Gathering Roots Golf Club: Pt.2

Constructing the most environmentally-positive golf course on Earth
Part 2 (Course & Landscape)

Oh, you came back?

(If you haven’t read the first part of this series, click here to catch up on my brief recap of time).

Now that we’ve set the scene, it’s time to start constructing our facility, Gathering Roots Golf Club (GRGC), and we’re going to begin with the outside areas including the golf course and the wider environment. Within the concrete landscape of a large developed town or city, how does a golf course fit? Within modern society? Well managed facilities can counteract societal environmental damage through soil protection, water filtration, pollution fixation and biodiversity conservation. I’m splitting this area into a few sub-groups which include: course design, water, chemicals, staff and equipment, and wildlife.

Course Design

To design the course, we will be hiring Jeremy Slessor, and to design the “X” academy course, we will hire Agustín Pizá in a nod to those architects and designers who have supported Gather so far.

Water

As we’re based in a hot climate, water usage and storage are significant factors for the agronomical success of the course. We can choose to incorporate a regional grass plant, but let’s consider the option of a low-water grass to reduce the day-to-day strain on staff, budget and resources. There are plenty of examples of clubs making this change in recent times, with Osprey Point at Kiawah Island and The Saticoy Club (plus many more) all opting for a grass that requires less water as well as a reduction in the number of cuts per week due to its growth profile.

If we were unable to introduce a Paspalum or Zeon, then the focus would be to maintain the current grass and the expectations of those who visit the course. Although under-watering a course can cause discoloration, it is possible to keep a healthy playing surface that doesn’t hold the emerald glow that is associated with the enjoyment of the game and defining good conditions.

Another consideration is to reduce the amount of tap water and utilise rain, drain and spring water as much as possible. Seletar CC had to react after being told by the government (who owned the land they’re built on) to be entirely self-sustaining in their water usage. This meant they not only had to reduce their water usage but also to increase their facilities to store water and change their grass type.

Chemicals

Pesticides, herbicides, fungicides and synthetic fertilisers. These chemicals are used to manage and protect our golf courses, but their wider effects include human health problems, poisoned wildlife, and long-term ecosystem damage. When excess chemicals run into local water sources with excess nutrients, such as nitrogen and phosphorus, it can often fuel algae blooms that create dead areas (low-oxygen) where fish and other aquatic life can no longer thrive. During this research, I’ve come across examples of a staff member’s hair falling out and another club where staff have opted out of working during the chemical spraying season due to the risk. Footwear manufacturer Veja chose to change to an organic corn producer in Brazil due to several stomach cancer diagnoses amongst those who were consuming the other chemically-grown crops in the area.

A few shining examples of organic golf course management stand out here, including New Malton GC and Vineyard GC, who have been able to maintain excellent playing surfaces using only organic products. Many staff members from these facilities have commented that it is a learning curve and the process comes with a lot of experimentation. Vineyard GC’s superintendent, Kevin Banks, shares some considerations for disease control, weed management and rolling turf when transitioning to organic practices here.

This new trail of thinking requires serious consideration for the environment that the course sits within. Saucon Valley has GPS-mapped the soil profiles from across their facility to save money, product and time feeding with prescription applications. Chambers Bay uses a bio-solid waste from a local waste treatment facility used as a fertiliser. Forest Green Rovers Football Club maintains an organic pitch with food made up of Scottish seaweed, as well utilising rainwater with an under-pitch irrigation system for its pitch and the stadium toilets.

Staff & Equipment

Now that we’ve reduced the chances of a death-in-service payment with our organic turf management, it’s time to focus on staffing, equipment and their costs to the business. You’ll need a course manager, but how many of the other jobs can be automated?

Another pioneering practice we can take from League 2 side Forest Green Rovers, is the use of solar panels to power an electric mower. However, this system may be suitable for the concise turf areas of a football pitch but we need to consider a solution for areas over 100 acres here. How about an electric fairway mower from TurfLynx? They reduce labour, energy and maintenance costs - we’ll take that. This is turning into more of a QVC blog post now, but what about the RG3 Robotic Greens Mower from Cub Cadet? We’re now able to delegate the maintenance of the tee boxes, fairways and greens to the autonomous robots so that our staff can focus on the rough, wild areas, bunkers and hazards. The same opportunity arises with range ball collection. We’re now able to find autonomous robots that collect range balls within a GPS-mapped area and return them to be redistributed to the practicing golfers.

Forest Green Rovers can power their mower with solar power, whereas the rest of the club is powered by Ecotricity (the founder of Ecotricity, Dale Vince, actually purchased FGR before they made the switch to renewable energy). If self-sufficiency is the target and we fall short, we should also strive for renewable sources. Perhaps we could also run these machines on some clubhouse solar panels? Or collect wave energy for coastal courses? Or collect wind energy for courses at a higher altitude? There are plenty of opportunities to collect energy effectively to reduce environmental impact and cost.

