Conservation & Ecology
Minchinhampton Golf Club nestles in the Cotswolds, where some 1,700 members enjoy golf on three different courses - The Avening, Cherington and Old Course. Thirteen greenstaff tend the courses, and the club employs a trained Environmental Manager to manage its rural affairs.
Forming environmental policies and action plans in such an environmentally sensitive region can be a big and scary project says the club’s Golf Course Manager, Paul Worster.
In this article, he takes a look at the environmental work being undertaken at his club and how to get the ball rolling
A big and scary project?
actually learned a new word the other day - greenwashing. This term has been coined to be applied to golf clubs or other businesses that carry out environmental works which are only of superficial benefit. In other words - they look good, but actually add very little in the way of value. An example would be to buy, say, 500
I
bird-boxes from B&Q, plonk them up around the course and proudly announce, “hey, we’re bird-friendly”. Yes you may think you are but, actually, what is needed is the correct habitat for birds; pollen rich plants, cover, water, hedgerows, all-year round food supplies and so on. This is far harder and much more expensive to produce.
114 PC OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2013 Paul Worster
I was slightly stung by the fact that someone might choose to apply the term
to my club. So I decided to take a closer look and determine exactly what value our environmental work does bring. Like many, I’m aware of the
responsibilities of good environmental management but, unlike most, I’m in the fortunate position of being able to do something positive which reaches significant numbers of people. So, to start the process, I looked closely at the message that we put out - how we communicate with our members and potential new customers and what we actually say. There is no question that majoring on
a strong environmental case does spark interest, does create momentum, especially if you can pitch things so that people start to look at their own properties and think hey, I could do that.
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