This past June, Clark Pastrick, Senior Project Manager at the National Links Trust (NLT), sent me one of the most exciting emails of my young sustainability career: 

“Andrew, I wanted to reach out and see if you would be interested in being a pillar chair for NLT's Symposium on Municipal Golf, slated for November 8-10th (in Washington, DC). We are focusing on five pillars and one of them is sustainability. When brainstorming pillar chairs your name came up on the top of our list for sustainability.”

As I’m sure you guessed, I said yes to Clark. How could I not? This is the exact reason why we (Alex, Andre and I) started Driving the Green, so we would have the opportunity to participate in events like this. To share the message that sustainability can bring to the golf industry. To have the opportunity to assemble a team of sustainability all-stars to discuss the issues, challenges and solutions that we feature in our blog. 

As the clock winds down to zero days until the start of the symposium (less than three weeks as of the release of this article), I thought ‘What’s better than turning the spotlight on myself for some self reflection and a little shameless self promotion?’ So for this edition of our Sustainability Spotlight Series, I share the story of the National Links Trust, why Municipal Golf is the key to the golf industry’s future and what it's like to assemble a sustainability super squad for the NLT’s ‘Symposium on Municipal Golf’.

The National Links Trust: Golf For The People

There are only three golf courses inside Washington DC’s borders and all of them are municipally owned by the National Park Service: East Potomac Golf Links, Rock Creek Park Golf Course and Langston Golf Course. Each course holds historic significance in their own right and are pillars for the communities in which they reside. However, years of deferred maintenance and insufficient investment led to poor playing conditions and run-down infrastructure, which became the primary obstacles for anything to be done at the courses because the priority list was too much for an unsupported budget. 

Rewind back to October 2020 when the NPS announced the awarding of a 50-year lease to a small, local nonprofit called the National Links Trust. The NLT’s vision and mission for the District’s three municipal courses are simple and clear: “[We are] dedicated to protecting and promoting accessible, affordable and engaging municipal golf courses to positively impact local communities across the United States of America.”

More-so, their goals for the three properties show their ambitions to make municipal golf a key part to creating a more equitable and fair society here in Washington, DC:

• Attract more recreational play among local, regional, and visiting golfers by offering well-maintained and architecturally engaging golf design.

• Renovate existing and build new infrastructure while restoring historically relevant architecture at each property.

• Expand access for seniors, beginners, and veterans as well as disabled and economically disadvantaged golfers.

• Support and promote youth and collegiate golf programs.

• Generate full-time employment and youth specific workforce development programs.

• Honor and celebrate the history of the facilities including their involvement in the Civil Rights movement.

One year into their 50-year lease, NLT has ambitiously embraced their role as stewards of the game launching a new golden age for municipal golf here in the District of Columbia. Here is a list of some of the meaningful accomplishments achieved by the NLT over the past year:

• Rounds of golf: 168,356.

• Range balls hit: 17,611,966. (!!!!)

• All three courses are managed by Troon Golf.

• Three golf course rebrands.

• Equipment partnership with Toro and new Club Car golf carts.

• Started vegetation assessment and invasive plant removal at Langston Golf Course.

• Launched the Jack Vardaman Workforce Development Program Internship and the Western Golf Association/Evans Scholars Foundation Youth Caddie Program.

• Established new community partnerships with Anacostia Watershed Society, Langston Golf Course Conservancy, Howard University, First Tee of Greater Washington, DC, Jim Vance Media Program, Golf. My Future. My Game., the Rock Creek Park Conservancy and Youth on Course.

Driving the Green Take: The NLT has shown strong leadership and great ambition in their quest to renovate and revitalize DC’s municipal gems. One of their stated goals not listed above is to provide the blueprint for other municipal golf courses to follow, to pave the way for other communities to find the value in their municipal golf properties and invite golfers and non-golfers alike to enjoy the game of golf. I was quick to jump at the opportunity to volunteer with NLT because their mission for golf is so closely aligned with mine and it was time for me to give back to my golf community here in DC. 

