Twitter/X

A 2026-03-18 tweet by @1reluctantcog claims U.S. golf courses consume 6 times as…

2026-03-18 · 17:06 UTC ·@1reluctantcog ·1 min read

Brief

@1reluctantcog uses Andy Masley’s provisional water-use comparison to argue that public scrutiny of AI and data-center water consumption is misplaced relative to golf. The core claim is that U.S. golf courses use six times more water than data centers are projected to use in 2030, leading the author to call for golf restrictions and mandatory reporting.

Why it matters

A 2026-03-18 tweet by @1reluctantcog claims U.S. golf courses consume 6 times as much water as all U.S. data centers are projected to consume in 2030.

Key details

  • The post cites Andy Masley’s work-in-progress visualization comparing total AI and data-center water use against other industries, noting that the estimates rely on multiple back-of-the-envelope calculations documented in its methodology.
  • Based on that comparison, the author argues for an immediate moratorium on golf, a public pledge from the PGA and past, present, and future Masters champions, and congressional mandates for golf-course water-use reporting.
Source evidence

title: @1reluctantcog: It has been revealed to me that US golf courses consumed 6x as much water as all US datacenters are ...
author: @1reluctantcog
contenttype: tweet
publication: Twitter/X
published: 2026-03-18T17:06:58+00:00
sourceurl: https://x.com/1reluctantcog/status/2034315637263077757

word_count: 117

It has been revealed to me that US golf courses consumed 6x as much water as all US datacenters are projected to consume in 2030!

I for one would like an immediate moratorium on Golf until we can figure out what's going on.

It appears we need a pledge from PGA and past, present, and future Masters champions to not burden other water consumers. Also Congress should mandate golf course water usage reporting.

Andy Masley (@AndyMasley)

This is a work in progress but I made a visual that compares how much water AI and data centers use in total to other industries. Relies on a lot of botecs I justify in the methodology. andymasley.com/visuals/water…

Video

— https://nitter.net/AndyMasley/status/2034036922884968545#m