Golf's governing bodies partner with GEO foundation to improve sport's environmental footprint

The R&A and England Golf will work with the non-profit GEO Foundation to try and improve golf club’s environmental footprint in the country.

Amateur golf's governing body England Golf will also promote the business benefits of sustainability to its affiliate clubs, which are almost 2,000 strong.

This includes a 25% discount to OnCourse, an online resource offering help with sustainable club and course management.

Golf courses require huge amounts of water and use fertilisers, pesticides and herbicides which can harm local areas. In recent years, the adverse impact the sport's courses are having on the environment has come to the fore. 

Martin Slumbers, chief executive of The R&A added: “It is important that issues of sustainability are being widely considered throughout the golf industry and that they are addressed in order to safeguard the environments and communities in which the sport is played.

“We are strong advocates of technology which enables golf facilities to adopt and track the use of sustainable management practices and we are pleased that a number of our affiliates are encouraging member clubs to integrate the OnCourse sustainability platform as part of their daily operations.”

Nick Pink, England Golf chief executive, said: “Our goal is to help clubs unlock a range of new business opportunities by providing high quality guidance and tools and sharing best practice across the sport. We believe that OnCourse will help clubs to embed sustainability into their operations, to discover new efficiencies and ways to enhance their courses.At the same time it will enable us to better measure and promote the real social and environmental value of golf in England.”

Jonathan Smith, executive director of the GEO Foundation, added: “Finding ways to live, work and play sustainability is society’s greatest challenge, and it requires a combination of teamwork and individual leadership. We are extremely proud to partner with England Golf in the support of grass roots clubs and the sharing and promotion of results. The programme is also about helping golf champion its leadership role in the community.

The GEO Foundation recently produced a chart to help clubs reduce the amount of plastic they use.