This is the first article in a series that will outline the different certifying bodies in the golf and sports industries. These specific organizations are vital to the green sports movement because they provide teams, businesses, and organizations with a blueprint for managing and implementing sustainability focused social, environmental, and economic programs. The first such certifying organization we will cover is Audubon International.

Audubon International is a non-profit organization based in upstate New York that originally began as the Audubon Society of New York State in 1987. Despite sharing the Audubon name, Audubon International (AI) is not affiliated with the more widely recognized National Audubon Society, which focuses primarily on protecting birds and their native habitats. AI instead prescribes environmentally sustainable practices for their members (including individual businesses, entire communities, and eco-regions) through education, technical assistance, certification, and recognition. While AI’s reach does include working with the wider business community, the largest source of their membership is made up of properties under the golf and recreation umbrella. 

AI has enrolled over 3,000 properties in its certification programs since its inception. Continued partnerships with the United States Golf Association, Golf Course Superintendents Association of America, the Environmental Defense Fund, as well as other agencies ensure their continued success in the market.

Audubon International Certifications:

• Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Program (ACSP) – two options: 

  Golf: With this certification golf courses receive guidance on Environmental Planning, Wildlife and Habitat Management, Chemical Use Reduction and Safety, Water Conservation, Water Quality Management, and Outreach and Education.

  Business: This education and certification program helps participating organizations create plans and set goals around Outreach and Education, Resource Management, Water Quality and Conservation, and Wildlife and Habitat Management. This is designed for parks, cemeteries, museums, schools, universities and other businesses.

• Green Lodging & Green Hospitality Programs: These are two types of third-party on-site verifications that hotels, resorts, clubs, lounges and the like have met environmental best practice standards and demonstrate a commitment to Communication and Education, Water Conservation, Energy Efficiency, Indoor Air Quality, and Waste Reduction, Reuse, and Recycling.

• Sustainable Communities Program: Municipalities, communities and associations receive guidance based on three established pillars of sustainability: a healthy local environment, quality of life for citizens, and economic vitality. Each program is tailored to fit the context of each community with the goal of establishing priorities, creating action plans and measuring results

Signature Sanctuary Certification

The last of AI’s certification programs is where we will spend the remainder of this article. The Signature Sanctuary Program is AI’s most elite and customizable environmental certification that verifies sustainable design, construction, and long-term management of new and renovating golf courses and resorts as well as new communities. 

The focal areas of this certification is exhaustive and includes: Environmental Planning, Construction Timeline & Management, Best Management Practices, Landscaping & Cultural Practices, Integrated Pest Management, Water Conservation & Water Quality Management, Environmental Monitoring, Natural Resource Management Center, Waste Management & Energy Planning, Outreach & Education, and Wildlife & Habitat Enhancement. 

The certification process requires enrollment, an initial site assessment & site plan reviews, monthly reporting, development and approval of a Natural Resource Management Plan, environmental monitoring and a final site visit and environmental audit. To be recertified, facilities must provide annual reports encompassing the certification’s focal areas and a recertification site visit every three years.

Municipal Golf Facilities and the Signature Sanctuary Certification

Now that I’m functioning as a consultant in the municipal golf sector, I gave into my curiosity to learn firsthand how this particular certification program is helping municipal golf facilities satisfy their quest to run their operations more sustainably. To do that, I connected with AI’s Director of Signature Sanctuary Certifications, Kat Findlay. I met Kat last November when she came down to Washington, D.C. to attend the National Links Trust’s Symposium on Municipal Golf. 

In our conversations, Kat shared with me that of the 115 Signature Sanctuary golf courses, roughly 10% are municipal golf courses. While that number seems low, it is actually larger than the percentage of American golf courses that are classified as municipal golf courses (approximately 8% - 2,000 munis/15,000 courses). When reading between the lines, there are a few possible reasons that I can see that explain why there aren’t more municipal golf facilities that fall under this certification class.

• First, this certification is classified as an elite program and the cost to join the program reflects that. Kat said her municipal members offset the higher program costs through grant funding or from specific funds allocated by the regional parks and recreation programs.

• Second, the certification only applies to new or renovated golf courses. The vast majority of new golf course developments are either high-end resorts or private country clubs and the cost to renovate a golf course can range from $2-20 million. Because many municipal golf facilities operate at or near a loss, the funding needed to do a renovation (partial or full) is often out of reach.

