Weather whiplash continues as climate change brings volatile weather

The National Drought Group has heard that while water resources remain in a relatively healthy position following an exceptionally wet winter, some areas are already seeing the impacts of drier conditions. Water management has arguably never been so important.

It is now 50 years since the infamous drought of 1976, but 2026 promises to be one of the most challenging years on record for the professional groundscare industry.

The parched conditions of Spring increased the risk of drought this summer, but then the UK basked in one of the most prolonged periods of heatwave for many years. The extreme temperatures, allied to the lack of rainfall, have created a whole new set of issues for the industry to tackle.

National Drought Group chair and Director of Water at the Environment Agency, Helen Wakeham, said the country had entered the summer in a generally favourable position, but any complacency quickly dissipated as the summer progressed

“Heatwaves will continue to be a concern as they can drive spikes in water demand, so we need to continue to work collaboratively to use our finite water wisely,” she explained.

“While many of us enjoy the hot weather, we ask everyone to be mindful of their water use.”

At Silvermere Golf Course, irrigation plays a critical role in maintaining the high standards expected of its 18-hole championship parkland course. Under the guidance of Course Manager Tim Muir, the Surrey venue has undertaken a major in-house irrigation upgrade project using a range of Hunter irrigation products supplied by KAR UK.

Tim, who has been Course Manager at Silvermere for nine years, explained that the project was born out of the need to replace an ageing PVC irrigation system which had become increasingly unreliable.

“Probably four or five years ago we were running on an old PVC system, and we had endless problems with it, so we made the decision to upgrade,” he said. “We started a three-year project of an in-house irrigation install, which originally covered greens, tees and approaches.”

During the early stages of the project, Tim was introduced to KAR UK’s Carl Sharp – Golf Sales Manager UK & Ireland, who recommended a range of Hunter products including G-85, I-25 and I-20 rotors.

Following the success of the initial installation, Silvermere expanded the project further by introducing fairway irrigation across the entire course using Hunter’s G-85 golf rotors.

“The last year just gone, we decided to add fairway irrigation to the full course, which we then went with the Hunter G-85 heads,” said Tim. “They’ve been great. We’ve just finished the install now and have been running them over the last few weeks with great results, so we’re really pleased with them.”

The Hunter G-85 rotor is designed specifically for golf applications and is renowned for its durability, torque output and efficient water distribution. Its patented gear-drive system and self-cleaning design have proven particularly valuable at Silvermere.

“I really like the self-cleaning system and the way the heads run,” Tim explained. “We’ve had no problems with anything getting stuck or gears getting blocked up with sand. The throw on them is great and the nozzle ranges are amazing.”

The flexibility of the nozzle selection has enabled the Silvermere team to tailor irrigation precisely to different areas of the course.

“Some fairways tighten up in places, so we’ve adjusted certain nozzles so we’re not over spraying,” said Tim. “We’ve gone with a twin-row 180 design on the fairways, so we’re not losing loads of water into the roughs. The nozzles have allowed us to minimise the water we’re wasting and use it where we want it.”

Efficient water use was a major consideration throughout the project, particularly as the club relies heavily on mains water.

“We haven’t got endless amounts of water here,” Tim said. “We really needed to use it only where it’s needed.”

For the tees, Silvermere installed a combination of Hunter I-25 and I-20 rotors, allowing the team to match sprinkler performance to different tee sizes and layouts.

“We’ve got the I-25s on tees and I-20s on the smaller tees,” said Tim. “They’re running really well too. It’s allowed us to just water the tees and not waste any water again.”

Tim believes the improvements in irrigation performance have already had a noticeable impact on course conditioning. Another key factor for Silvermere has been the long-term reliability of the Hunter products.

Fairway drought performance

Independent research carried out at the NIBIO Turfgrass Research Center in Norway has highlighted ICL’s H2Pro TriSmart and Syngenta’s Qualibra among seven commercially available soil surfactant technologies evaluated under prolonged drought conditions.

The work forms part of the STERF-funded FAIR WATER II project, supported by The R&A Golf Course 2030 initiative and the German Greenkeepers Association (GVD), investigating practical drought management and water-use strategies for golf course fairways across Northern Europe.

During the severe 2024 drought period, untreated plots required 116 mm of irrigation water to maintain the intervention threshold, compared with 90 mm for plots treated with H2Pro TriSmart. This represented a statistically significant 22% reduction in irrigation water use versus untreated turf.

Alongside lower water use, H2Pro TriSmart maintained strong turf quality, green grass cover, and soil moisture performance throughout the drought period, with the trial paper describing it as delivering the “best all-round performance” under the conditions tested.

Within the same controlled rainout shelter trials at the NIBIO Turfgrass Research Center Landvik in Norway, Syngenta’s Qualibra was recognised for providing the “best overall visual appearance after prolonged drought”. 

As golf courses continue to face increasing pressure around water availability, irrigation costs, and prolonged dry periods, the FAIR WATER II project is also assessing approaches including thatch management, deep aeration, and the use of brackish or recycled irrigation water.

Dr Andy Owen, International Technical Manager for ICL, said: “Independent trial work like FAIR WATER II provides valuable practical insight into how different technologies perform under prolonged drought stress. It is encouraging to see H2Pro TriSmart recognised for reducing irrigation water requirement while maintaining turf performance, alongside the visual turf quality delivered through Qualibra.”