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Quote:
Originally Posted by mvmac View Post

http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2015/05/21/scientists-now-predicting-100-chance-of-strong-wet-el-nino-in-california-this-year/

Quote:

(CBS SF) — Climate experts say El Nino is growing stronger and could bring drought-busting wet weather to California this year. While the ocean condition is nearly guaranteed, rainfall doesn’t always follow the sea temperature increase.

On Thursday, scientists at the International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI) said chances for El Nino this season are close to 100 percent, with simulations suggesting it could even exceed the devastating 1997-1998 event that brought flooding and hurricane-force winds to most of California.

Hopefully, we get a lot of rain in NorCal and in the Sierra's. The idea is for it to rain only at night, and be sunny every morning. Not asking for too much right?

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At the same time, it made me rethink meat....  over 100 gallons to an ounce? And it's not even Waygu.

That report probably came from someone in Texas who wants to control the cattle business. :-P

Joe Paradiso

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  • 1 month later...
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My course will be making some changes, going to more of a "desert style" on some holes, basically reducing non-playing turf. We've also been converting to bermuda grass which requires less water.

Update.

Bernardo Heights CC superintendent

Mike McLoughlin

Check out my friends on Evolvr!
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Note: This thread is 3108 days old. We appreciate that you found this thread instead of starting a new one, but if you plan to post here please make sure it's still relevant. If not, please start a new topic. Thank you!

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