I would hardly consider golf a treehugger sport. what was once a natural habitat replaced wih artificially irrigated grass regularly dumped with petroleum derived pesticides.

There really is nothing good to say about golf. I've always wanted to go on a shooting spree in a golf course.

I don't understand why it's not possible to have natural grasses on golf courses which do not require a lot of water nor pesticides. Aren't there grasses (or weeds that could be cut like grasses) that grow naturally in most environments?

Agree that golf is not an overtly treehuggery sort of sport. But as opposed to football, tennis, cricket, basketball, baseball, squash, and so on, it does at least have trees and (free range) open space. And birds do seem to enjoy these, particularly in built-up urban areas. Clearing forests, wetlands or previouisly productive agricultural land just to build a new golf course is certainly a huge issue on the flip side. However golfers are out there, as we type. Isn't it better that they now have bamboo as an alternative to cotton (which like many a golf course requires vast quantities of chemicals and water)?

sure having bamboo fiber alternatives is excellent, and as bamboo gains popularity and acceptance it could potentially replace many fibers we use today. But I think that we, the treehugger progressives need to be mindful of the impacts of our lifestyle and cautious of greenwashing ecologically harmful activities. Sustainability as a goal will require at times a complete paradigm shift rather than wrapping our lives and systems in a veneer of greener products. an exagerrated example would be a lumber clearcutting corporation that uses biodiesel trucks, tractors & chainsaws and outfits their crew with organic cotton coveralls.

I hope I didn't come across as being negative, just trying to contribute.

It would be interesting if treehugger did a piece about low impact golf course design. I did a bit of searching ad it seems that Europe is leading the way on them, as they tend to with mosst environmental issues.

We concur that a 'complete paradigm shift' is required (even if the phrase itself makes me feel like someone has run their fingers down the chalkboard). But every little bit along the way, does help build momentum for change, as per: The Tipping Point. The post was in no way condoning Golf just because they now have greener shirts to wear.

(One short post is not the definitive investigative journalism piece on how green, or otherwise, is the entire golf industry. We would welcome a little perspective from some of our readers.)

TH is about reporting positive change — wherever it might occur. And if organic logger's overalls were on offer we'd mention that too, while remaining aghast at clearfelling. If the world was already perfect ... we'd have nothing to write about.

Positive comments welcome. Thanks to 'Citizen' for coming back to clarify thoughts. Yes, low impact golf course design is a very worthy TH subject. Will see what we can do.

Synthesizing thoughts: municipal courses often use golf courses in calculating their "open space" areas. A common ruse in making the city seem green. There are positive examples of golf courses being designed to accept storm water from developed areas and using the water traps as settling and recharge areas. Thats good community and ecological service. Typically, when a golf course gets surrounded by hew homes the members dislike it and the land gets sold for more development. THe key to keeping green space long term is in setting up buffer space, stormwater handling, and pesticide use regulations in advance.

I lived in Western Canada for a while and always got a kick out of a golf course in Lillooet that was maintained by sheep.
That's right - pasture golf!

http://www.evranch.com/pack_golf.asp

Quoting:

"I don't understand why it's not possible to have natural grasses on golf courses which do not require a lot of water nor pesticides. Aren't there grasses (or weeds that could be cut like grasses) that grow naturally in most environments?"

While visiting Scotland, where golf was invented, short grass grows naturally along the foggy lochs. So it seems that the courses of today are just trying to "perfect" the orginal. Ah, manifest destiny once again!

I just recently saw this, unaware that TH had written a story about our new company. Having gone to Univ of Oregon, I am a large proponent for enivronmental protection, and would like to offer a few points of my own:

1) There are hundreds of millions of cotton and polyester shirts that are sold in the USA each year, so any pro-environment advances we can make on this (for golfers or not) is an improvement.
2) While golf courses are still a little behind on grass management (ie. pesticide usage) they are leaps and bounds ahead of where they were 20 years ago. Many predominant associations have been formed in the last year, including:

http://www.afcee.brooks.af.mil/ec/golf/regulatory/v9_no11.asp

http://www.usga.org/turf/articles/environment/general/environmental_principles.html

Furthermore, most courses have made the transistion from gas to electric golf carts.

3) Having golfed for 20 years, I can say that many golfers are pro-environment. We enjoy being outdoors and the amount of wildlife that can be seen out there is truly remarkable. We treat the wildlife with respect and know they belong there more than us.

4) Golf courses are better than industrial/commercial properties that might be put their place. A few years ago the golf course of which now I am a member, outbid a commercial property company for land that they were wanting to build (another) strip mall on. We also planted more than 100 trees on the land, which thousands of birds have now called home.

While I am not for building golf courses on wetlands or other protected lands - or even for building any more of them, period - they do provide a nice alternative to commercial and housing projects that drive the wildlife away.

Thanks,
Jason
Moseau