Our Driving the Green community creates a future for golf to be a bridge of social equity, economic prosperity and environmental sustainability in the communities where the game lives.
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.
We spoke with Andrew Glen, Superintendent at KDV Sports Complex on the Gold Coast of Australia to learn more about his one-of-a-kind, 100% organic golf course and how to make organic golf scalable across the industry.
At least 35% of the food we eat is directly dependent on the pollination services of bees. With their numbers in decline, might a symbiotic relationship with golf be the change needed to restore their numbers?
Can the secret ingredient to fertile grasslands be the key to golf courses creating engineered carbon sinks? Will Bowden of New Zealand Turf Management Solutions seems to think so.
Providing equity-focused, eco-driven, and exceptional golf is the mission of Corica Park Golf Course (municipal golf course for the City of Alameda just outside of Oakland, CA). Andre connected with Tamara Sabella, Director of Community Engagement for Greenway Golf, to discuss how golf plays a role in leading the integration of urban communities.
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”.
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.
As the following conversation discusses, ecology and economy share the root word “eco”, which means “home” or “place to live”. At the root of municipal systems and urban environments is the shared desire among stakeholders to collaborate on more harmonious ways of living. Green Mechanics uses data and natural flows to facilitate life in urban environments. Enjoy Andre’s conversation with Larry Davis of Green Mechanics!
COP (Conference of Parties) 28 highlighted Nature-based Solutions (NbS) as key to meeting the climate goals set by the Paris Agreement of COP 21. The golf industry has the opportunity – and the responsibility – to play a key role in implementing NbS projects according to these principles.
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).