• Third, the commitment to pursue this certification must come from the person who carries out the work, the golf course superintendent. Municipal golf superintendents are all to often overworked, understaffed and insufficiently funded and when the first priority is keeping the doors open, the costs (i.e. labor and resource use) and benefits to implement and maintain the programs necessary to achieve such certifications exist outside the operation’s bandwidth.

I asked Kat if she would connect me with a couple of her Signature Sanctuary members so I could pinpoint some of the contextual reasons why these particular municipal golf facilities choose to pursue this certification. She graciously obliged my request and introduced me to the two people in charge of managing their facility’s AI Signature Sanctuary Certification: Paul Sibley at Walnut Creek Golf Preserve in Westminster, Colorado and Kevin Kolesar at Washington Golf Course and Learning Center in Cleveland, Ohio.

Walnut Creek Golf Preserve

Walnut Creek Golf Preserve is one of two municipal golf courses located in the Denver suburb of Westminster, CO. Built in 1999, it is the state’s first ‘golf preserve’. Walnut Creek is as much a championship caliber golf facility (played host to over 40 local, regional and national championship and qualifier tournaments) as it is a pure nature preserve with 215 acres of urban land, over 70 wildlife species and numerous types of native vegetation. With a round of golf costing at most $55, it offers incredible value for all skill levels while creating a shelter for the area’s diverse ecosystem. Walnut Creek is managed by the city’s Parks and Recreation department.

Walnut Creek’s website proudly boasts their status as a Certified Bronze Signature Sanctuary, having earned the distinction just about 20 years ago. Golf Course Superintendent Paul Sibley’s honest and genuine personality shined through the screen when we met over Zoom. Paul started at Walnut Creek during the construction phase as the course’s Assistant Irrigation Superintendent nearly 24 years ago. Given how prepared he was for our interview and his palpable excitement to talk about sustainability, I could tell he was someone who has enjoyed every day of his professional career at Walnut Creek. 

Here are some of the key takeaways from my conversation with Paul:

• Walnut Creek is a very small part of the overall regional habitat and the environmental mission that Westminster is trying to accomplish. Paul clearly expressed that it is not the city’s intention to ever put the two golf properties in a position where profit margin supersedes the added value the golf courses provide to the community and the surrounding ecosystem. Sustainability is ingrained from the bottom up and the top down and collaboration is seen everywhere. The parks and recreation staff that oversee facility operations manage with the golf course's ecological footprint at the front of mind because they come from golfing backgrounds themselves and understand the unique challenges Paul sees everyday. 

• Walnut Creek is not just a revenue generator, but an intrinsic part of the community and this drives how they conduct business. There is no shortage of community-based activities at the golf course. From player development to adult-themed Easter egg hunts (yes, Easter egg hunts designed for those of us 21+ in mind, let your imagination run wild!), from a restaurant that serves the community of business as the nearby Westmoor Technology park to the nearly 2-mile long nature trail that takes hikers and birders alike through riparian corridors of pollinator gardens and native grass meadows, Walnut Creek has the ability to serve all community stakeholders.

• What keeps Paul up at night?

  • Water scarcity: Paul proudly totes that his facility uses 100% reclaimed water and draws no water from city sources. The course’s self-reliance has saved their hide more times than Paul care’s to count thanks to periods of extreme drought (sound like a familiar problem?). This would not have been possible without Audubon International’s guidance and structured approach to designing buffer zones, drain routing and detention areas. In fact, the design phase required a redo because AI was not satisfied with the course’s original design. Paul was adamant that this change in the course’s original design was the biggest factor in Walnut Creek successfully navigating the region’s severe droughts over the past 5 years.

  • Climate change: From a management perspective, this is Paul’s next biggest worry. Our growing climate crisis is presenting new challenges that are forcing the adoption of new management strategies that seek to find the balance between presenting a memorable and playable golfing experience (quality) and turf strong enough to handle the wear and tear of increases in participation over the past five years (quantity).

  • Cost & availability of turf maintenance commodities: Inflation is all the talk these days but how do facilities like Walnut Creek manage rising costs while keeping their product affordable and accessible to all stakeholders? Tough question I know but we as an industry must address this issue head on. One way Paul is managing this problem is by shifting his priorities to focus on optimizing soil health because healthy soil requires less inputs to produce healthy turf.

• If funding wasn’t an issue, where would Paul focus his efforts?

  • Autonomous and hybrid mowing equipment: Between staff shortages and increasing commodity costs (gas, equipment, pesticides, etc.), autonomous and hybrid electric mowers save not only time and money but make the operation more efficient allowing for the course to take on more sustainability initiatives. 

