_Feb/senseandsustainability.jpg "Sense and Sustainability")
By Steve Donahue
An extensive renovation is helping Poppy Hills conserve millions of gallons of water while contributing to increased play and revenue
A growing number of golf courses are making environmental sustainability a priority, but Poppy Hills Golf Club has taken its effort to unprecedented levels.
The Pebble Beach, California, layout—owned and operated by the Northern California Golf Association—was completely renovated to the tune of nearly $11 million by architect Robert Trent Jones II’s firm from March 2013 to April 2014. Improving playability and making the soggy course more firm, fast and fun were high priorities, but water conservation was the main goal.
“How much you pay for water will be the No. 1 thing driving how much you actually save in dollar values,” says Brad Shupe, Poppy Hills’ general manager. According to Shupe, the 18-hole course has reduced its water use by millions of gallons since installing a state-of-the-art, $3 million irrigation system. “We saved about 30 percent of water consumption for the first six months since reopening,” he notes.
Poppy Hills’ irrigation system features central-control software and 56 integrated wireless sensors. The operations managers can now quantify many water-use factors, including soil moisture, topographical aspect, slope percentage, turf vigor, pH and other factors. New pump stations only activate when needed, saving additional energy.
“We’re really saving money on pump use,” Shupe says. “You have to pay for pumping water through irrigation lines, so if you’re using 30 percent less water, you’re probably using 30 percent less energy because there’s less pump use.”
To improve drainage, crews sand-capped the entire course, which previously featured clay native soil. This move helped roots for the new ryegrass and fine fescue penetrate deeper and survive with less water.
“It will take a year or so before the sand cap stabilizes and holds water,” Shupe says. “Then we believe we’ll use even less water.”
Holistically, the renovation was designed to create a more efficient golf operation that uses less power, time and labor, requires fewer machines, and falls within given costs. Meanwhile, doglegs were softened or removed to create a more natural routing; an enhanced forest management program has improved playability and allows more sunlight to improve turf health; and new bunkers help reduce the overall area that requires machine raking. In addition, all putting greens were completely rebuilt with softened contours using a blend of creeping 007 bentgrass and Tyee bentgrass.
Creating simpler mowing patterns and new sandy areas achieved financial, environmental and aesthetic objectives. For instance, Jones created one cut of fairway-height grass that runs from tee boxes to greens to enhance the playing experience by eliminating rough. He also eradicated 25 percent of the turfgrass, downsizing from 82 to 62 acres; transformed the lake fronting the fifth green into a fescue-filled, natural sandy area to reduce loss of water through evaporation; and restored a natural creek that was buried during the original construction.
The new design elements—in addition to improving playability and being more environmentally friendly—have also sped up play. Average rounds have decreased from approximately five hours pre-renovation to about four hours and 40 minutes. This, in turn, has helped generate more green fee revenue. In fact, revenue increased 38 percent from April to September 2014 compared to the same period in 2012, before the renovation.
“The NCGA has 140,000 members and they want golf as inexpensive as possible,” Shupe explains. “They can play our course for $70, where non-members pay $235. Since we reopened, the percentage of $235 rounds has increased slightly, from 1 percent to about 5 percent.”
Those numbers are real, and even though many golf course operators can’t afford a Poppy Hills-like makeover, there are lessons all owners can glean from their experience.
“The No. 1 thing golf courses are starting to do is no longer maintaining out-of-play areas and letting them naturalize,” Shupe says. “Some courses are turning off sprinkler heads, not using fertilizer and not mowing in those areas. It’s not just about saving water—it’s changing the whole maintenance structure and saving money.”
Steve Donahue is a Connecticut-based freelance writer.