Water, water, everywhere - should we spare?

By Kris Jonasson August 2006

We get green with The Masters and brown with the Open. Is one better than the other? Every year as summer approaches I begin to anticipate my favourite days of the golf calendar: the week of the BC Amateur.

For the past ten years, against the odds, the BC Amateur has been blessed with hot, dry weather and the venues bring hard and fast conditions. Making the week even more remarkable is that it coincides with the Open Championship. We regularly set up a television in the clubhouse and with the time difference we get to enjoy coverage of The Open before things get really hectic at the Amateur.

This year the Open Championship also experienced hot, dry weather and we were witness to a seldom seen golf course. Prior to The Open, the greens were given just enough water to prevent the grass from dying, but were not watered at all in Championship week. This was not “Masters Green” from tee box to green and in some places the course resembled a burnt out moonscape. Did the dry, golden fairways make for a bad course?

Listening to golfers watching the clubhouse television, you could have assumed that the Open Championship was being played on a municipal course. Where is the green grass? It looks like a dust bowl! How can the Royal and Ancient set the course up like that?

To the surprise of many, The Open players had nothing but compliments for the course and the overall consensus was that Royal Liverpool was a stern test and should be a regular part of The Open rotation. I know the players well enough to know that they are rarely shy in stating their true feelings and therefore the comments were genuine.

So is brown so bad? We have become accustomed to expect lush fairways and deep green greens. Are these kinds of conditions really a necessity considering that they require large quantities of water and chemicals?

I for one, like the look of grass that is turning a golden yellow or even a light brown. Moreover, I love the fact that I don’t get mud on the ball. The game changes when you have to get creative with your shot selection and have different options as to how to play a shot.

Water will be the next big issue for golf. The fact that a large part of B.C. is rainforest will not exclude us from this reality. The sooner we embrace brown, the better. If we use less water we will cut maintenance costs, help keep the cost of golf a little more affordable and improve the quality of the turf.

Hard and fast golf courses change the way we play the game. They make short hitters a little longer and they bring some luck to the game. This past Open Championship is a great example.

We get green with The Masters and brown with The Open. Is one better than the other? It’s my opinion that they are simply different: not better, not worse and I enjoy the variety. Let’s embrace the summer in B.C., enjoy the heat and forget the nine months that Mother Nature pours her natural water liberally. Let’s hear it for brown!

Kris Jonasson is the Executive Director of the BC Golf Association and has contributed to Inside Golf regularly over the past seven years.