Years ago, the legendary former Massachusetts legislator (and Speaker of the House) Tip O’Neill he invented a little bit of political wisdom.
For Arizona golfers during this election season, the phrase has a new meaning.
For what? Because the final stages of Arizona’s attorney general’s race have been defined by a bet between two candidates over one of Arizona’s most valuable economic engines. Yep – you guessed it: golf.
The story begins with an otherwise innocuous interview from Chris Mayesthe Democrat believed he was leading Warren Petersen, his Republican counterpart, by as many as 11 points in the polls.
Mayes spoke to the Political Energy podcast on a cutting-edge topic in the mid (and the world of golf) in 2026 – AI data centers – when it raised a frequent complaint about water use. While many AI companies have seen in the vast areas of the undeveloped desert of America as the ideal place for the construction of the data center necessary to advance the technology, many environmental groups have argued that the data centers, which require some water for cooling systems, should not be built in climates prone to drought.
Indeed, Arizona has a water problem far beyond AI. It is a desert state in a corner of the United States that is growing hotter and drier. Regardless of political affiliation, water sources and conservation efforts represent a part of the jobs of many elected officials in Arizona.
In his interview, Mayes may have made that point when he found himself stumbling into a big green hornet’s nest. Suddenly, he was talking about Arizona golf courses.
“We have too much, too much grass in Arizona,” Mayes said. “We probably frankly — and I’m sure the golf industry is not going to like this when I say this — we probably have too many golf courses in Arizona right now.”
Mayes tried to cover his tracks, doubling down later in the interview to point out that golf courses have evolve into impressively efficient water users over timeand are currently responsible for only 2 percent of Arizona’s overall water supply despite their prominence in the state. But his opponent, Warren Petersen, didn’t take long to feel the blood in the water.
Within a day, Petersen had published an attack ad to the tune of the famous “Dave Loggins”.Augusta“, highlighting his opponent’s comments.
“Golf is an important industry and pastime in Arizona, but Kris Mayes thinks we have too many golf courses,” says Petersen in the announcement. “We need to save golf.”
The good news — at least for Arizona golfers — is that it turns out that being “anti-golf” is a pretty bad policy. In a tweet posted shortly after Petersen’s announcement began circulating on social media, Kris Mayes walked back his previous comments and clarified that he remains in favor of his state’s $6 billion golf industry.
“Relax, nobody’s closing golf courses,” Mayes posted. “My point is that we need incentives to help all Arizonans and major industries to exchange thirsty grass and capture rainwater, especially if our water situation worsens – while I take foreign mega-farms and data centers that drain our water.
