2010 golf planner’s guide: Greening of the greens
Golf courses are adopting eco-friendly pracitices to spruce up their image
By Gary Baines
Mary Ann Bonnell doesn't play golf, though you'd never know it by the amount of time she spends on courses. And it wasn't long ago that she viewed golf courses as the enemy.
"I grew up in a household where courses were considered an abomination of nature," Bonnell said.
That was before Bonnell was hired as senior natural resources specialist for the city of Aurora 4½ years ago, and Saddle Rock Golf Course superintendent Joe McCleary invited her out for a visit. After observing the plant life, wildlife and considerable native area set aside at the course, Bonnell underwent a conversion of sorts.
"I was blown away; I couldn't believe I was on a golf course," she said. "I came into this as a doubting Thomas, but the day I went birding at Saddle Rock was the day I had a sea change. I liked to think I knew a lot of the cool nature places, but I had to be told about golf courses."
Certainly not all of the roughly 250 courses in Colorado are as eco-friendly as Saddle Rock, but the trend is certainly going in that direction. For reasons that range from sheer cost savings to presenting a better image of the sport, to out-and-out environmentalism, the state's courses are going more "green" than ever before.
And Colorado seems to be ahead of the curve nationally. One widely respected program that certifies courses that meet high environmental standards is run by Audubon International. And only three states in the country - Florida, California and Illinois - have more certified courses than Colorado's 35.
"Colorado is absolutely" at the forefront of the movement, said Joellen Lampman, program manager of the Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Program. "And as far as percentage of courses certified, it's second only to Delaware, with 14 percent certified. And the list is growing because it's not only good for the environment, but it's a good business decision."
Eco-friendly practices can take many forms. More efficient use of water - and protecting water quality - is certainly high on the list, as is being much more careful with the use of pesticides and herbicides. Other practices seen as crucial are wildlife and habitat management, energy conservation, waste/emission control, environmental compatibility during the construction process, and using the latest and best research and technology in the area of plant management.
It was less than 20 years ago that syndicated radio personality Paul Harvey asserted that pesticide use on golf courses "might be killing people." Whatever Harvey based his opinion on, it had an effect on the way many current greenskeepers approach their jobs. Not only are most superintendents more careful with their use of such chemicals nowadays, but more take it on themselves to point out that they're better stewards of the environment than many casual observers might think.
"People realize that they have to take care of the planet, or else," said Bill Whelihan, superintendent at Haymaker Golf Course in Steamboat Springs, a course certified by Audubon International. "And superintendents drink the water, too.
"Thanks to Paul Harvey back in the day, they've had to change their ways to combat a bad public image. He said courses were using pesticides like wild men. He was pretty much out of control."
Whether it was Harvey's commentaries or just more focus on the environment in general these days, many people who run golf courses are putting a much higher priority on eco efforts than they did decades ago.
"All of us associated with the game must realize that our commitment to environmental sustainability is crucial to the future of the game," World Golf Hall of Famer Greg Norman said in a foreword to a Golf Course Environmental Profile report. "Few other industries have committed to evaluating the operation of their properties in the way golf is going through this process."
One of the Colorado courses at the leading edge in one area of the movement was Applewood Golf Club in Golden. With the course sitting on Coors property, the brewery didn't want to take any chances in possibly contaminating an aquifer underneath the land. So more than 20 years ago it was decided that the course would be run chemical-free. Now, course superintendent Matt Rusch and his team use all custom-blended fertilizers. They cost more - sometimes 70 percent to 80 percent more - and Applewood's practices are more labor-intensive, but the course has drawn plenty of attention.
"It's come to the point that Audubon sends people to me to see what I do" regarding fertilizer use and general care, Rusch said. "The last two years, my phone has been ringing off the hook with people wanting to see the situation."
But Rusch emphasizes that going chemical-free - especially cold turkey - isn't right for every course.
"I monitor it real closely," he said. "But the (dry) climate and the altitude here definitely help with disease (and pest) control."
McCleary, the superintendent at Saddle Rock since 1995 (two years before the course opened), has taken a leading role in eco-friendly practices in Colorado. He was recently given the inaugural Distinguished Service Award by the Rocky Mountain Golf Course Superintendents Association. Saddle Rock, meanwhile, received the Blue Grama Award - named after Colorado's state grass - from the Colorado Open Space Alliance in recognition of environmental education efforts regarding the native prairie areas at the course.
"From my experience, pockets (of environmentalism) often form around charismatic leaders, and in Colorado, Joe McCleary is a charismatic leader," Audubon's Lampman said.
At Saddle Rock, Bonnell teaches college-level botany classes on-site, and McCleary conducts environmental education tours. The course welcomes the public to use a large single-stream recycling bin on the grounds, and it also served as a Christmas tree recycling spot.
Being environmental-minded "has always been something that's a passion of mine," McCleary said. "I try to address environmental issues as much as possible. And I've tried to make the course a community asset. With the (public-use) single-stream recycling dumpster in the maintenance facility, the staff thought I was nuts, but a ton and a half a week is recycled out of this facility. People come in and say how much they like it."
As far as the course itself goes, only 105 acres of the 240-acre site is maintained turf. Much of the rest is native area, with an abundance of wildlife and plant life - the kind that's so compelling for Bonnell and her botany students.
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