TEMPE, AZ — Papago Golf Course, a Valley favorite for great golf, is now one of the golf courses that is leading the way in trying to reduce its water usage.
“We understand that water is a resource that is not abundant,” said Daryl Crawford, General Manager at Papago Golf.
The largest change they made has been taking out Turf.
“About 17 acres we took out this past summer, that’s a huge piece,” said Crawford.
On the golf course itself, they're turning T-boxes into island-T’s, or just T-tops. They are also using some sophisticated technology.
“Things that measure moisture in the air and tell us how much we are going to water when we are going to water, “said Crawford.
Another change that they’ve made in the last year was taking out one of their lakes. They drained the water and turned everything into desert-tolerant landscaping. On the other side of town at the Greenfield Lakes Golf Course, they use reclaimed water to keep their grounds green.
“The city fills our lakes and then we use that for the course and HOA homes surrounding,” said Stuart Anderson, General Manager at the Greenfield Lakes Golf Course.
And they don’t have as much green on the greens as they once did.
“We can change out the fairways to more narrow shapes and directions, more like a teardrop, and also make the t-boxes less wasteful by using more radius-controlled heads,” said Anderson.
The courses are cutting back not just on water but the cost of maintenance as well, all while helping to impact Earth one drop at a time.
“The challenge of reducing water just means we get to add more beautification through desert landscaping and low water usage plants like sage cactus and gravel on the side,” said Anderson.
