Will the future of golf development in the world’s second most-populous nation be compromised by a lack of water? Less than two years ago, KPMG’s Golf Advisory Practice predicted that India “may need to build up to 100 new courses to satisfy the demand over the next decade.” But last summer in Delhi, severe water shortages forced hospitals to delay surgeries and shopping malls to shut off their air conditioners. What’s more, last year a British newspaper asked a question that India’s golf developers really can’t answer: “How sustainable are these water-thirsty golf courses based on residential projects?”
All this foreshadows an impending battle over water, a battle that I fear India’s golf industry isn’t prepared to fight. When anxious people in hospital beds discover that even well-managed 18-hole golf courses drink, on average, 136,000 gallons of water every day — water that could be used to sterilize clamps and scalpels — the construction spigot won’t remain open for long. If our industry ignores this issue, we risk losing a true hot spot for growth. And it needs to be addressed now, before India and other parched nations go so dry that they can no longer swallow the thought of building more golf courses.
The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the January 2013 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.