Coachella Valley is known as a mecca of golf – in fact, it’s home to over 120 golf courses! But golf originated in Scotland – a country that sees more rain and gloom than sun. It’s no secret golf courses require tons of water to keep operating — so how do so many exist in an area that only gets around 3 inches of rain a year?

Cheddar Explains

Why Desert Golf Courses Are A Thing

This is an aerial view of palm springs. As you can see the cities where temperatures climb well over 100 F are surrounded by the desert, but this desert is filled with golf courses over 100 golf courses. In fact, it's a contrasting site luscious green landscape with ornamental fountains standing out in the arid, desolate land and it's not just California, Utah, Nevada, new Mexico and Arizona are also home to numerous desert golf courses. So how do these courses, which require up to one million gallons of water per day fare in the desert? Especially amid a seemingly never ending mega drought. Golf dates back to 1400 a. D. In Scotland, a country where the weather tends to be cold, McGee and of course rainy as the sport grew in popularity, it made its way across the pond in 18 90 for the United States Golf Association was established and by 1900 there were more than 1000 golf clubs throughout the nation. These were mostly in weather appropriate areas, but as populations moved southwest, they took golf to areas that barely get three inches of rain a year and it caught on Coachella Valley, for example, is known as a mecca of golf welcoming visitors ranging from Hollywood elites to political leaders, As cars and roads made the area more accessible. People flocked here to escape the city. One of those visitors, oil tycoon Thomas O'Donnell completed the first golf course out there in 1927. It was supposed to be just for him and his friends, but later he opened it up to the public today. Coachella Valley's 124 golf courses form the backbone of the local economy. The area has almost 14% of all of California's courses in a place that gets, just to remind you around 3" of rain per year. So how do so many water guzzling courses exist in this one dry area In order to build courses, you need a good irrigation system. For reference. An average golf course in California, conservatively can use up to 90 million gallons of water per year, which is enough to fill 136 olympic sized swimming pools, courses that are located on the East Coast and midwest are fortunate to rely on mother nature for some of their water source, drier areas obviously don't have that same advantage and an ongoing mega drought has made golf courses rethink their water supply. But the Coachella Valley desert is unique in the midst of a mega drought. It has years of water stored. A local Tv station in Palm Springs described the valley's water supply in june of 2022 as quote dramatically better off than most other areas of California. Right now. Palm Springs is the greatest golf mecca in the United States because of the availability of the water supply. Let's break that down. The Coachella Valley Water district relies on four sources for its water groundwater recycled water imported water from the state water project and the Colorado River via the Coachella canal. But the groundwater is already at an advantage thanks to nature, see the valley sits on top of this natural groundwater basin, known as the aquifer. It's filled with sand, gravel and clay, with water lying in between. The aquifer has more than 100 wells drilled over 1000 ft deep, that water is pumped to one of the distribution reservoirs before delivered to customers through pipelines. Desert water agency representatives compare the aquifer to a reusable water bottle you carried around and refill it as needed. Throughout the 20th century, Coachella Valley Water District used various means to stabilize the aquifer water supply, especially as water levels began to deplete, they struck deals with both state and federal officials to import water from the Colorado River. They even built a canal to do so, and they penalize anyone who used too much groundwater to help cover the costs of importing. In recent years. The aquifers levels have risen greatly even in some years importing more water than was pumped out for most of the 20th century, agriculture was the valley's main industry and user of water, but from the 19 eighties onward, that started to shift to tourism specifically golf tourism. Today, golf courses in the area use a mix of water sources which include non potable blends of recycled water and the Colorado River by the numbers, the Coachella Valley Water district says a little over half of golf courses out of 105 use a non potable water source with additional golf courses plan to switch from groundwater to non potable water in the future. This map from the Coachella Valley Water District gives a glimpse of who uses what and you can post to read it. And yet water conservation efforts within the valleys district still focus on golf. In 2018 local newspaper, The desert Sun accused farms and golf courses in the Coachella Valley of undermining local efforts to conserve water, though golf course managers in the area did convene in 2014 to establish more sustainable practices. The desert sun said that in 2018 they fell short of cutting down water use by 10%. But despite the current amount of water available, even Activists acknowledge that if it continues to be this bad environmentally, problems, of course will arise, why would you have 120 green lush golf courses in the desert. And if you think it through, it's because they have a local water source that's quite deep and large, and not all deserts are created equal. Just last year, Las Vegas adopted a new rule banning new courses from using water from the Colorado River. Similarly, golf courses in Arizona pushed back on the state's plan in 2021 to reduce water use that would cut groundwater by 3.1% and recent reports are signaling these courses are using more water than allowed. Both states have been pushing water conservation measures since the 80s and 90s, and I think one of the reasons you're seeing some pretty draconian conservation measures in Las Vegas is precisely for that reason, because their supply is disproportionately dependent upon a Colorado River basin that's in truck. In August of 2022, the federal government announced that Arizona Nevada and Mexico will need to reduce their Colorado river use in 2023 California for now is spared. That's because of the state's senior water rates, although that could change if levels continue to deplete amid the pushback. The golf course industry says they are and have been committed to changing. A recent national study found that water use at golf facilities is down 29% since 2005 and 9.3% since 2013. Golf courses are also using new technologies to avoid overwatering, taking advantage of local rebate programs, including ripping up acres of turf and participating in research activities. For the most part, the trend is smaller turf footprint and native natural unwatered vegetation, either desert or something else. But climate change is an ongoing threat and the golf course industry recognizes it will have to grapple with those long term changes. Many in the golf course industry say it'll come down to a matter of economics and legislation, even if there are stubborn actors in the state of California comes in and says, well, no, you're not Because, you know, you're not gonna get as much water allocation as you got in 2022.