Grass cannot survive without water—at least not for months on end. Water is in short supply in many parts of Europe these days. The heat and drought of the summer of 2026 have shown their limits to numerous countries—such as Austria, Germany, and Switzerland—whose residents have historically faced few, if any, restrictions on water use.
In the summer of 2026, many regions in Germany had to conserve water because streams had dried up, rivers were carrying only low water levels, and lakes had significantly lower water levels. In many places, using tap water to irrigate grassy sports fields and parks, fill swimming pools, or water gardens was prohibited. However, the 2026 drought did not affect only the surface. It impacted groundwater recharge, river outflows, and, consequently, water supplies to an increasing extent.
Heat and Drought in 2026
In the summer of 2026, Bavaria experienced an exceptionally dry summer, which also affected the hosting of golf tournaments, regular play, and course maintenance. The German Weather Service reported record-high temperatures:
- Average temperature of 20.0 degrees Celsius
- Deviation of +4.2 degrees from the long-term average (1961–1990)
- 28 hot days at 30 degrees or higher and seven very hot days at 35 degrees or higher
- The record high was 40.8 degrees in Kitzingen on June 26–27.
- Precipitation across all of Bavaria was 34 % below the long-term average (1961–1990).
- However, there were significant regional differences within Bavaria: While Wörth am Main recorded only 67.6 liters during the summer months, Ruhpolding recorded 473.5 l/m². In general, northwestern Bavaria and Lower Franconia in particular proved to be extremely dry.
Golf Courses Under Pressure
In this context, operators of golf courses and golf clubs have been—and continue to be—under increasing pressure over water consumption. On the one hand, many golf courses are suffering from a lack of rainfall; on the other, non-golfers’ tolerance for deep-green golf courses that are clearly being watered is dropping dramatically. Plenty of Instagram and Facebook posts in July and August called for a ban on watering golf courses.
Above all, however, in the summer of 2026, authorities responded by imposing significantly stricter restrictions on watering sports fields, citing the need to safeguard the drinking water supply. The bans varied considerably between counties and cities. For example, the municipalities of Eichendorf and Landau an der Isar banned the use of tap water for watering lawns, green spaces, sports fields, and riding arenas, while the districts of Kitzingen and Rhön-Grabfeld—along with several others—prohibited the withdrawal of surface water.
The Passau district reacted most strictly, imposing a blanket ban in early August on watering golf courses—as well as other grass sports facilities—with either tap water, groundwater, or surface water. As a result, golf courses could use only stored water for irrigation. “Fortunately, we have access to several fish ponds, and we’re allowed to lower their water levels by a maximum of half a meter,” says Leonhard Anetseder, owner of the Donau GC Passau-Raßbach golf course. “We were already only watering the greens and tees anyway, so the ban didn’t really affect us. Our members and guests were generally satisfied.” Nevertheless, he is already considering expanding the storage capacity.
The situation was similar at Panorama Golf Passau, where, according to club manager Sebastian Lahmar, the reserves in the storage pond had not yet been depleted by early September, as the club had already begun a very conservative watering regimen in the spring. Here, too, fairway irrigation was suspended, while the greens and tees could still be watered.
In addition, Germany’s largest golf complex, the Quellness Golf Resort, and the Sagmühle Golf Club fell under strict Passau district regulations. Given the size of the Quellness Resort—with five 18-hole courses—this meant that as many as eight golf courses in Bavaria depended entirely on existing reserves for their water supply.
Ensuring Future-Proofing
Against this backdrop, what does the future of water management in Bavaria look like? For Bavaria’s golf courses, the goal is to maintain a stored reserve for dry periods and, in the long term, to rely more on collecting surface water. “The trend is clearly moving toward collecting water during the rainy winter months—as well as during periods of extreme rainfall—and storing it in retention ponds,” explains Bavarian golf course architect Thomas Himmel. “Anyone who builds a storage pond can use the excavated material to reshape many areas of the golf course so that water is channelled through drains into a storage pond.” However, it’s also important to consider the issue of evaporation at this point: “Shallow but large ponds are particularly susceptible to evaporation, which increases as temperatures rise. Here, you definitely have to consider the right dimensions.” In other European countries, such as France, pond covers, or cisterns are therefore now also in use.
“Commercially managed golf courses are generally already collecting surface water,” says Arno-Malte Uhlig, president of the Bavarian Golf Association, summarizing the situation in Bavaria. “Many clubs lack the funds to build storage ponds,” he points out. The decision to take out loans for a retention pond is often controversial among the membership. However, exceptions—such as the Ebersberg Golf Club, according to Uhlig—demonstrate that the importance of water for the operation of a golf course is increasingly being recognized.
BGV Water Database
In this context, the Bavarian Golf Association also highlights the importance of the association’s water database, where golf courses can anonymously store their consumption data. “The ability to conduct anonymous benchmarking, in particular, will become even more important for golf courses in the future,” notes Heidrun Klump, executive director of the BGV. This makes it possible to draw conclusions about a course’s own consumption and how to optimise it.
Uhlig and Klump agree on the urgency of improving the water supply: Although the immediate crisis is over for golf course operators and greenkeepers in Bavaria now that the summer months have ended, the underlying problem of falling groundwater levels in Bavaria remains. So it is by no means time to let our guard down when it comes to water.
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