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It wasn’t too long ago that Pinehurst No. 2 looked very different than it does today. When the course hosted the 2005 U.S. Open, it had wall-to-wall irrigated turf. The fairways were narrow and rough was a key part of the challenge. Tees, fairways and rough were overseeded every fall to keep them green and growing throughout the year.

Today, all the irrigated rough has been replaced by huge natural sand areas dotted with native plants like wiregrass, blue toadflax and pineweed. Overseeding hasn’t been done since 2010. These dramatic changes in design and maintenance were driven by architectural goals and changing patterns of play at the resort, but they also delivered big water savings. Pinehurst No. 2 uses approximately 50 percent less water today than it did before the restoration. The story of how this all came to pass is a fascinating one.

After the 2008 U.S. Amateur, the gears started turning to give Pinehurst No. 2 a big shakeup. An aerial photograph of the course surfaced from Christmas Day, 1943, that offered a clear picture of how it looked after continual refinement by course architect Donald Ross. It was evident how much the course had changed since that time. Pinehurst leadership tapped golf course architects Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw to return the course to its original character and playability. When the restoration plans came in, sod started going out.  

"Pinehurst No. 2 uses approximately 50 percent less water today than it did before the restoration."

From 2010 to 2011, 40 acres of irrigated turf were removed from the course and donated to the local community, where it was used on ball fields and home lawns, among other things. This process exposed the natural sandy soil, and these new “sandscapes” were planted with clumps of native wiregrass and allowed to fill in. Pinehurst’s director of golf course maintenance Bob Farren said this change “returned the course to its original appearance and design intent to take advantage of the Carolina Sandhills environment.” The restored sandy areas would not be irrigated at all, and the sprinklers were removed.

The number of irrigation heads on the course went from 1,200 to just 450. Any turf or plants outside the irrigation coverage would simply have to live with whatever rain Mother Nature provided. With so many irrigation heads removed, overseeding was no longer possible because it required uniform sprinkler coverage to establish and maintain the ryegrass.

Overseeding the fairways also didn’t fit with the playability goals and evolving business model at the resort. As John Jeffreys, golf course superintendent of Pinehurst No. 2, said of the overseeded fairways: “The course was never intended to be that soft.” Pinehurst had also become a year-round golf destination, and conditions throughout the year mattered more than ever. Playability was poor while the overseed was established in the fall and then the course had weak, damaged fairways in the late spring and early summer during the transition back to bermudagrass. Eliminating the overseeding meant better playing conditions for more of the year. It also meant substantial water savings.

In the early 2000s, all the courses at Pinehurst were overseeded wall-to-wall, but after the practice was discontinued on No. 2, the resort had the confidence to stop overseeding the other courses as well. After the final overseed on Pinehurst No. 2 in 2010, they opted to paint fairways and tees to provide a green color while the underlying bermudagrass was dormant in the winter. Today, people have come to accept the natural dormant look, so painting has also been eliminated and the fairways are tawny brown for several months in the winter and early spring.

The combination of sod removal, no overseeding and improved maintenance practices led to an approximately 50 percent reduction in annual water consumption on Pinehurst No. 2 from before the restoration to today. The Pinehurst maintenance team is proud of this feat; as Farren said, “The restoration really put us on a good path to sustainability – from both an economic and environmental perspective – that continues now, 13 years later.”

This just goes to show that water savings can align with other golf course improvement goals – it doesn’t have to be a tradeoff. It’s possible to save water and elevate the overall golf experience with some thoughtful planning and a little hard work.