Different kettles of fish I guess and I've no doubt people have been complaining about golf course water usage.

The AI comparison mentioned I believe is really just data center consumption which goes much further than just AI but a large amount of important compute power and storage, with most of it unseen.

Golf courses are at least pleasant to look at and whilst they might use a lot of water, most people can understand it given their own need to water their own lawns. Whereas a data center uses both comparative levels of water, but also enormous amounts of electricity. Whereas a golf course doesn't use even a small fraction of the same amount of electricity.

Even large parklands and other green areas need large amounts of water, but most people are not going to disagree with that.