It’s impossible not to associate golf with open green fields and beautiful landscapes, and naturally, it’s easy to think that golf is a largely sustainable activity. Unfortunately, this isn’t exactly the case and playing golf without thinking about sustainable practices can have a significantly negative impact on the environment. In fact, the maintenance of the court, and the water used to keep the courts green make golf one of the least sustainable sports in the world.
Thankfully, there are things you can do to make sure that your ecological footprint in the next game you play is reduced so that you can work on your handicap in good conscious.
Use Sustainable Equipment
Responsible purchasing is a trend within the golf industry that is rapidly increasing its influence over consumers’ decisions, and rightly so. In terms of a player’s personal impact on the environment for each game, responsible purchasing is one of the best ways to go. There’s lots of quality sustainable golf equipment on the market that will make the overall playing experience more enjoyable whilst also being more sustainable.
Golf clothing has a large selection to choose from to upgrade your thread game, and a lot of new brands are entering this space. If you’re shopping for some more sustainable gear look out for clothing that’s made from sustainable materials such as recycled polyester, recycled nylon, organic cotton or for the colder months, merino wool. These are all materials that are sourced sustainably and re-use materials that would have otherise gone to waste.
Why Use Sustainable Golf Tees?
If you go golfing regularly you’ll know how quickly you can get through a set of tees sometimes. Tees help you set up for the perfect shot when you drive by lifting the ball up a few inches from the ground, but due to their nature of their use they will often get clobbered by a golf club and be sent flying. Golf players often find themselves buying tees frequently because of this, and unfortunately they can have a negative impact on the environment. The wide use of non-sustainable materials, and the fact that discarded tees that get lost in the course can negatively impact plants and wildlife, means that sustainable golf tees are an option worth considering.
Instead of opting for plastic tees, it’s worth considering using tees made from sustainable materials. Bamboo golf tees make for a great choice due to bamboo’s strength and complete biodegradability. Also, since bamboo is a grass, it is more flexible and durable than wood and requires less natural resources to grow.
Talk With Your Club About Sustainable Practices
What is often frustrating about the goal of sustainability, is that as much as you do as an individual, you will not have as big of an impact as an organisation or, in the case of golf, a golf club. The way golf courses are maintained and run have huge environmental impacts, so making a change to this can go a long way toward helping the environment. Things like increased biodiversity can help out local wildlife and ecology for populations, such as bees. Not to mention, the way water is used, which could often be done more conservatively without drastically impacting the quality of the green. Talking to your golf club may seem like a small thing, but it can make a big impact. Perhaps the club hadn’t realised how easily it would be to make some sustainable changes, or indeed, they may not have even begun to consider their environmental impact. Afterall, spreading awareness can only ever be a positive thing.