Rebuilding Golf's Environmental Reputation

If you don't realize that the game of golf has a terrible reputation for the overuse of water and chemicals, you're not paying attention. If you ask any random person in the street, they'll probably tell you that golf is for the rich, idle class and that golf courses are harmful to the environment. But if you drill down further, you'll often find that those opinions are not founded in any first hand knowledge, but just a kind of "public intuition" that continues in spite any real improvements that are actually taking place in the industry or, locally, on the course.

The fact is that the today's golf industry is on the cutting edge of environmentall awareness. Few organizations or venues of any kind attend to environmental concerns more regularly than do the modern golf superintendent. It's too bad the modern methods for operating an environmentally sensitive golf course don't get the positive community attention they deserve.

Part of the problem is that the descriptors, the words we commonly use in our discussion of environmental issues are already tired, worn out and overused. "Sustainable, green, eco-friendly", you name it, the words just don't have any attention-getting pop any  more. How in the world is the industry going to change it's bad environmental reputation if it doesn't craft a new language with which to get the public attention?

This is a problem that extends from the top to bottom of the industry. There is not much of a common thread between golf royalty, those great companies and organizations that seem to control golf's global public image, and the local courses that actually interact with the common golfer. When are the big boys going to figure out how to craft an environmental message that the whole industry can adopt to make a change in public perception?

I recently read, that in the US, environmental products and services are growing at a rate of 30 percent per year. That's a lot of growth, with the main problem being that there's going to need to be a lot more creative descriptors to market the ideas. Be as creative as you want, I doubt that anything in the golf industry is going to be invented that trumps the term "Zero Waste Golf".

In our experience at Dairy Creek, we're finding that our zero waste golf mantra is making inroads in our community perception. Now the topic is changed from the same old complaints about water and chemical overuse to one about community involvement, about environmental education and about healthy sports facilities for our families' recreational needs. Our golf course has become one of the most visible and heard environmental  leaders in the community, and that's not because we're shouting. No, It's because we have the best, freshest message.

I'm believing that rebuilding golf's environmental reputation is going to begin with fresh language. I'm still waiting patiently to see if the term and the practices of "ZerO Waste Golf" is going to kick start the conversation.