Golf Courses Thrive in St. George, Utah’s Arid, Rapidly Growing Landscape
- University of Delaware doctoral candidate Mehrnaz Haghdadi and doctoral student Nora Lucas conducted research on the water use of 12 golf courses in St.
- The study emerged from fieldwork conducted in 2023, when Haghdadi and Lucas observed extensive green landscapes rising from the desert surroundings while traveling through the region.
- “I'd never seen this much green in the desert before; it was something strange,” Haghdadi said.
University of Delaware doctoral candidate Mehrnaz Haghdadi and doctoral student Nora Lucas conducted research on the water use of 12 golf courses in St. George, Utah, an arid, rapidly growing city in the Colorado River Basin, publishing their findings in the journal Environment and Planning: Nature and Space in a paper titled “Golf (dis)courses: A political ecology analysis of water usage in an arid area.”
The study emerged from fieldwork conducted in 2023, when Haghdadi and Lucas observed extensive green landscapes rising from the desert surroundings while traveling through the region. Haghdadi, who had never seen a golf course in her home country of Iran, expressed initial confusion at the sight of irrigated turf in such an arid environment.
“I’d never seen this much green in the desert before; it was something strange,” Haghdadi said. “I couldn’t understand that the light green covered landscapes we kept seeing were golf courses in the middle of the desert. So, all the unique curiosities came after that, and I was wondering about where they get the water from.”
St. George, located in Washington County, Utah, hosts 14 golf courses within a 20-mile radius, ranging from municipal facilities to premium resort layouts. The area has experienced significant growth tied to golf tourism, including hosting the 2024 PGA Tour Black Desert Championship at Black Desert Golf Resort—the first PGA Tour event in Utah since 1963.
Black Desert Golf Resort, designed by Tom Weiskopf and Phil Smith and opened in 2023, is carved into an ancient black lava field near Ivins, Utah. It hosted the 2024 Black Desert Championship and is ranked as the #1 public golf course in Utah. Sand Hollow Golf Club, opened in 2008 and designed by John Fought and Andy Staples, carries the #2 ranking for public courses in the state.
The University of Delaware research highlights the tension between recreational water use and regional water scarcity in the Colorado River Basin, where demand continues to rise amid prolonged drought conditions. The study focuses specifically on quantifying and analyzing the water consumption patterns of golf courses in one of the basin’s fastest-growing communities.
As of April 2026, St. George remains a focal point for both golf development and water resource planning in the Southwest, with ongoing efforts to balance economic growth driven by golf tourism against the environmental realities of desert water availability.