Stories, ideas and solutions to create a more fun, inclusive and regenerative world in and around golf
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Becoming a Sustainability Champion
This article highlights a few guiding principles that golf club managers and superintendents as well as others in the industry should consider when discussing their sustainability efforts.
Systems Thinking: The Golf Course as a Living Bio-Filter
North Shore Country Club demonstrates that for a golf course, preservation need not detract from playability, prestige, and profitability. A fully conscious approach may even enhance all of the above. For Dan Dinelli, “multi-functionality” simply means understanding the land of a golf course and the many ways that it can provide value. Such an approach allows the facility to create value in multiple areas: economics, agronomy, ecology, and community – creating a “win, win, win, win”.
What is a climate resilient golf course?
A climate resilient golf course is one that sees the opportunities for community leadership and takes the initiative to explore ways to implement many of the types of projects listed above. Andrew discusses his takeaways from a regional climate resiliency summit hosted by the Mid-Atlantic Region of National Parks Conservation Association.
Growing Greener Golf Courses (Part Two)
While most golf courses seek to be efficient and resourceful with their inputs, monocultural grass production (i.e., the model of a typical non-diverse golf course that requires significant inputs) can be inherently antagonistic to the principles of nature. Allen Williams of Understanding Ag, LLC can help us understand the principles of nature, and how those principles can become the best friends of natural, efficient, and sustainably profitable golf course management!
Muni Golf Field Trip - Central Florida Edition
A trip home to Central Florida led to my inaugural Muni Golf Field Trip where I traveled to three Orlando-area municipal courses to learn, observe and connect with fellow municipal golf stakeholders.
Growing ‘Greener’ Golf Courses (Part One)
If we cast our gaze from the conventional wisdom of golf course management over to the quickly ballooning adoption of regenerative principles and practices in agriculture, we may find ways, completely out of the box, to think about and manage our courses differently (and perhaps a lot more profitably).
Hemp in the Golf Industry: A “Fore”-father of Greenspace Efficiency?
Not all weeds are made equal. One weed (hemp) might actually become your most valuable source of cost reduction while generating multiple streams of revenue on the land your golf course isn’t currently using.
Sustainability Spotlight: National Links Trust Materiality Assessment
Municipal golf can become an inspiring cornerstone of how municipalities meet the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. In the latest edition of our Sustainability Spotlight Series, we are excited to share the process, results and methodology behind the National Links Trust’s first materiality assessment and stakeholder survey, and how we used the UN SDG framework to prioritize NLT’s current and future sustainable development programs in Washington, D.C.
Sustainability Certification Series: GEO Foundation for Sustainable Golf
In the next issue of our Sustainability Certification Series we profile the non-profit organization based in North Berwick, Scotland that has, alongside experts from many backgrounds, facilitated the international voluntary standards for sustainability in golf for over 16 years, the GEO Foundation for Sustainable Golf.
Can Golf Courses Achieve a “Real Zero” Carbon Footprint?
For golf courses, optimal efficiency means providing the best possible experience to golfers using minimal inputs and costs. Golf’s major inputs (irrigation, energy, and chemicals) ultimately run up the score on golf’s carbon scorecard… only when this scorecard gets high it will be melting snowmen by causing higher temperatures (rather than just penciling snowmen on the golf scorecard as most of us do).