Why Desert Golf Courses Are A Thing - Cheddar Explains

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?

Further reading:

Historic UK

Palm Springs Preservation Foundation

Tourism Economics

AP

KESQ Newschannel 3 (ABC)

CVWD

CVWD

Desert Sun

LA Times

AP News

CNN

GCM

Connect with Cheddar!

[JosephStJames]

Here in Palm Springs the golf course around my neighborhood went bust due to rising water cost. Oh my goodness but people freaked out, crying about lost home values blah blah blah. I, for one, am pleased to have the area return to native vegetation. The desert landscape is beautiful. I don't understand why people move to the desert only to make it look like Ireland. Enjoy the natural beauty.

[Nighthawk]

You know what could save more than the 20% of water?

Not having hundreds of golf courses in the desert

[Marsktty]

Surely if water prices scaled greater with the amount of water used, it would solve much of the problem by putting golf courses out of business or forcing them to be more sustainable

[Unknown_Ooh]

Who knew overpopulating a desert and building hundreds of green golf courses with huge housing developments with lush lawns would completely run the West/Midwest out of water

[gerardvanwilgen]

Even if you save as much water as possible without killing the grass, that grass should not be there in the first place.

[Jkangaroo]

I live in the valley, one thing i have to mention is that Disney is planning on building a resort in rancho mirage with a 34 acre pool! It really feels like businesses like golf resorts who bring in capital get priority over the environment and water resources which really sucks because we live in the desert and we have a HUGE DROUGHT. People have this mindset here where they believe as long is there is money to be made everything will be fine and there is always more water to go around.

[CaptainFSU]

I've been playing golf since I was 14, over 20 years, and I find desert golf course reprehensibly irresponsible.

[leovomend]

i was hoping you meant a new thing of golf courses made with sand, seeing as how theyre just golf courses in the dessert the answer is rich people. its a terrible thing that should not be allowed

[andrewkful]

You can tell who isn't from California when all they think of when they hear the word Coachella is a crazy music festival.

[Ember-Rodriguez]

A little too friendly towards California and golf courses and especially farmers. A lot of the issues here have to due with how the Colorado river water was distributed, how the use it or lose it structure pushes wasteful crops, and golf courses that dont use grey water at this point are outright evil. People in Las Vegas, Tucson, and other desert towns are doing alright and take measures to restrict water usage and have seriously curbed usage meanwhile larger population centers like Phoenix and California valley people have made little to no adjustments and continue to grow lawns and water heavy plants.

[Jarekthegamingdragon]

Soooo rich people wasting resources like normal? About right.

[nittsingh]

Seems more like an advertisement on golf course or an excuse to continue using water on golf courses

[cesaralvarado]

I don’t like the way they speak about aquifers in this video and the way they compare them to reusable water bottles aquifers are not refilled so easily and can take thousands of years to replenish sometimes In many cases once the water runs out in the aquifer it runs out if not for the replenishing of rainwater that just so happens to seep into the ground

[TerryFT]

but it's still using water from Colorado river .... which will basically be history if we don't make changes to how we distribute water now.

[misterthedarthvader]

Hi Cheddar, could you consider including metric equivalents for your non-imperial viewers? I have no idea what 90 million gallons are in liters.

[steven]

The Silver Crested Snowbird requires lush green desert golf courses to thrive. Lost of habitat has caused many species to decline.

[luiserasmo]

Just drying out the Colorado River and the aquifers and leaving the Mexicali area in Mexico without water in the river and a minor quantity in the canal.
(and if you want you can count the ecological disaster of the Colorado river delta in the Alto Gulf of California)

[jeepxj]

fuck no they shouldn't exist. non potable water can become potable with the right plant involved. if they want to exist fine; but tax their water consumption heavily with a rising drynamic rate that is also tied to drought conditions. they will reconsider when its 15 bucks a gallon to water.

[pacificostudios]

There are "Non-Potable Water" warning signs everywhere you look in my neighborhood. It's a way to circulate wastewater back into the environment.

[daveotuwa]

Desert golf courses are good joints for tourneys. Golfers wish the Masters was held at such place as long as it is a season other than summer when they close due to the extreme heat that yields abundant sweatiness.⛳