The golf industry has a PR problem — and leaders at golf's governing body want to set the record straight.
"Golf's an easy target — it's perceived as an elitist sport and a waster of resources," the U.S. Golf Association's Cole Thompson told The Cool Down in an exclusive interview. "Golf courses are being maintained mindfully and with resource conservation in mind. The golf industry is doing far more than people really know about."
After a recent protest by climate action group Extinction Rebellion in the final round of the Travelers Championship tied to what activists called golf's "grave environmental costs," The Cool Down reached out to the USGA and the GEO Foundation for Sustainable Golf, the only global nonprofit dedicated to making golf more sustainable, to learn more about the industry's sustainability strategy.
We did our own research to dig into how golf courses use land, water, and pesticides and better understand the oil and gas industry's influence on the sport via sponsorships and even ownership. (The new LIV Golf tour is funded by the Saudi Public Investment Fund, whose governor, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, is also the chairman of the state-owned oil company Saudi Aramco.)
Our reporting revealed a sport that is inextricably linked to our climate and the land — perhaps more than any other — and a community that is making significant strides to protect the sport for the future. At the same time, lack of jurisdiction over individual courses and far less regulation than other countries, as well as significant fossil fuel investment in the sport, leave room for improvement. In fact, the protest in June wasn't aimed at any one organization or athlete, but according to a statement from the Extinction Rebellion, "the protest highlights the worldwide danger of climate breakdown."
"Golf has its environmental problems, but we can't even have that discussion until we acknowledge the fundamental realities," said Miles Grant, a spokesperson for Extinction Rebellion. "We are all watching the climate catastrophe unfold at warp speed."
Out to set the record straight
"There is a misconception perhaps about the way in which golf courses are looked after — that perhaps the people that do the work don't care about nature or give a thought to potential impacts to the environment," Sam Thomas, director of golf development at GEO, told TCD.
"It is what drives us at GEO — to try to change that perception and give that group a collective platform to prove, with measured data and verified examples of positive action, that this suggestion is not the case … far from it."
The GEO Foundation for Sustainable Golf works in part by certifying courses and tournaments that meet environmental and sustainability standards.
The USGA has been working on sustainable golf course management for over 100 years, which started in 1920 through a relationship with the U.S. Department of Agriculture around the development of sustainable grasses.
Today, the USGA Green Section employs over 30 full-time employees, including Thompson as the director of turfgrass and environmental research. Since 1983, the program has directed more than $50 million of funding to several dozen university-led research projects tied to golf courses.
"There are scientists whose job it is every day to think about managing turf in the most sustainable way possible and ensuring that we're doing that by measuring it and quantifying it," he said.
Beyond that, Thompson estimates that roughly 25% of the USGA's 400 employees are working on other aspects of sustainability around championship events. (The USGA governs golf along with the R&A, the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews.)
So what are the most common criticisms that the USGA and the GEO want to take on?
Golf and land use
"When you take a look at the land total in the U.S., golf represents less than 0.1% of land use, even though it's very visible," Thompson said (referring to a figure the USGA and Golf Course Superintendents Association of America have previously reported), and of the nearly 16,000 golf courses in the U.S., 74% are open to the public.
To put that into better context, about a fifth of the land in the U.S. is taken up by cropland, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and 70-75% of our land, or about 1.68 billion acres, is agricultural land, grassland and rangeland, and forests. The remaining 25%-30% is made up of parks, wildlife areas, wetlands, tundra, unproductive woodlands, and urban land, the last of which is at just 3%. About 2 million acres are devoted to golf courses, whereas 2.8 million acres are devoted to airports, according to the USDA.
Thomas says golf is "driven by people who have a great affection for the outdoors, who are stewards of the land and recognize the value of open space."
"They feel a responsibility toward the myriad of plants and wildlife species that reside there that comprise the ecosystem on [their] acres," he said. "It's more akin to looking after and contributing to a parkland, which, in turn, interacts with the larger ecosystems all around it — as opposed to preparing a tract of land in order to play a game on it."
