With the goal of continual improvement serving as its foundation, The Environmental Institute for Golf, CGCSAA’s philanthropic organization, has announced plans to create and lead an effort to provide golf with a sustainable approach to golf facility management, an effort dubbed “Golf’s Drive Toward Sustainability.”
Backed by the golf industry through the support of the World Golf Foundation, the over-arching aim of this sustainability endeavor is to ensure profitable golf operations while making management decisions that are in the long-term interest of the environment and communities, with a particular focus on water conservation, water-quality protection and energy conservation.
In announcing the program, GCSAA CEO Mark Woodward, CGCS, said the program will be designed to help course managers make improvements by professionally managing and conserving resources and inputs and reducing waste, while providing playing conditions that satisfy today’s golfers as well as attract future players.
“All too often, critics and supporters want to paint a black or white picture. Nothing is absolute,” Woodward says. “Backed by research, education and technological advances, golf has demonstrated it can be compatible with the environment. But we also know improvements can be made.
“The debate should not be about where we are or where we are not, but on whether there is a concerted effort for improvement,” he noted. “Golf’s Drive Toward Sustainability represents that effort.”For GCSAA and The Institute, the focus on sustainable management began several years ago with the start of the Golf Course Environmental Profile, a series of surveys funded by The Institute through a grant from The Toro Giving Program that provide baseline data on golf course property features, management practices and inputs.
In addition, GCSAA has instituted new competencies for superintendents in regard to environmental management, which are being addressed through the association’s educational programs.
Going forward, Golf’s Drive Toward Sustainability will offer a menu of resources for the entire golf facility to use to demonstrate continuous improvement. The cornerstone of those resources will be a comprehensive list of best management practices that result in the creation of new tools and will support existing programs.Steve Mona, the CEO of the World Golf Foundation, applauded the direction of the program and the broad-based support it has received from within the golf industry. “Golf is not unlike any other industry in that government, the media, special interest groups and the general public are casting a critical eye,” he said. “This program will validate where we are making progress and identify what actions are needed.”
For Woodward, the program’s systemic approach will be its most notable strength.“We sought and achieved widespread support to keep this from being seen as a program for only the golf course,” he said. “Second, the profile project gave us a body of data that was previously non-existent. We then established competencies for superintendents with an environmental focus and have developed education to support them. Next, we will roll out the BMPs later this year that will allow all components of golf facilities to demonstrate and document progress.
“This all sets the stage for the golf industry to better advocate and position itself as one that is committed to continuous improvement.”
For more information, visit www.eifg.org/sustainability.
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