The sport has been in a state of flux since the controversial LIV Golf tour, funded by Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund PIF, launched last year, attracting several prominent players. Earlier this month, the US-based PGA Tour, European DP World Tour and LIV Golf announced they are merging to form "a new collectively owned" entity.1 What impact this may have on golf’s efforts to become more environmentally sustainable remains to be seen, but the tours that make up the new merger have made commitments of varying significance over the past 12 months.
Last October, the DP World Tour became the first professional golf tour to announce a target of reaching net zero after signing up to the United Nations Sports for Climate Action Framework and its Race to Zero pledge – which requires all signatories to commit to reduce direct emissions by 50% by 2030 and achieve net zero by 2040.2 The DP World Tour said it is addressing all aspects of the organisation and its footprint. “Detailed implementation plans are already underway spanning governance, operations, tournaments, venues, media and technology, communications and partnerships,” it stated. “Sustainability performance indicators and carbon emissions are being tracked across all aspects of the Tour’s operations through new internal mechanisms, and tools provided by the GEO Foundation for Sustainable Golf.”
The net zero pledge is designed to build on the tour’s Green Drive initiative, which was re-launched on World Environment Day (June 5) in 2021. Its targets include all five Rolex Series tournaments achieving GEO Certified status by 2025, with an extended 10-year sustainability strategy for the Ryder Cup under development.3 The tour said it will also “continue to calculate annual CO2e emissions across the Wentworth and Dubai offices, including Scopes 1, 2 and 3 emissions”, and “review and implement carbon reduction plans for offices and operations.”
The PGA Tour has also underlined its commitment to sustainability. The organisation notes that it has been “recognised for environmental stewardship” across the Tournament Players Club (TPC) network, a chain of public and private golf courses operated by the PGA Tour.4 It says that it “supports nonprofits committed to environmental protection in local communities, and has tournaments that focus on zero waste, carbon neutrality, and repurposing raw tournament materials.”
The Phoenix Open, one of the tournaments on the PGA Tour, has been recognised as the largest zero-waste sporting event in the world for 11 consecutive years. The event is hosted by Waste Management, and the only bins available are compost and recycling bins.5 The PGA Tour adds that it is “working toward an overarching sustainability strategy.”
Meanwhile, last June, LIV Golf launched its new global Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) platform, LIV to Give, designed to support social and environmental efforts globally.6 Through the programme, LIV Golf has pledged $100 million to support a range of initiatives and said it will implement a framework setting key performance indicators that monitor progress and impact. With many of the plans to tackle golf’s sustainability challenges still in the works, time will tell as to whether the difficulties facing the sport as a whole will impede or enhance the efforts to reduce its environmental impact being targeted by the leading tours.
Amid the chaos at the top of the game, its popularity around the world continues to grow, with over 5.5 million additional golfers worldwide having taken up the sport since 2016, according to figures released last January. The numbers suggest that in the UK, golf has become just as popular as football and cricket since 2016, with the number of players in Great Britain and Ireland increasing from 3.6 million to 5.7 million over that time.7 And, as the game expands, more land is being used, with almost 39,000 golf courses now reported to be in use across the world.8
For any golf player or spectator, the sight of an immaculately kept course is a key part of the sport’s attraction. Yet the sport has come under growing pressure over the environmental cost of maintaining its facilities, with the use of land a particular concern. Estimates of the average size of a golf course range from 100 to 190 acres, while in the US alone, 2 million acres of land are used for golf courses.9
Another major issue is the large amounts of water required to keep courses in top shape. The United States Geologic Survey has estimated that golf course irrigation accounts for 0.5% of the 408 billion gallons of water used per day in the U.S.10 The United States Golf Association (USGA) notes that the amount of water a golf course needs to sustain healthy turf growth depends on many variables, including the species of turf and the prevailing climate in a given area.11
“Golf courses in cooler climates and high rainfall can use less than 1 acre-foot of water per acre each year,” it states. “Golf courses in hot, dry climates may require as much as 6 acre-feet of water per acre per year.”
A further concern is the amount of fertilisers and toxic pesticides used to maintain and enhance courses, which often end up running off the land into lakes and rivers.12 According to the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America (GCSAA), the average 18-hole golf facility applies approximately 2 pounds of nitrogen per 1,000 square feet (97.6 kilograms per hectare) annually.13 A guide about the use of fertiliser on a golf course updated in January this year stresses its importance for any greenkeeper.14
“Essentially, nitrogen fertilizers are the primary component of turf nutrition programs,” it states. “Providing healthy leaf and stem growth, nitrogen helps to grow the best thick and strong grass all through the spring and summer months. At the same time, it helps give turf the deep green color that is associated with healthy grass.”
Golf has for many years been looking for new ways to reduce the environmental impact of its playing facilities. These include technologies in turfgrass, sprinkler systems and carbon-neutral engineering, which are now being deployed at a number of courses and have helped improve its reputation. Yet, as golf expands amid an uncertain future, the demands will increase for it to address its sustainability challenges. Leadership on the issue will be essential as it grapples with the competing interests at the heart of the game.
3 tibm7cwwrawtafoaxo3s.pdf (europeantour.com)
4 PGATOUR.COM - Official Home of Golf and the FedExCup - PGA TOUR
5 Sustainability – Official Website of the WM Phoenix Open
6 Golf Business News - LIV Golf Announces $100m Global CSR Platform
7 What does the increasing popularity of golf in the UK mean for the sport? | The Golf Business
8 How many golf courses are there in the world? - GolfPlayed
9 Is the golf industry doing enough to combat climate change? (greenbiz.com)
10 Is Golf Sustainable? (goingzerowaste.com)
11 How Much Water Golf Courses Need (usga.org)
12 Environmental Golf Courses #1 – Augusta National Golf Club, USA – Tee Times
13 phase-2-nutrient-survey-full-report-update.pdf (gcsaa.org)
14 Golf Course Fertilizer (The Complete Guide) (pitchmarks.com)
Jonathan's work on the sports industry has been published by The Times, The Observer, The Independent and The Sun, as well as Sport Business, Off The Pitch, FC Business and Zero Carbon Academy.
He has also contributed to BBC Radio 5 Live, Middle East Eye, The Scotsman, Rediff.com., World Soccer, When Saturday Comes, Wisden Cricket Monthly and School Sport.
Away from sports, he has held full-time and freelance roles at a number of global B2B publishers. He was the Founding Editor of Twist - a magazine covering the latest developments across the fashion industry supply chain. The title is published by World Textile Information Network (WTiN). Following the success of the launch of Twist, Jonathan was promoted to Head of Content at WTiN. In this newly-created role, he was responsible for developing WTiN's digital content and social media presence as the company evolved from being a magazine publisher to a market-leading media company across all platforms.