Thompson also pointed to the fact that the majority of golf courses in America are public-access courses, "not the ones they're seeing on TV in professional events like the U.S. Open."
"Most of them are trying to balance their budget and provide a place for their community to play golf," he said, alluding to the notion that golf provides a way for the people of a community to get exercise in fresh air and feel more connected to nature even if they live in an urban environment, similar to taking a bike ride through Central Park.
Thompson says for these small businesses, "sustainability is a survival strategy."
"The vast majority of golf courses are making real business decisions — they're not motivated to waste water or overuse pesticides," he said. In fact, he added that traditional lush, green grass is increasingly no longer considered the ideal — for the environment or for playability.
Golf and pesticides
Nonetheless, frequent criticism of golf courses is tied to fertilizers and pesticides that courses use to get that lush green look and keep pests away.
A 2023 study comparing pesticide risk on golf courses in the U.S. versus Europe found significantly lower risk in the U.K., Norway, and Denmark, largely because of more stringent regulations around pesticide use in Europe. In the U.S., between 200 and 250 pesticide-active ingredients are registered for use on golf courses, whereas 20 or fewer active ingredients are available to European golf course superintendents.
There isn't great independent research to show how safe, or unsafe, the chemicals used on golf courses might be to course employees, players or those who live near courses. But Thompson says these products are regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Agriculture and require training or licenses for people to use.
"The synthetic pesticides that are used today are safer than they have ever been, especially when they are used in accordance with the label and best practices," Thompson said. "It's not that there is no risk, but if common sense is followed, the risk [to animals or wildlife] is really very low."
Golf and the environment
While some argue that golf courses take away from natural habitats, Thompson argues that golf courses are "one of the few remaining green spaces in urban areas." There is research that shows they can provide a number of environmental benefits if managed correctly:
• Supporting wildlife habitat for plants and animals
• Cooling urban heat environments
• Improved air quality
• Carbon sequestration and oxygen production
Thompson told TCD that if the average golf course is 150 acres of property, around 25% of that is already native or natural areas that stay protected by the course's management operations. "We're seeing a trend to golf courses being more interested in initiatives like Monarchs in the Rough [which promotes pollinator plants like milkweed], where people are helping golf courses emphasize the natural habitat," he said.
In today's Record, we look at the environmental benefits of golf courses. We also have a video with course care tips for new golfers, articles on early season pest management, and more! Click to subscribe for free 👇
— USGA Green Section (@USGAGrnSection) April 5, 2024
And there has been progress:
• 47% of golf courses reported adding or expanding wildlife habitat and 51% incorporated native plantings over a 10-year period as of 2007, according to the GCSAA.
• And a study of over 1,800 golf courses in the U.S. also found that golf facilities became "more land and energy-efficient … by reducing the acreage of maintained turfgrass and increasing the use of clean energy sources, but room for improvement still exists."
Golf and water
"It's easy to throw a big number out there around how much water a golf course uses," Thompson said, "but these are very thoughtfully managed green spaces."
Daily water use for U.S. golf courses combined is estimated at around 1.5 billion gallons, or about 0.5% of total daily U.S. water use, according to the USGA, citing GCSAA data from 2022.
Over 20 years ago, the USGA started surveying golf course superintendents on their water usage, Thompson said. By adopting best practices around water use, today's courses used 29% less water in 2020 compared with 2005, mostly as a result of simply using less water but in part because of course closures. (The 2022 GCSAA report that showed this was independently analyzed by scientists and peer-reviewed.)
The trend in today's golf course leans toward a more "minimalist" approach, he said, with many levers to help reduce their impact:
• Drought-tolerant grasses
• Minimizing areas that need irrigation
• Using recycled water
• Using their digital data monitoring tools like Deacon to measure and schedule watering
Should new courses be prevented — or restricted — in drought-stricken areas like the American West?
"As pressures on natural resources like potable water increase, it is imperative that, where new golf courses are considered, they do not rely on such valuable resources," said Thomas. "The technology, grass species, design ideas, and approaches all exist today to remove any use of potable water on golf courses — especially new courses."