NLT has created a buzz that didn’t exist before, they make you want to be a part of something big. People are excited about the future of golf in DC because of the NLT’s ambitions and visions for the future. They’ve presented plans featuring big names in golf course architecture to renovate each course to better accentuate their original designs while embracing a symbiotic relationship with the unique environments in which each course resides. They’ve amassed an impressive list of community partnerships to guide them through their journey. They’ve created an avenue for people to enter into golf, whether it be as a caddie or as a new golfer and they’ve done so with open arms.

I consider the timing of all of this to be quite fortuitous, for myself and for the golf industry. I’m truly excited to see the results of the hard work and even more thrilled to be a member of the boots on the ground helping the NLT’s vision become reality.

The NLT’s ‘Symposium on Municipal Golf’ 

One way the NLT seeks to fulfill their goal of sharing the blueprint for other municipal facilities to follow is hosting their first annual ‘Symposium on Municipal Golf’ and bringing the brightest minds in the golf industry together to discuss the future of municipal golf. Their hope is that attendees will walk away with a better understanding of the challenges and opportunities that face municipal golf and the impact these facilities can have on local communities.

The Symposium is divided into five pillars: 

1. Sustainability - See Below for Insider Access! 

2. Community Impact - How municipal courses deliver positive benefits to surrounding communities.

3. Growing the Game - How municipal courses are successfully increasing round and bringing new golfers into the game. 

4. Architecture - How investing in quality restorations can revive courses, attract more players and increase revenues.

5. Alternative Programming - How municipal courses can use non-traditional golf experiences and other programs to enhance and broaden facility use.

Other Symposium Schedule Highlights:

• Architecture Happy Hour with Tom Doak, Beau Welling & Jay Blasi.

• “Women in Golf Panel” featuring Abby Liebenthal of the USGA, Suzy Whaley of the PGA of America and PGA of America Hall of Famer Renee Powell of Clearview Golf Club.

• Keynote speeches by Dave Aznavorian, Sr. Director of Transformational Initiatives at the USGA and Seth Waugh, CEO of the PGA of America.

Driving the Green Take: Originally, the Symposium was going to be in-person but was switched to a hybrid (virtual and in-person) model a few weeks ago to keep people safe with the continuing Covid-19 pandemic. I am fortunate as a DC resident and pillar chair to be one of the in-person attendees and I am looking forward to networking with so many influential figures in the game of golf.

Assembling A Sustainability Super Squad

As soon as I accepted the role of the Symposium’s Sustainability Pillar Chair, my brain immediately scrolled through my golf sustainability rolodex in search of the perfect collection of unique voices and experiences that can share sustainability success stories that would inspire others to start or continue their own sustainability journey.

By the end of the summer, I finished assembling my sustainability super squad and began the process of whittling down sustainability to a 75-minute presentation, which is no easy task given the size and breadth of what is defined under ‘sustainability’. In fact, that has been my biggest challenge thus far. Fortunately for me, I have the following people on my team so all I really have to do is pass them the ball and let them work their magic. 

• Parker Anderson, Greener Golf - Parker wrote an article for Driving the Green in April speaking to the importance of golf courses supporting pollinator habitats. He is a member of both the PGA of America and the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America (GCSAA) and runs the beekeeping program and apiary at Goat Hill Park, a municipal golf facility located in Oceanside, CA. Parker’s multifaceted background and his work with municipal golf courses made him a no-brainer addition to the panel.

• Aubrey McCormick, Black Sheep Design - I met Aubrey in early 2021 and we quickly bonded over our mutual passions for golf and sustainability. We wrote an article together for GreenBiz that spoke to the opportunity golf has to embrace a sustainability mindset and offered some big picture ideas. She is a former professional golfer and climate responsible advocate that helped publish the golf’s first Corporate Social Responsibility Report for The Olympic Club. She currently works as a regional director at the Forest Stewardship Council and as CEO of Black Sheep Design, a design/build company dedicated to investing in sustainable projects.

