DENVER - As Denver enters the second full week of Stage 1 drought restrictions, viewers have been emailing Denver7 with questions about why golf courses look as green as they do, and how they will maintain playable conditions throughout the season.
Viewers have shared concerns over water usage at local courses, with one resident calling it hypocritical to water golf courses while their local community is urging residents and farmers to not irrigate.
Denver7's Tyler Melito took those concerns to Denver Golf's Director of Agronomy Pam Smith, who said her team is reducing water usage by 20% across the city's seven public golf courses, as is required by Denver Water under the current drought restrictions.
WATCH: Denver7's Tyler Melito talks water restrictions with Denver Golf's Director of Agronomy
"What that looks like for us is to cut back a lot of major watering areas such as the rough, kind of go from the outside of the golf course in and preserve our prime playing surfaces, such as greens, tees and fairways," Smith explained.
Drought
Water restrictions in Colorado: Share your concerns, how you are impacted
Not all of the seven courses however get their water from the same source, and different rules apply depending on the type of water. Recycled water, for example, "recycled water are not restricted to a water budget by Denver Water because more water is available in that system during a drought than is available in the potable water system," according to the City of Denver.
Harvard Gulch, Kennedy and Overland Park use water from City Ditch, ground wells and the Platte River, respectively.
Wellshire and Willis Case golf courses use treated city water.
City Park Golf Course uses recycled wastewater, and Evergreen Golf Course uses water from outside Denver Water.
To maintain the grass despite the dry winter and reduced watering, the courses employ specialized maintenance techniques.
"We do so much more work than you typically do to your home lawn, such as aerification, top dressing, fertilizer, wetting agents, soil amendments — all these things factor in to great quality turf," Smith detailed.
Despite the dry winter, the grass remains green at courses like Harvard Gulch.
"Course conditions right now are actually pretty good. Rob the superintendent is here, like, eight days a week. He never stops," golfer Rynk Smothers said.
Environment
Your guide to water restrictions across the Denver metro and beyond
However, golfers like Smothers are slightly concerned about what's to come this summer.
"It's going to be tough, though. We just, we just hope that everybody takes care of the course," Smothers said.
And Smith shared she has concerns as well.
"Some of our concerns would be really around maintaining those excellent playing surfaces, as I mentioned earlier, managing our water and actually monitoring our water use on a daily, weekly, monthly basis, so we can hit that 20% reduction and have enough water to carry us through what is possibly going to be one of the hottest and driest summers in history," Smith said.
But Smith also noted the dry summer could lead to playing conditions that some golfers may actually enjoy.
"They may find the greens a little bit firmer, maybe a little bit less receptive to some hot shots coming in. But I think for golfers, be patient, be kind, and appreciate the resources we have available and that we're going to make the best use of them, and I hope our community understands that as well," Smith said.
Denver7 is committed to making a difference in our community by standing up for what's right, listening, lending a helping hand and following through on promises. See that work in action, in the videos above.