Climate activism has intensified in the past few years as the planet warms to dangerous levels, igniting more extreme heat, floods, storms and wildfires around the world.
Golf can use a terrible amount of water, plus keeping it mowed, and cutting forests for it. Places like Canada or the UK might be fine if it’s not a drought year. But there’s golf courses as far as Mexico. There’s places in Mexico that is so dry outside of the summer months that golf courses would use a disgusting amount of water to keep the greens… green… there was a golf course in Mexico I went to that only bothered with the putting area and a bit around that. Everything else was dirt. It wasn’t that pleasant of an experience because you do kick up dust when teeing off and whatnot. However, no way to lose your ball I suppose. Still, the water they needed just for the putting area must have been disgusting.
we need to change golf so it respects the land the course is built on, and doesn’t try to make everything look like scotland. keep the green as-is but make the fairway something that doesn’t use water, fits the local landscape (maybe have different solutions for different environments) and is just as playable as fairway grass. leave the out of bounds areas untouched. I think golf could serve to gain from forming itself to the terrain it’s played on, rather than the other way around
Scotland doesn’t and shouldn’t look anything like a golf course, hell the entire image of Scotland thats sold to the outside worlds is basically entierly artifically sculpted and maintained landscapes that continue to choke out our native species.
The vast majority of courses are this way. The PGA level courses and private clubs are the main problems. For example in Florida many courses are part of treating waste water and act as a flood control for the surrounding condos.
Most courses did this decades ago because it is cheaper than not doing it in the long run. Complete water reclamation and use of exclusively native flora is the rule these days, not the exception. There are outliers sure, but this is a case of people attacking what they don’t understand rather than looking at their own behavior. You know, classic outrage as a virtue mindset.
I though it would be a neat twist to have sand dune golf courses with much smaller playing areas since you won’t hit the ball as far, and you can irrigate small patches of grass that you don’t mow and it gets 6-8" tall as a grass trap instead of a water/sand trap.
Golf can use a terrible amount of water, plus keeping it mowed, and cutting forests for it. Places like Canada or the UK might be fine if it’s not a drought year. But there’s golf courses as far as Mexico. There’s places in Mexico that is so dry outside of the summer months that golf courses would use a disgusting amount of water to keep the greens… green… there was a golf course in Mexico I went to that only bothered with the putting area and a bit around that. Everything else was dirt. It wasn’t that pleasant of an experience because you do kick up dust when teeing off and whatnot. However, no way to lose your ball I suppose. Still, the water they needed just for the putting area must have been disgusting.
we need to change golf so it respects the land the course is built on, and doesn’t try to make everything look like scotland. keep the green as-is but make the fairway something that doesn’t use water, fits the local landscape (maybe have different solutions for different environments) and is just as playable as fairway grass. leave the out of bounds areas untouched. I think golf could serve to gain from forming itself to the terrain it’s played on, rather than the other way around
Scotland doesn’t and shouldn’t look anything like a golf course, hell the entire image of Scotland thats sold to the outside worlds is basically entierly artifically sculpted and maintained landscapes that continue to choke out our native species.
The vast majority of courses are this way. The PGA level courses and private clubs are the main problems. For example in Florida many courses are part of treating waste water and act as a flood control for the surrounding condos.
But then you lose the feeling of entitlement.
And let’s face it, that, plus knowing you are better then everyone else is the whole reason to play!
Most courses did this decades ago because it is cheaper than not doing it in the long run. Complete water reclamation and use of exclusively native flora is the rule these days, not the exception. There are outliers sure, but this is a case of people attacking what they don’t understand rather than looking at their own behavior. You know, classic outrage as a virtue mindset.
nice. I figure that with all the grass that has to be mowed to specifications there had to be a better solution
I though it would be a neat twist to have sand dune golf courses with much smaller playing areas since you won’t hit the ball as far, and you can irrigate small patches of grass that you don’t mow and it gets 6-8" tall as a grass trap instead of a water/sand trap.
Basically what disc golf is