Sow wildflowers to make golf courses eco-friendly, say scientists
GOLF courses can be eco-friendly, scientists have suggested, as they run a project to plant wildflowers between holes and in the rough.
A first of its kind trial at a golf course in Denver, Colorado, is using converted golf equipment to plant and nurture miniature wildflower meadows alongside fairways, next to bunkers and behind greens.
The sport’s penchant for heavily manicured landscapes has often put it at loggerheads with environmentalists, but courses and greenkeepers are now working to be more eco-friendly.
Dr Rebecca Hufft, associate director of applied conservation at Denver Botanic Gardens, is leading a pilot scheme at the Commonground 18-hole golf course.
The Botanic Gardens was approached by the Colorado Golf Association, which runs the course, to try and make it a more environmentally friendly area.
“I was very sceptical when it first started. I don’t think that golf courses and conservation groups have historically been bedfellows,” she said, but agreed to launch a two-year pilot scheme in December 2022.
Three plots of rough were stripped of invasive plants and a converted green aerator was used to punch hundreds of holes in the ground and wildflower seeds were scattered by hand.
“The highest priority was increasing pollinator habitat,” she told reporters, ahead of the AAAS annual meeting in Denver this week.
The ease of the trial and the simple methodology could serve as a blueprint for other greenkeepers if they also want to make their courses better for the environment and local wildlife, she said.
The scientists are waiting to see how successful this spring is after the snow melts and temperatures rise and, if successful, more plots will be created as well as the current ones at holes six, 11 and 12.
The British and International Golf Greenkeepers Association (BIGGA) says that just one quarter of a golf course is intensely managed for the purpose of the game itself and that British golf courses are embracing a wilder aesthetic for the other 75 per cent of a site.
John Milne, the reigning BIGGA Conservation Greenkeeper of the year, curates the Garmouth and Kingston course in Spey Bay, Scotland, and said: “My initial observation was it was over maintained.”
He left eight acres of land, around the same as 4.5 football pitches, to return to a more natural state. “Some areas will be left to grow thick for small mammals, and many areas will be put into a cut and collect regime to thin the sward and promote wildflowers and grasses going to seed for the benefit of pollinating insects,” he said.
Karl Hansell, a spokesman for BIGGA, said: “There’s a general cultural difference between American and British golf courses. Legislation, resources and general construction are all very different, with UK golf courses often more compact and fitting sympathetically into their surrounding landscape.”