• Pam Smith, City and County of Denver - Pam came highly recommended by Aubrey and as soon as I spoke to her I knew I needed her on the team. Pam has been in the golf business for over 30 years and serves as the Director of Agronomy for the City and County of Denver’s seven golf courses. She is a proud civil servant and ambitiously pursues every opportunity she can to make an impact in her community and with her staff.

• Dave Aznavorian, USGA - Dave was added to my panel by the National Links Trust and again, as soon as we met we got along like peas and carrots, to quote the great Forrest Gump. Dave serves as the Senior Director of Transformational Initiatives for the United States Golf Association where he oversees the USGA’s advocacy behind golf courses’ sustainable use and management of resources as well as driving participation from younger and diverse communities.

• Michael Lee, GCSAA - Michael was the last addition to the panel courtesy of the NLT. He is the GCSAA’s Manager of Government Affairs and oversees the Grassroots Ambassador program that connects GCSAA members with their state and local legislators.

As I stated earlier, my biggest challenge in putting this panel discussion together has been paring down sustainability to a 75-minute presentation. What do we cover? What are the obstacles we must overcome to create a greater call to action? How can we engage people and help them realize if we all take small, collective action together we will create monumental waves of change?

I’m hopefully optimistic that the panel discussion my team and I have assembled will answer that last question. Here is a preview of what is in store for the Symposium’s attendees:

• Aubrey - The importance of writing impact reports and connecting golf to the larger green sports movement.

• Pam - How implementing one small initiative (oil testing) has cut costs, drastically reduced hazardous waste and helped to change an organizational culture stuck in the status quo.

• Parker - Why pollinator programs are vital to the health of our ecosystem and agricultural systems and how stakeholder engagement can turn opponents into allies.

• Michael - Why the GCSAA’s 50-State BMP (Best Management Practices) programs are vital for establishing operational standards and ways to navigate and manage legislative advocacy.

Municipal Golf is the Key to the Golf Industry’s Future

The United States has approximately 15,000 golf courses and about 2,900 of those are municipal golf courses. Municipal golf is currently undergoing a renaissance as stakeholders throughout the industry are investing their time, energy and money into saving this precious golf resource.

Municipal golf facilities are all too often understaffed, underbudgeted, under maintained and under the gun from local officials and community members that are certain that the space the golf course occupies is more valuable as built infrastructure to solve housing shortages or as privatized land for warehouses and shopping centers.

Municipal golf is one of the primary entry points for new golfers. It’s cheap (often costing roughly $2/hole if you walk), accessible (regularly located in urban environments and city centers) and far less intimidating than country clubs and high-end resort facilities.

Municipal golf courses serve as assets for local governments to establish and implement climate action plans. Green space is often very hard to come by in urban settings and investing in programs that maximize the added value municipal golf green space offers can solve several of the problems plaguing municipalities.

• Food Insecurity - Vegetable gardens, greenhouses and fruit orchards can provide shelters and after school programs with nutritious and healthy foods.

• Carbon Sequestration - The implementation of Biochar can help create urban carbon sinks to help offset carbon emissions.

• Resource Management - Updating irrigation systems, installing water reclamation systems and decreasing maintained turfgrass can cut a course’s water usage and lower overhead costs. 

• Waste Management - Single-use plastic bans, food waste/composting programs and even glass crushers (turn glass into sand) can lower costs and create circular programs helping to reduce and close waste streams.

• Flood Prevention - Municipal golf courses can help cities deal with flooding. Investing in golf course redesigns can help courses lower a city’s flooding risks by funneling water away from existing infrastructure.

• Ecosystem Regeneration - Naturalizing unplayable areas with wild flowers and removing invasive plant species will help to revitalize communities of pollinators, mammals, native and migratory birds and aquatic life.

• Health & Wellness - Golfers are well aware of the health benefits of playing the game of golf but adding walking paths and opening the course to other recreational opportunities allows non-golfers to enjoy the open green space.

• Community Events - Hosting swap meets, farmer’s markets and even evening concerts and movie nights provide avenues for non-golfers to enjoy the open and accessible space golf courses provide.

• Renewable Energy Production - Installing solar panels can greatly decrease energy costs helping municipal facilities allocate revenue to fund other sustainable initiatives.