Unpacking the golf course deturfing issue
When the Boulder City Municipal Golf Course opened in 1973, it was a kind of golden age for golf as a suburban pastime. It was a time when everyone’s dad had a set of clubs. When Jack Nicklaus, Lee Trevino and Gary Player were on TV every weekend and huge, grassy courses were opening up all over the deserted Southwest. Lake Mead was full, or close to it. Droughts were something that happened in other places in the world and talk of changing climate focused on what was described as a coming Ice Age and the population of Clark County was about 331,000. A little more than 50 years later, the lake is some 200 feet below full, more than 2.3 million people call the region home and plans are being made for a possible future when there will not even be enough water flowing through the Colorado river to generate electricity.