Eckelson Lakes Golf Club: Helping Golf and the Environment

Abstract

Over the second half of the 20th century and early into the 21st century, the golf course industry boomed and thousands of courses were built. Beautiful courses have been carved out of unused land, mountains, prairies, lake and ocean sides, deserts, and even landfills. However, golf courses all too often use an excessive amount of water, even in North Dakota. Desert golf courses use so much water to thrive that it is impractical to build them. Excessive water use causes the price of playing to rise and affects the area’s water supply substantially. My project uses land that is used for cattle grazing whose terrain may be too rough for farming and turns it into usable land for a golf course. This course would contain areas for water to drain into detention ponds and stand until suitable time for pumping it into the sprinkler system occurs. Drains on the course are tunneled to other areas to be pumped into the sprinkler system as well. This creates a hybrid between nature and man; nature providing rain and man manipulating where the water is finally sprayed. After all the research is done for this project, hopefully it will bring new light and ideas on how to minimize use of water keep the art of golf course architecture practical.