Bob Taylor and the Golf Environment Awards

Bob Taylor, senior consultant at the STRI

Hosted by the STRI, The Golf Environment Awards will once again be presented at Harrogate during the week of BTME 2019.

The awards celebrate passionate greenkeepers who are doing their bit to raise standards of conservation work at their golf club and to develop ecology and sustainability strategies. Encompassing all golf courses, from the largest to small, modest venues, the awards have become an incredibly successful way to shout about one of the most positive aspects of the greenkeeping profession and are supported by major industry bodies such as The R&A and BIGGA. 

For the first time, this year's Open will be hosted at the reigning Environmental Golf Course of the Year, with Carnoustie having claimed the top prize in January this year.

Bob Taylor is the STRI's senior consultant on ecology and the environment and he gave us his thoughts on why you should consider getting involved with the Golf Environment Awards this year.

It seems an age ago now but the Golf Environment Awards (GEA) have been around in one shape or another since 1995. 

The awards were originally set up to provide a platform from which golf clubs and the wider industry could boast about all that is good about golf.  Cast your minds back to 1995, when golf clubs were seen as negative land uses, there for the very few, a selfish use of land and a way of bringing suburbia out and into the countryside. 

There is certainly a continued need to demonstrate golf's role within the landscape, but equally we need to show internally that encouraging wildlife alongside the playing of the game can be mutually beneficial.

I don’t need to stress here the positive health benefits of playing within beautiful surroundings, but we need to get the message out that golf is benefiting our impoverished and diminishing countryside. 

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 A green veined white butterfly feeding on thistle flowers. Not all grasslands need to be thinned to attract pollinators

From a golfing angle, why should clubs set themselves up in this awards setting against others that may be doing more towards best practice working? I try to put myself in this position and think would I want to compete with others given the possibility of not achieving the highest accolade possible? 

While I understand this thinking, there are so many more positive reasons to suggest that individual people or golf clubs should enter the Golf Environment Awards because it is not so much about the winning, but it really is about taking part. Why, I hear you ask?

Well, in terms of applying to become part of the Golf Environment Awards; firstly providing the application is sufficiently detailed you will benefit from an advisory visit from STRI advisers who will not only assess your ecological and environmental initiatives but will hopefully be able to provide additional guidance for your ongoing progression.  

You will also receive BIGGA CPD points (education and networking) for a well filled-in application form and for organising and conducting the visit.  

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The STRI's Nicole Beckett and Rowan Rumball will be conducting the visits throughout 2018

The Golf Environment Awards is fast becoming a club for like-minded individuals and golf clubs who wish to share in the dissemination of information and experience.  

From these visits, finalists will be determined and an overall winner for each category will be announced at the Golf Environment Awards presentation evening, held at BTME in January 2019.  

The awards are open to anyone who has entered and the night is a celebration of the good work that so many of our golf clubs are now undertaking. Simply meeting golf club representatives from all backgrounds, all sizes, types and standing is a worthy and exhilarating experience in itself, but you will also have the opportunity to share the enthusiasm and experience of the entire group.  

Finalists chosen will also receive additional CPD points (education) for their attendance on the evening.  

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Schoolchildren involved with a project at Kingsdown GC

Those clubs who do not quite make the final stages will be awarded with a highly commended certificate, which not only gives recognition to the club but can be used to promote the hard work of the club, both internally and externally. 

The Golf Environment Awards are broken into three categories: Environmental Golf Course; Conservation Greenkeeper and Special Project of the Year.

The winners of these awards, alongside the winner of the Operation Pollinator award, will all receive a trip to Portugal to experience first hand how some of the top golf clubs in Portugal carry out their integrated turfgrass and environmental management. 

You will have the opportunity to experience cool and warm season turf management in Portugal, including Monte Rei links management, coastal and links-type management. This is superbly carried out at both Onyria Palmares and San Lorenzo, while at Espiche some really fantastic examples of sustainability and optimal clubhouse management are in place.

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Constructing a kingsfisher nest bank at Notts Golf Club

You may feel somewhat reticent or reserved about applying for the Golf Environment Awards, particularly when so many people are doing good work. However, I would encourage you to get involved as the benefits of applying do not just extend to the golf club but to the industry as a whole. 

There are so many benefits to you as an individual and to your golf club that makes a lot of sense.  At the very least you will gain positive experience to take forward and you may gain CPD points through BIGGA. 

But the most important benefit will be to the Golf Industry itself. The days of a negative perception of the golf industry have not completely passed and we all need to keep driving the message home.

Good luck and don’t forget this year's deadline for applications is fast approaching. Entries close on 27 July, so visit https://golfenvironmentawards.com/ to find out more.