He said you'd be surprised by how many courses already irrigate with nonpotable water, by choice and by necessity: 21% of the water used by American golf courses in 2020 was recycled water, according to the GCSAA.
One course in Southern California created its own recycled water plant that blends recycled water with on-site wells and potable water sources, providing what it said are considerable cost savings. The USGA said it recommends courses reach out to their water providers, who can "connect users to reclaimed water sources and provide rebates and financial incentives to do so."
It comes down to business, said the USGA's Thompson, when courses face "an existential threat that's getting really real for a lot of golf courses."
"How much water do I have, and how much can I pay for? Not being sustainable isn't really an option," he said.
Golf's ties to oil and gas
The new LIV Golf is backed by Saudi Arabia, which has come under attack because of its government's record on human rights, the 9/11 attackers' alleged ties to Saudi Arabia, and its ties to the oil industry, which contributes to climate change.
Furthermore, oil and gas companies frequently sponsor golf's biggest tournaments, something highlighted by the Extinction Rebellion protestors, who indicated they picked the Travelers Championship tournament in part because the sponsor, Travelers Insurance, says itself that it is "a leader in the oil and gas industry, with more than 20 years serving oil and gas customers, including operators and nonoperators."
"The future of our planet is at stake right now. Everything is on the line," said Will Regan, an activist who participated in the action. "I'm sure a lot of people bet on these incredibly talented golfers. But what about the bet that humanity has placed on oil, and that Travelers placed on fossil fuels. We are going to lose it all."
Could that change? "Just like tobacco and alcohol were banned from sports advertising, then you can see the next set of sponsorships considered being fossil fuels among unhealthy food, or sugar-intense foods," suggested Thomas, the GEO Foundation director. But, he added, "it needs political will and national international shifts to implement as a change in sponsorship 'rules' that creates an equal playing field across the sport."
The oil and gas industry's involvement in the golf industry is focused on the big tournaments — not the mostly public, small-business golf courses that dominate the country. For those courses, the strategy is integrating renewable energy sources and switching to electric carts and lawn equipment, which is happening with more frequency.
"Every time we are interacting with a course or tournament or new development," Thomas said, "the efficient limitation of fossil fuels use and the integration of alternative energy sources are a big part of the GEO Sustainable Golf Certification conversations."
Top players also frequently rely on private planes to travel to tournaments — another big environmental impact of the sport, something that top golfer Rory McIlroy said gives him a "massive sense of guilt."
In 2021, he reached out to the GEO Foundation to set up a way for him to pay to offset his travel. While carbon offsets are not as good as reducing in the first place, the story made headlines in the sport at the time and helped to shed light on the impact of jet fuel for many people.
"It's something that I have a conscience about and I take it seriously, especially when you see some of these weather events that are happening," McIlroy said in a press conference. "I think we can all play our part in some way or another."
The future of golf
In addition to the USGA's research and course consulting to over 50,000 golf courses, Thompson said innovation is part of the governing body's DNA.
Earlier this year the organization hosted an event in Arizona with the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America where they used a golf course as a "living lab" to create different sections of the courses that could demonstrate new technologies "under their feet."
The big vision is realizing its 15/30/45 plan, a $30 million investment to help golf courses reduce their water by as much as 45% over the next 15 years.
The future is all about how the industry is coming together around sustainability — from the most visible public events to greenskeepers and superintendents. "We see more collaboration than we ever have," Thompson said.
He points to courses like the revered Pinehurst No. 2 course, which has eliminated overseeding and reduced sprinkler heads, adopting a minimalist style.
"The neatest thing for me is that this is an area that can host national championships and golfers that are on vacation, with 50-60 acres of managed turf," he said. "You're showing it's possible — these are the types of stories that we want people to know about so they can be replicated."
As for the future, Thomas said GEO believes "golf can be the leading sport in rising to the global challenges we all face today."
"The nature of this game," Thomas said, "of the balance every course must maintain with the natural environment provides golf this great opportunity."
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