How about killing two birds with one stone (or a more wildlife-friendly idiom) by pinching an idea from the agronomy team at Laguna Lăng Cô who work alongside native water buffalo who help to keep the golf course cut by eating the grass. I’m not sure on the legitimacy of that one though, I heard that one of the water buffalos was doing their BIGGA qualifications too - just a rumour.

Wildlife

Which brings us onto our next category, with our aims here to repair or introduce local habitats for native species whilst encouraging wildlife to thrive on the facility. We have outlined two methods here - restoration and introduction. Below are some examples of both practices that other clubs have used to their benefit that hopefully, we can implement at GRGC.

There are some astonishing examples of nature living symbiotically on golf facilities, none more so than Troia Golf in Portugal who host over 600 species of wildlife on their resort. A recent study between Vidauban Golf Club and the National Museum of Natural History in Paris outlined the local biodiversity on the French course (designed by Robert Trent Jones Sr) which resulted in this documentary. Saadiyat Beach GC prevents any golf from the wild areas to protect their native gazelle, and Forest of Arden G&CC outline the back nine of the Arden course as a natural conservation area for their native deer too.

Nature can also be used as a “bio-control” by staff to tactically defeat a detrimental species. At Westchester CC, algae-eating fish (white amurs) were introduced into their water features to replace heavy chemicals previously used to control pond algae. Beekeeping is becoming a popular practice amongst British golf clubs, who can become in-house pollinators for a mutually beneficial relationship. 80% of the world’s flowering plants require animal pollination and bees can pollinate within a two-mile radius and as far out as nine miles from the hive, so an entire community surrounding a golf club benefits. Excess products like beeswax and honey can be extracted from the hives and sold on-site at a premium too.

Outside of golf, the Knepp Estate in West Sussex was historically dairy farmland with uncompetitive soils whose debts meant the herds and machinery were sold in 2000. The owners then explored the theories of Dutch ecologist Dr Frans Vera to rewild the Estate and establish a biodiverse wilderness area by introducing megafauna grazing animals as an influential and necessary force of natural disturbance. As a result, the Estate has had success as a breeding hotspot for many critically endangered species who have made the area their new home.

Summary

To summarise those practices that we can implement at Gathering Roots Golf Club, we can implement a low-maintenance grass suitable for the climate alongside an irrigation system that allows for modest water storage. This will reduce the need for water from external sources as well as reduce our running costs. Successful organic turf management principles can be replicated at GRGC to preserve wildlife, protect water sources and reduce the human health risk. We’re now able to reduce the costs and labour using autonomous mowers powered by in-house or sustainable energy sources. The reduction in cost for energy and staff will allow investments into the latest machinery for the club. To reduce the production of concrete, we will also be implementing mulched pathways where possible. There would be a significant benefit from embracing biodiversity as well as introducing beehives and any other wildlife that provides an ecological enhancer or “bio-control”. Not only does it help increase the wildland areas on Earth, but it would also attract visitors to see the wildlife and help them become self-aware of their actions that might affect wildlife in the future (including slashing through native wildflowers for an up-and-down bogey stableford point).

It is easy for us in this thought experiment to start from the beginning with a golf club, where many others do not have the same opportunity. Although with GRGC we can implement legacy practices without budgetary restrictions, you can make similar long-term changes within your areas of control. We've got to see sustainable practices as a lifestyle change, not a diet plan. So, it’s over to you. Next time we’ll be discussing the clubhouse, outside facilities, golf shop, and food and beverage.

A note should be made here about what Arabella Golf has achieved with their Green Evolution programme which aligns with eight of the 17 UN sustainable development goals - for more information on their practices and progress, click here. If you know of any other clubs that have had success in their environmental pursuits, please get in touch and comment below. I am on an inquisitive journey, imaginatively constructing GRGC so I may have missed something that an experienced course manager, chemist or engineer might easily be able to comment on (or argue against).

Related Content

●      How Much Water by USGA

●      Irrigate for Playability and Turf Health, Not Color by Adam Moeller (USGA)

●      Brave Blue World: Racing to Solve Our Water Crisis on Netflix

●      Sébastien Kopp of Veja - Business of HYPE (Podcast)

●      An Organic Approach to Golf Course Management by Jeffrey Carlson (USGA)

●     The environmental principles for golf courses in the United States by Beyond Pesticides

●      Five Tips for Beekeeping Success by Pat O’Brien (USGA)

●      Grazing Ecology & Forest History by Dr Frans Vera