"Like it or not, golf's public perception is that of a 'recreational activity' rather than a 'business industry'"

Chris Gray, superintendent at Marvel Golf Club in Kentucky writes about golf course water myths and takes a different stand on the A-OK stance regarding golf using "one half of 1 percent of all daily water used":

The simple and confirmed fact is that we use 2.08 billion gallons of water per day for golf course irrigation in the United States. Despite the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America's spin doctors' attempt to diffuse this alarming water-use rate as "one half of 1 percent of all daily water used," this number is still too large for the general public to blindly accept. Like it or not, golf's public perception is that of a "recreational activity" rather than a "business industry" that supplies $76 billion a year to the economy. Our critics can do simple math and want us to reduce this number.