California courses face water restrictions

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. -- Steve Scarborough said he could see this coming several years ago.

As superintendent at Bakersfield Country Club for about 30 years, Scarborough has been through wet and dry years.

But these last few years of drought brought on some pre-emptive strikes. Now, water woes figure to worsen after Gov. Jerry Brown ordered water usage cut by 25 percent for residents, businesses and farms on Wednesday.

And, yes, golf courses.

"This has been coming down the pike the last year or two," Scarborough said. "We've been ahead of the game."

BCC has been reducing area of play and has been replacing high water plants with drought tolerant plants that require less water, he said. "We've taken out about 10 acres already," he said.

Those areas were identified about 10 years ago with the vegetation changeover starting about two years ago, Scarborough said.

Some of the area around holes 6, 7 and 8 "are being converted as we speak to drought area plants," he said.

Scarborough said BCC's water budget is about $250,000 a year. "The second-highest line item (behind payroll)," he said.

But the new restrictions will present additional challenges to the country club's greenery.

"Cutting our use 25 percent by turning down the sprinklers won't work. We're already really lean," Scarborough said.

He said there are "plans A, B and C" if the drought persists.

BCC Director of Golf Bruce Burroughs said if these conditions remain, or worsen, in future years, the country club could be forced to eliminate watering everything except the tees and greens.

"We'd start looking like the European courses, like in Scotland, where the only water they get is rain. If it gets bad, you'd stop watering the rough area and then cut down on the fairways."

"That would be 'Plan C,'" Scarborough said. "Conditions would not be the same."

Things will be much the same at Kern River Golf Course, where Jim Foss started working in 1970. He became a teaching pro in 1978 and has been in management since 1985, he said.

"We have never been mandated to cut back on irrigation," Foss said. "If we do, we have a game plan."

Foss described the Kern River course, which has a well, as "lush."

"We're pretty green now," he said. "We've had some rain."

But if cutbacks are ordered, the "game plan" would reduce or eliminate watering outlying areas.

"The roughs, the driving range," he said. "If it gets really bad, the fairways. But you take care of the greens. I saw Pebble Beach and Sand Piper go through this in the '70s. They all rebounded in future years."

Foss added: "If I'm mandated to do it, we'll abide by it. My job is to serve the public, to give them the best golf experience possible. Until we're told otherwise, we'll keep doing the same things we've been doing."

North Kern Golf Course has water problems that go beyond the drought, according to employee Scott Sackewitz. North Kern uses a well for its water.

"We have our own well, but when we don't get the rain, we don't get the groundwater," Sackewitz said. "We are in a crisis for water. Last year we had to dig our well deeper for water and then our pumps went out. We're waiting for the county to fix our pumps. The fairways and rough are not good. It's dry out here."

This article was written by Jeff Evans from The Bakersfield Californian and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network.