Since the opening of China’s first golf course in Guangdong Province in 1984, the country has seen a boom in the sport, which is a symbol to many Chinese of luxury, upper class lifestyle, and one of the pinnacles of western recreational status. In China, golf is something that only the very wealthy can afford, with club fees ranging from “cheap” at a couple thousand dollars per year to tens of thousands of dollars per year for the very exclusive courses, meaning that only approximately one in every 100,000 Chinese people could ever afford to play 18 holes in China. Despite the small number of potential Chinese golfers however, the symbol and status of golf in China has created a reasonable market for the development of golf courses.

Such development comes with significant environmental challenges. Most golf courses are constructed in the suburban areas of large metropolitan cities, which, especially in northern China are already strained for water resources. Golf course construction has several implications. Because the water required to maintain greens, tee boxes and fairways is significantly more than that of land covered by trees and bushes, strains are created on both groundwater and municipal water supply. The deforestation of areas to build 18-hole courses also increases soil evaporation, decreases infiltration, increases stormwater runoff and decreases the water-holding capacity of the soil. Also, since many suburban golf-courses are located on lands once used for agriculture, it is common practice to directly extract groundwater from agricultural wells already built on the land for irrigation purposes, which leads to the lowering of the groundwater table in areas which are already experiencing subsidence on a regional scale.

The municipal government of Beijing has of course, realized that this problem could be very severe. This year, in fact, Beijing experienced its driest winter to date, with 108 days straight with no precipitation. There have been several policies passed attempting to curtail water-intensive industries. In 2005, the Beijing Water Authority passed its first announcement on golf course water management, called the “Announcement on the strengthening of golf course water use management”. Within this document, it was specified that the 40 golf courses within Beijing’s 11 districts would have to pay doubled or tripled prices for water usage exceeded a set maximum. The announcement also stated that golf courses were required to utilized reclaimed wastewater for both waterscaping and irrigational purposes and that they should also maximize harvest of rainwater.

In 2006, another announcement was sent to all registered in Beijing, requiring golf courses to register usage of on-site wells, increase permeable areas (such as paths, parking lots, etc) on the site, maintain irrigation equipment, and for golf courses within the distribution network of reclaimed wastewater to utilize this as a source for irrigation, and flushing toilets.

In 2010, the opening of new water-consuming enterprises—including new ski slopes, golf courses, and bathhouses—in Beijing was banned.

While these policies were definitely a step in the right direction, several articles question their efficacy and the extent to which the policies are actually enforced. In March 2010, Probe International published a report which stated that “fewer than 7 percent of Beijing’s golf courses use reclaimed water for irrigation despite municipal guidelines that strongly suggest they do”. On February 11 of this year, the Economist published an article stating that according to aerial photographs, there are 170 confirmed golfing establishments in Beijing, including driving ranges. Previous estimates of the number of golf courses vary because some places avoid calling themselves “golf courses” in order to have more leniencies in management. The official Xinhua News Agency reports 38 golf courses as of 2010

Although there are definitely some questionable aspects of the efficacy of legislation and the commitment various players have in their implementation, there is no doubt that golf courses in Beijing must adopt water reuse and saving measures. There are three main strategies that are important in golf course water management.

The first is to increase the amount of reclaimed wastewater that is being used for irrigation and waterscaping. As of August 2010, only 4 of the 38 official golf courses were utilizing reclaimed wastewater for irrigation. Interestingly, in the same month, it was also reported in Chinese media that the demand for reclaimed wastewater in Beijing far exceeded its supply. In many developed countries, technology is good enough that up to 70% of all wastewater can be reused as reclaimed wastewater after treatment. In Beijing, only about 10% of wastewater is being reutilized, so the potential for reclaimed wastewater to be a major water resource in the future is very large. Because in some cases, wastewater treatment plant effluent may not meet standards for irrigation or waterscaping uses (especially if nutrient levels are high), golf courses may consider the use of constructed wetlands to raise the quality of the water. This strategy may even allow for golf courses outside the reach of the current reclaimed wastewater distribution network to carry out additional treatment of treatment plant effluent to raise the quality of the water independently.

The second strategy that will be important for golf courses in Beijing to adopt is drainage and rainwater harvest design. Because grass lawns experience greater runoff than forested areas, specific attention needs to be considered in the grading of the landscape with respect to maximizing infiltration into the underlying aquifers and in minimizing waste during irrigation. Expert engineers should be consulted for questions relating to soil type, infiltration speed, soil water capacity, and grading.

Lastly, the selection of drought-resistant plant species should also be considered in golf course design. Already in Beijing it is reported that drought resistant grass is already being used for fairways and roughs, which typically account for over 60% of the total area of the course.

Research is being done on golf industry development at the Turfgrass Institute of Beijing Forestry University.

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