golf

media type="custom" key="7209142" align="right"Golf
related: sports

We are soliciting quality links and recommended resources that explore the environmental and social connections to golf.

**Environmental Impacts**

 * **Water usage:** "Golf tourism has an enormous impact on water withdrawals – an eighteen-hole golf course can consume more than 2.3 million litres a day." ([|UNESCO Water Portal])
 * **Water usage:** An estimated 2.5 billion gallons of water are used daily to irrigate the world’s golf courses (commonly using non-native grass species). This is equivalent to the daily water needs of 80% of the world’s population (World Watch Institute). (Tourism Concern - [|Water Equity in Tourism Campaign])
 * **Water usage:** According to the European Golf Owner Association, the current upsurge in golf development particularly strong in Morocco, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Turkey, Greece Italy and Cyprus. All of these countries are extremely water scarce. (Tourism Concern - Water Equity in Tourism Campaign)
 * **Freshwater resources:** "Golf courses require an enormous amount of water every day and, as with other causes of excessive extraction of water, this can result in water scarcity. If the water comes from wells, overpumping can cause saline intrusion into groundwater. Golf resorts are more and more often situated in or near protected areas or areas where resources are limited, exacerbating their impacts." ([|UNEP DTIE Environmental Impacts of Tourism])
 * **Chemical usage:** "An average golf course in a tropical country such as Thailand needs 1500 kg of chemical fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides per year and uses as much water as 60,000 rural villagers." ([|UNESCO Water Portal])
 * **Chemical usage:** Journalist and environmental activist George Monbiot cites academic studies that found that an 18-hole course requires seven times more chemical treatments per hectare than industrial farming and that golf course superintendents suffer higher rates of some cancers, including non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma which has been linked with exposure to pesticides ("Playing in the Rough", Guardian, 16/10/2007). ([|Tourism Concern])
 * **Cancer:** Info online [|Cancer Prevention Coalition] and [|Sick of Golf]
 * **Land usage:** Golf courses are often developed on important ecosystems, like wetlands and rainforests, and are heavily doused with toxic pesticides which leach into the surrounding area. What’s more, this land is sometimes forcibly taken from more productive owners, such as farmers. (Tourism Concern)

Economic Impact
http://www.rydercup.com/2010/europe/news/economic_impact_032311.cfm http://www.rydercup2014.com/articles/green-drive-funding

Policy Issues

 * According to Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, currently golf is considered a ‘private sector leisure activity’, which means that water, chemical and land usage by golf courses and their social and environmental impacts are often not monitored or controlled at a national level. In a recent pilot study, Water and Tourism 2009, Eurostat suggests that reclassifying golf under the tourism sector would better enable water-scarce countries to set limits of the number of golf courses, to control their annual water consumption and monitor sources of water as well as the types and amounts of pesticides that are used. (Tourism Concern)

Greening Golf

 * The Golf Environment Organisation: an international non-profit dedicated to helping the global golf industry establish leadership in environmental enhancement and corporate responsibility. [|@golfenvironment]
 * The Environmental Institute for Golf: a collaborative effort of the environmental and golf communities directed at strengthening the compatibility of the game of golf with the natural environment.(Source: Golf Course Home)
 * http://golfcoursemanagement.randa.org/en/My-view/2013/08/Jonathan-Smith.aspx
 * http://projectevergreen.org/resources/sustainability/gcsaa-sustainability-plan

[[image:golf_ball.JPG width="160" height="137" align="right"]]Greening Golf Course Operations

 * Examples of eco-friendly golf balls:
 * Eco Golf Balls
 * Dixson Earth Eco-Friendly Golf Balls
 * Wilson Eco Core Golf Balls

Green Certification for Golf Courses

 * [|Audubon International Cooperative Sanctuary Program]: an education and certification program that helps golf courses enhance the valuable natural areas and wildlife habitats, improve efficiency, and minimize potentially harmful impacts of golf course operations. The program was founded in 1991 as a cooperative effort between the United States Golf Association (USGA) and Audubon International
 * [|How the Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Program (ACSP) Works]: ACSP is designed to encourage homeowners, golf courses, schools and businesses to register their land and buildings as cooperative sanctuaries and take action to protect water, conserve wildlife habitats and manage resources wisely. For a program member to become a Certified Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary, the golf course must receive Certificates of Achievement by Audubon International in six categories: Environmental Planning, Wildlife and Habitat Management, Outreach and Education, Public/Member Involvement, Integrated Pest Management, Water Conservation and Water Quality Management. (Source: Golf Course Home)
 * [|List of Audubon International Certified Golf Communities in the US]: Florida, Georgia, Massachusetts, Michigan, North Carolina, Oregon, South Carolina. (Source: Golf Course Home)
 * [|Examples of Silver, Bronze and Certified Audubon Cooperative Sanctuaries in North America]: South Carolina, New York, North Carolina, Virginia, Florida, Georgia, Quebec, Canada, etc. (Source: Rees Jones, Inc. - golf course design company)

**Around the World**

 * Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, USA - [|Information on golf courses, schools, etc. from the Hilton Head Island CVB website]
 * Oregon, USA - [|Listing of golfing recreation options on Travel Oregon website (Outdoor Recreation search)]
 * Martha's Vineyard, USA - [|Green or not to Green? Politics of Martha's Vineyard "Organic" Golf Course]
 * New Zealand - [|Jack's Point in Queenstown]
 * South Africa - [|Golf courses,] [|Greening of the Nedbank Golf Challenge], South African Golf Tourism Association (SAGTA)
 * Costa Rica - Visit Costa Rica's golf course listing
 * Mexico [|Mayakoba Golf Classic Highlights Sustainable Tourism in Mexico’s Riviera Maya]
 * Greece http://www.costanavarino.com/#/sustainability/environment/golf-and-eco-values

**News, Articles, Essays**
WTM Responsible Tourism: [|sustainable-golf-findhorn-ryder-cup-machrihanish-dunes-gleneagles] WildAsia: " The Future of Golf: How Green are Your Greens? " TourismIntelligence: " Does Environmentally Friendly Golf Exist? " Guardian.co.uk: " The case against golf " Golf Digest: " Drying Out: America's courses are curbing their addiction to water " Golf Digest: " Golf Digest Green Star Award " Golf Digest: "How Green Is Golf?" (pdf) by John Barton Golf Blog World: " Tourists’ Perceptions Change With Increased Environmental Awareness " South African Tourism Update: " Golf tourism gets a boost through new association " (March 8, 2011)

http://www.thistourismweek.co.za/newsletters/cycling-not-the-new-golf

Developing Ideas (edits welcome!)
For people who live in cities any connection with the land is better than no connection.

The best courses are large scale exercises in landscaping and landscape gardening. This approach is very anthropocentric but most people do not conceive of the world in an ecocentric way.

Twitter
[|@golfenvironment]

Questions
How can golf courses be designed to 'fit' the landscape?

Quotes
All inputs to an organic farm must be approved, and golf balls are not an approved input - [|Golf course next to organic farm ordered to close]

misc
grass ceiling - The barrier to further promotion in a business defined by a person's inability to play golf. - urbanup

**Wikipedia**
[|Golf] [|Reclaimed water]

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Ryder Cup
[|#RyderCup] https://twitter.com/rydercup https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryder_Cup

Many thanks to Ayako Ezaki - [|@ayakoezaki] - for updates to this page.