Coronado’s golf course is getting a long-overdue replacement of its irrigation system, and the city is taking the opportunity to consider turf reduction on the course at the same time.
Replacing the antiquated irrigation system at the Coronado Municipal Golf Course carries an estimated 20 percent reduction in water use, and removing grass in non-playable areas on the course could yield another 20 percent reduction.
“The primary goal of turf reduction would be, first and foremost, water conservation,” said Tim Farmer, Coronado’s director of recreation and golf services, during the March 4 meeting of the Coronado City Council. “We’d also want to consider the aesthetic of the golf course, maintain similar playability and difficulty of the course, and create more efficiency for our maintenance team.”
Reducing grass to save water is a strategy that has been implemented at some of the world’s top-ranked golf courses: the Pine Valley Golf Club, the Cypress Golf Club, and the Monterey Peninsula Country Club have all done so.
Coronado’s golf course has budgeted $1.57 million for water alone this year. Upgrading the course’s irrigation system will save about $300,000, with increased savings coming if turf reduction is implemented.
The course uses entirely potable water for its irrigation, though the city has explored the potential for using recycled water, which Farmer said will be considered among options as the new irrigation system is designed.
Meanwhile, the mainlines and pump stations at the golf course are 68 years old, despite carrying a normal lifespan of 30-40 years for the former and 15-20 for the latter. Its valves and lateral pipes are 40 years old, and its sprinklers are 20-40 years old.
The system is inefficient, and staff spends 35 hours a week hand-watering areas of the course that are not reached by irrigation, Farmer said.
As the city prepares to upgrade the course’s irrigation system, it will consider options for reducing its total turf footprint. The city hired Grant Haserot, a golf course architect, who primarily identified areas around the perimeter of the course as candidates for reduction.
The vision is to incorporate sand and native plant ground cover equating to a reduction of 23 of the course’s 117 total turf acres. This is not a final plan, but was presented to the City Council as an example of the options.
The city’s golf course originally incorporated sand into its design, and over the years, more grass was added, Farmer said. Turf reduction would be a return to the course’s roots.
The council was amenable to reducing the amount of grass on the course, and voted unanimously to ask city staff to develop options for review that would yield up to – and even greater than – the estimated 20 percent water savings.
Council Member Kelly Purvis asked whether incorporating turf reduction would delay the irrigation project, considering the city’s dire need for an upgrade, but Farmer said he did not anticipate turf reduction adding significant time to the project. Council Member Mark Fleming said he would like to see cost-benefit analysis of the various options when presented.