  • Renewable energy: Paul’s major roadblock here is retrofitting existing infrastructure to be able to handle the needs of the operation. Because the facility uses 100% reclaimed water, Walnut Creek must run their pond aeration systems 24 hours a day, 365 days a year to maintain AI’s water quality standards. Currently, the technology to store enough solar power to last through the evening hours does not exist but that’s not stopping Paul from pursuing this option going forward.

  • Zero-waste facility: This fits in perfectly to Paul’s attitude about decreasing his operation’s footprint while showcasing total self-sufficiency. 

Washington Golf Course

Washington Golf Course is a 9-hole, par 29 golf course and practice facility located just a few miles from downtown Cleveland, in the suburb of Newburg Heights, OH. The course opened in the spring of 2006 and upon achieving its AI certification, Washington G.C. became the first 9-hole, publicly-owned golf course in the world to become a Certified Gold Signature Sanctuary.

The golf facility was originally financed by The First Tee of Cleveland and has been managed by the Cleveland Metroparks since its inception. Washington G.C. also serves as a model of municipal collaboration. The facility is home to the Washington Park Horticulture Center and a curriculum based program that offers Cleveland Municipal School District high schoolers an opportunity to develop skills in turf management, animal care, greenhouse production, landscape mechanics, and floral design.

When I met with General Manager Kevin Kolesar in January, he had been on the job for less than a year. Prior to his current role, he had little exposure to Audubon International and their certification programs but I could tell how excited he was to dive into and immerse himself in the Signature Sanctuary program to squeeze out every opportunity to lower his environmental footprint. Thankfully, the typical Cleveland winters presented him with ample opportunity to stay inside and bury his nose in the course's Natural Resource Management plan, which is easily 5 inches thick. 

Here are some of the key takeaways from my conversation with Kevin:

• Sustainability is about utilizing the resources and knowledge you have on hand to further enhance the environment and your stakeholders. Washington G.C. is a green space in the middle of an urban landscape and when the property was acquired by Cleveland Metroparks the surrounding community was underserved and in disrepair. Now the golf course sits as an oasis in a concrete jungle serving people and wildlife alike. And with an on-site composting facility, Kevin’s team is able to create a circular system keeping organic waste on property for reuse.

• AI’s stewardship is pivotal to Kevin’s success. Kevin wasn’t handed the 5-inch thick Natural Resource Management plan and told ‘Good Luck’. Kat Findlay and her AI team have been with Kevin every step of the way guiding him through the triennial certification process and showing him how he can improve upon past initiatives using the facility’s historical certification reports to his advantage.

• Cleveland Metroparks provide the leadership necessary to give Kevin the freedom to embrace challenges and find solutions. With eight total golf courses under their recreational umbrella, Cleveland Metroparks has fostered an atmosphere where communication and collaboration between golf properties has been a major key to their operational success. From the sharing of maintenance equipment to the establishment of local best management practices, Kevin works in an environment full of support and camaraderie. 

• If funding wasn’t an issue, where would Kevin focus his efforts? 

  • Ensuring the success of the Washington Park Horticulture Center. Due to the pandemic, the horticulture center’s programming has been put on hold to the detriment of the surrounding population (lack of exposure to science-based education and activities) and the golf course (closing of a pipeline that provided volunteers, interns, and staff for the operation). 

  • Upgrade existing operational equipment. The latest golf course equipment upgrades include GPS systems that practically eliminate waste with precise input applications to the nearest inch and hybrid electric motors that decrease reliance on fossil fuels, both of which are vital to cutting costs and increasing operational efficiency. Given his staffing constraints, this would be Kevin’s first priority.

  • Invasive Vegetation Removal - Kevin shared that when the golf course was constructed in the mid 2000’s, the majority of the land the golf course occupied was filled with less than desirable vegetation. Most of it had been removed for the course’s footprint but specific corridors on the golf course still provide the operation with plenty of headaches. Full removal of the invasive vegetation would open air flow throughout the golf course and enhance the already vibrant ecosystem. 

Driving the Green Takeaway: The Audubon International has its detractors that question whether the certification process is worth the cost to pursue. Well as I discovered during my two interviews with Paul and Kevin, without the AI’s structured framework and guidance throughout the design, construction, and operational phases, there is no way these courses would be as prepared to handle today’s unique challenges. The implementation of sustainability from day one is the single biggest factor to the success of these two facilities and that makes Walnut Creek Golf Preserve and Washington Golf Course two shining examples of what happens when municipal golf courses receive the investment and support needed to become not just a revenue generating facility, but a true community asset.