Why Water Could Become One of the Most Important Investments Brynhill Golf Club Makes
The Future of Golf Isn't Just About Grass — It's About Water
When golfers look across a golf course, they naturally notice the things they can see.
The greens. The fairways. The bunkers. The tees.
But underneath almost every great golf course is infrastructure that members rarely see and which can have an enormous influence on the quality of the playing surfaces.
One of the most important is irrigation.
At Brynhill Golf Club, we have spoken openly about the fact that our ageing irrigation infrastructure is one of the major areas we will need to address as we continue investing in the future of the course.
And this isn't simply about wanting greener grass.
Water management is becoming one of the biggest long-term challenges facing golf courses across the UK.
Why Does a Golf Course Need Irrigation?
There is sometimes a misconception that golf courses simply need rain.
In reality, maintaining healthy, consistent playing surfaces is considerably more complicated.
Greens in particular are intensively managed areas of fine turf. During extended periods without rainfall, the Course Manager and greenkeeping team need the ability to apply water accurately and efficiently.
Tees also experience concentrated wear as hundreds of golfers repeatedly play from relatively small areas.
Without sufficient moisture, turf becomes stressed. Recovery slows, grass can thin and the quality of the playing surface can deteriorate.
Irrigation therefore isn't about making an entire golf course bright green throughout the summer.
Good irrigation is about applying the right amount of water, in the right place, at the right time.
That distinction is increasingly important.
Greens Come First
During prolonged dry weather, not every part of a golf course needs—or should receive—the same amount of water.
Greens are among the most important areas to protect because of the specialist grasses, low cutting heights and playing characteristics required of them.
Tees are another priority because of the amount of concentrated traffic and divot damage they experience.
Fairways, meanwhile, can naturally become firmer and browner during dry conditions without necessarily being unhealthy.
For golfers, a brown golf course isn't automatically a bad golf course.
In fact, allowing appropriate areas to respond naturally to weather while carefully targeting water at the surfaces that genuinely need it can form part of responsible course management.
The Challenge Is Getting Bigger
The golf industry is already planning for a future in which water availability becomes less predictable.
The R&A's Golf Course 2030 Water programme highlights the need for golf facilities to develop sustainable and secure long-term water strategies. Its guidance points towards measures including better monitoring, efficient irrigation, water harvesting, storage and alternative sources.
That matters because weather patterns are changing.
During July 2026, Wales received only 7.9mm of rainfall—around 8% of its long-term average—as England and Wales experienced their driest July on record. The R&A specifically highlighted the pressure prolonged drought places on turf health, irrigation demand and the resilience of golf facilities.
Periods like this demonstrate why golf clubs need to think years ahead rather than simply reacting when the next dry summer arrives.
What Does 2030 Actually Mean for Golf?
You may increasingly hear the phrase Golf Course 2030 within the golf industry.
It is important to understand what that means.
It isn't a law saying that every golf club must have its own reservoir by 2030.
Golf Course 2030 is an R&A initiative helping the industry prepare for challenges including climate change, water availability and sustainable resource management. Its updated Water Portal brings together legislation, climate information, case studies and practical water-management solutions.
But the direction of travel is clear.
Water is becoming a resource golf clubs cannot afford to take for granted.
Why Can't Golf Clubs Simply Use More Mains Water?
Potable mains water is primarily treated for people to drink, wash and use within homes and businesses.
Using large quantities of drinking-quality water to irrigate acres of turf becomes increasingly difficult to justify when water resources are under pressure.
The wider UK water strategy is already examining golf as a significant leisure water user and highlights opportunities for the sector to use alternative sources and water recycling to improve resilience.
For clubs, there is also a practical issue.
During drought conditions, restrictions can affect how water can be used.
That means the long-term question isn't simply:
“How much water can we use?”
It is:
“Where will our water come from, how can we store it, and how efficiently can we use it?”
Collect It When We Have Too Much. Use It When We Have Too Little.
