‘SO, WHO’S UP FOR SAVING THE PLANET?’
After trudging and squelching through a winter golf season where my handicap got stuck in the mud, I’m about to say something I never thought I’d say when rainwater was pooling in my shoes not so long ago... It’s too hot for golf. This may sound like sacrilege or, at the very least, an unwise jinx that could put your golfing summer at risk, but as I write this we are in the midst of a heatwave, and the forecast for my midweek roll-up tomorrow suggests that by the time I get to somewhere around the 6th tee, it’s going to hit 35 degrees.
There are some who wear shorts religiously all year round in defiant anticipation that one day the weather will adapt accordingly, but not me. I hate the heat. I melt, I wither and I would rather remove my putter from my bag than see a photo of myself in shorts. But if scientists are to be believed (and they are), then we’re going to have to get used to playing in Costa Del Sol conditions on the Costa Del Slough.
There’s a serious point to be made here. Golf is a rather unsustainable sport, environmentally. Every day we fire balls of rubber and plastic into lakes, discard more than our fair share of bottles into tee-side bins and leave a trail of plastic tees in our wake. And our courses suck up an almost unimaginable amount of water to placate golfers moaning about the pace, firmness or, well, greenness of our greens.
How’s this for a stat? According to the USGA, golf courses in America use around 2,080,000,000 gallons of water PER DAY. Over two billion gallons. Per. Day. Annually, that’s 759,200,000,000, a number that makes my brain melt.
If we’re to avoid the reality of playing in 50 degree heat before I’m eligible to join the seniors, then obviously there are huge changes needed across every area of life. That will need political collaboration across the world, but golf does have a big part to play.
To some, golf courses are the bad guy, taking up vast swathes of land, often in areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty and developing them for the benefit of the few, not the many (Yes, you, Trump!). But in many instances golf courses are the only protected green spaces in big urban areas and, if managed well, can provide habitat for wildlife and plants that would otherwise be lost to development. These courses can also provide space for people to gain access to countryside that may not be available without a long journey – just don’t have a picnic on the fairway; I have genuinely seen this happen.
So it’s good to hear that England Golf have recently launched a sustainability plan and also a sustainability award, won in 2021 by Whitsand Bay. Some of the projects they’re pursuing could easily be replicated across the country – such as planting wildflower meadows in unused areas of land, providing beehives and moving away from the use of chemicals and pesticides.
My local club, Wycombe Heights, have recently completed the building of an enormous reservoir, meaning the greenkeepers can be self-sufficient with their water supply. They’ve also removed a few very high-maintenance bunkers, thus reducing their need for sand (which is in remarkably short supply across the world, so I’m told).
Not all courses will have the means to embark on as big a project as this, but there are small things we can all do to make sure golf not only improves its carbon footprint, but one day offsets it altogether.
Let’s all stop using plastic and painted wooden tees. It’s completely unnecessary now that there we have so many sustainable and biodegradable alternatives. I’m also trying to remember to always take a reusable water bottle with me to lessen the overflowing bins on the courses I play. Why not ask your pro shop or club to install a tap for refilling, as opposed to flogging plastic bottles? If you’re not fussy about what ball you play, why not pledge to only use balls you’ve found out on the course? And even if you are fussy, it won’t be long until you come across something identical (it might even have your initials on from that shank last year).
Think of the difference we could make as a community if each golf club committee just put aside one item on the agenda to brainstorm how both the club and its members can make a few small changes to help make golf an environmental force for good.
But now, I’m off to prep for tomorrow’s scorcher. My top tip is remember to pack an umbrella! It’s just as good at protecting from the sun as it is from rain!