The work of ASGCA Past President Steve Smyers at Maridoe Golf Club in Carrollton, Texas, was highlighted in a recent Urban Land magazine article from the Urban Land Institute.

The article details the challenges the golf industry faces in developing and maintaining quality facilities nationwide while also being good stewards of water use.

Indeed, a new era for golf courses is emerging—one that is more sustainable and water conscious than in the past.

As drought and water supply issues become more serious, golf course designers, superintendents, and leaders of the game contend that it is no longer possible to maintain golf courses as they have been over the years—with lush green grass covering nearly every foot of space, even outside playing areas.

In the Dallas suburb of Carrollton, Steve Smyers, a golf course architect and president of the American Society of Golf Course Architects, is designing the new Maridoe Golf Club with a focus on water-conscious turfs. The playing areas will be planted with varieties of Bermuda grass, which require less water because they handle extremely dry conditions. The roughs will be layered with native grasses such as buffalo grass and blue grama closer to the fairways and bluestem and bromus farther away.

“We want the golf holes to feel as if they’re carved into the middle of prairie,” says Smyers. “We’re integrating the golf into the native landscape setting.”

The entire Urban Land article can be seen here.