This is perhaps the simplest way to explain the future of golf-course water management.
Wales isn't necessarily short of rain.
The problem is that rainfall doesn't always arrive when a golf course needs it.
We can experience extremely wet winters followed by prolonged periods of dry summer weather.
The opportunity for golf clubs is therefore to investigate ways of capturing, storing and responsibly using water.
Depending on the individual site, future solutions across the golf industry can include:
rainwater harvesting and drainage-water recovery;
ponds, lagoons and reservoirs;
appropriately licensed boreholes or other abstraction;
recycled or treated water;
modern irrigation control systems;
moisture monitoring and targeted irrigation.
There are already golf clubs moving towards this model. The R&A highlights examples including clubs using reservoirs, boreholes and harvested drainage water to substantially reduce reliance on external supplies.
But Taking Water Is Regulated
Creating your own water supply doesn't mean simply digging a pond or drilling a borehole.
In Wales, Natural Resources Wales regulates water abstraction.
Generally, abstraction of more than 20 cubic metres per day from inland water or groundwater requires an abstraction licence. Depending on what infrastructure is created, an impoundment licence and other permissions may also be required. Natural Resources Wales
There is another important consideration.
Even where an abstraction licence is granted, NRW states that this does not guarantee that the authorised amount of water will always be available. Conditions can require abstraction to be reduced or stopped when water levels become too low.
That's exactly why storage and resilience deserve to be part of the conversation.
What Does This Mean for Brynhill?
Brynhill's irrigation system is ageing.
As we continue improving the golf course, this is an area that we know cannot simply be ignored indefinitely.
Replacing or significantly upgrading an irrigation system represents a substantial investment, and therefore any future project needs to look beyond simply replacing old pipes and sprinklers with newer versions.
We need to consider the bigger picture.
How efficiently can we irrigate our greens and tees?
Can technology help us use less water?
Could water be captured during wetter periods?
Could additional storage form part of Brynhill's long-term infrastructure?
How can we reduce our reliance on potable mains water?
And ultimately:
How do we make Brynhill more resilient for the next generation of members?
Those are questions responsible golf clubs increasingly need to ask.
Modern Irrigation Is About Using Less, Not More
There is another important misconception worth addressing.
Installing better irrigation doesn't necessarily mean using more water.
Quite the opposite.
Modern irrigation technology can provide far greater control over where water is applied.
Moisture measurements can help greenkeepers identify areas that actually require water. Individual sprinkler control can improve targeting. Better pipework can reduce leakage. Improved coverage can reduce the need to repeatedly irrigate an entire surface simply because one area remains dry.
The objective is not:
“Make everything green.”
It is:
“Use every litre intelligently.”
That is better agronomy, better environmental management and, over the long term, better financial management.
Investment You Might Never Notice
Some of the most important investments a golf club makes aren't particularly glamorous.
Members immediately notice a refurbished clubhouse, a new tee or a new piece of machinery.
They probably won't get quite as excited about pipes underground, pumps, irrigation controllers or water storage.
But those things can have an enormous influence on the course members play for decades afterwards.
At Brynhill, our approach is not to pretend every project can happen immediately.
We have made significant improvements, and there is still plenty more to do.
Our irrigation infrastructure is part of that longer-term picture.
Preparing Brynhill for the Next Generation
Brynhill Golf Club has been here since 1921.
Our responsibility isn't simply to manage the golf course for this summer or even the next five years.
It is to make sensible decisions that give future generations the opportunity to enjoy the same golf course.
Water will be an increasingly important part of that responsibility.
That means maintaining excellent playing surfaces while recognising that water is a valuable natural resource.
It means investing in efficiency.
It means investigating sustainable sources.
It means considering how water can be captured and stored.
And it means planning before circumstances force us to react.
The golf course of the future won't necessarily be the greenest golf course.
It will be the one that understands how to work responsibly with the resources available to it.
At Brynhill, that's another part of ensuring our golf course is ready for the future.