NEWS
2021 Golf Environment Awards Winners
Virtual Ceremony sees the four 2021 winners crowned
Jon Budd
Paul Johnson
The STRI announced the winners of the Golf Environment Awards 2021 during their first ever virtual ceremony in late December.
In an odd year, to say the least, the Golf Environment Awards provided a beacon of hope and a sense of community. The awards bring the greenkeeping industry together, if not always in person, and the Golf Environment Awards continue to provide a platform to showcase all that is good in golf.
This year’s Golf Environment Awards are:
Effingham Golf Club - Operation Pollinator 2021
Having been a finalist in 2019, Effingham Golf Club finally took the award for Operation Pollinator 2021.
As soon as you arrive at Effingham you are greeted by one of many Operation Pollinator areas created by Jon Budd and his team, showing visitors to the Club what to expect as they head out on the golf course. As a result of the greenkeeping team’s efforts, the golf course now supports 21 hectares of wildflower rich grassland, managed with pollinators and playability in mind.
As you enter the car park at Effingham, the audibly buzzing wildflower area that welcomes you was once a tennis court. Three years ago, Jon and his team transformed it into a thriving pollinator patch by removing 2 ft of dense clay and replacing with chalk and nutrient-poor soil. The team enlisted the help of Surrey Wildlife Trust and Butterfly Conservation to create a bespoke wildflower seed mix to benefit local pollinating insects and sowed this alongside fescue to create a rich, diverse and long-lasting Operation Pollinator area.
Jon has also introduced two beehives on the golf course nearby one of the many swathes of nectar-rich grassland. He plans to introduce no more hives, understanding the need to reduce competition for our other native bee species in the UK. He communicates this well, along with the other benefits that wildflowers can bring for biodiversity, via YouTube videos, guided walks and course blogs.
6 PC February/March 2021
Jon Keepen
Pyle and Kenfig Golf Club - Outstanding Environmental Project of the Year 2021
A truly landscape-scale conservation project took the title of Outstanding Environmental Project of the Year 2021 at Pyle and Kenfig Golf Club. Over the last few years, the team at GEO Certified® Pyle and Kenfig have been part of the Dunes 2 Dunes project, working with Natural Resources Wales, Bridgend County Borough Council, and other local landowners, farms and golf clubs (Royal Porthcawl Golf Club) to restore and enhance the internationally important dune landscape along the Kenfig National Nature Reserve coastline.
The greenkeeping team, headed by Paul Johnson, have now created nine sand scrapes and three dune slacks in areas formerly occupied by scrub, bracken and coarse grasses to knock back natural succession and create new, important habitats within the golf course.
The Club have worked hard to communicate their efforts within the wider community, engaging with volunteers and local school pupils to show them that golf courses are more than greens, tees and fairways, but that they encompass incredibly important habitats and in-house, detailed knowledge on how to manage these for wildlife.
Jon Keepen of Cumberwell Park Golf Club - Conservation Greenkeeper of the Year 2021
After being a finalist in this category in 2018, Jon was crowned the winner of Conservation Greenkeeper of the Year 2021. Having impressed the judges each time he has entered, this year Jon truly wowed the panel with his incredible efforts to enhance the biodiversity within, and beyond, Cumberwell.
Jon regularly communicates his conservation work, using social media as well as presenting talks for members and other community groups such as the Women’s Institute. He has also discussed his important work on both TV and radio in the past, spreading the message that golf courses can be managed to support wildlife and let it thrive.
Richard Johnstone
As Head of Conservation, Jon has transformed over 150 acres of the site into rough grassland, creating extensive green corridors throughout the three courses to not only provide important habitat for invertebrates, ground nesting birds and small mammals, but also provide definition to golf holes through the main playing season and reduce management requirements.
Outside of his role as a greenkeeper and conservationist at Cumberwell, Jon regularly assists other local wildlife groups to boost his knowledge, engage his passion for wildlife and continue working towards his own bird ringing licence.
Nairn Dunbar Golf Club - Environmental Golf Course of the Year 2021
A club that has seemingly done it all! Richard Johnstone and the team at GEO Certified® Nairn Dunbar Golf Club have proudly won the award of Environmental Golf Course of the Year 2021. With a sustainable approach across all departments, the Club have seen improved performance thanks to their efforts to reduce environmental impacts and enhance biodiversity.
Out on the golf course, Richard and the greenkeeping staff work tirelessly to manage the difficult links landscape surrounding the golf holes as well as maintaining excellent playing surfaces. Scrub invasion has been reduced year on year with the creation of naturalised sand scrapes and dune grassland, creating valuable habitat for a range of wildlife and reducing maintenance requirements. Other existing habitats within the golf course have been enhanced too.
Reducing waste of all kinds is one of Nairn Dunbar's goals. Recycling bins can be found throughout the links for golfers and visitors to use, and this continues in the clubhouse and maintenance facilities ensuring that very little goes to landfill. Paper use is discouraged throughout the business, reusable water bottles are preferred and bamboo tees are now sold, instead of plastic.
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