How Elite Golf Is Driving The Green

WM Phoenix Open - the Greenest Show in Golf

(Image credit: Getty Images)

published 5 October 2022

As the inaugural Sustainable Golf Week hosted by the GEO Foundation for Sustainable Golf continues, the focus on Wednesday is “Big and Visible” – The Professional Game. The top level of golf plays a vital role influencing all those who enjoy the sport. It has the reach and power to encourage others to follow a lead. Across the globe, elite events are working hard to drive positive change, achieving GEO Certification® and aiming towards it using the GEO OnCourse® Tournaments programme. Also, ambassadors like Solheim Cup Captain Suzann Pettersen, Corey Pavin and Danny Lee are helping to spread the message.

GEO Certified Events

Internationally accredited and backed by robust reporting and third-party verification, GEO Certified® is the widely recognised standard for sustainable golf tournaments, assessing a range of disciplines relevant to hosting a golf tournament including Planning and Communications, Site Protection, Procurement, Resource Management – incorporating Waste, Water, Energy & Carbon - Access & Equity, and Legacy.

Back in 2017 the WM Phoenix Open became the first event to become GEO Certified, an accolade it has retained each year since.

Other events to have achieved GEO Certification include the RBC Heritage and AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am on the PGA Tour, the Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational on the LPGA Tour and the Foshan Open on the Challenge Tour.

OnCourse Tournaments

OnCourse® Tournaments is a trusted and practical program developed by the golf industry to bring sustainability into greater focus and integrate it into event operations. The flexible program is relevant to those at the very start of their journey, providing the basics and building year-on-year, as well as those further along, supporting innovation and industry-leading practice. From the planning to post-event reporting and recognition, OnCourse gives tournament teams the guidance and tools needed to generate and communicate meaningful results and provides a pathway to becoming a GEO Certified® tournament.

Events such as The Open, the Ryder Cup, the Solheim Cup, the BMW PGA Championship and the DP World Tour Championship have been working with the GEO Foundation to drive sustainability and make a difference.

The Open Championship

The R&A tracked and measured a wide range of sustainability metrics at The Open Championship this year using the new OnCourse® Tournaments programme provided by GEO Foundation. The R&A’s GreenLinks programme is planned, implemented and tracked in collaboration with the GEO Foundation.

GreenLinks initiatives at St Andrews this year included, 50 additional on-site water refill points, reduced single-use plastics in catering and local sourcing of produce, electric vehicles used to transport players and personnel, local sourcing of produce, a community reuse programme to limit waste and the RSPB were on site to raise awareness of golf and nature.

Sustainable Golf Champions

Suzann Pettersen celebrates after holing the winning putt at the 2019 Solheim Cup

A number of top players have used their profile to support the GEO Foundation and raise awareness of the importance of sustainability within golf. Amongst them are:

Suzann Pettersen (Solheim Cup Captain) - "As a mother, it is incredible how concerned you become over the future of the planet, its biodiversity, air quality and climate. These things are absolutely vital to the health and wellbeing of future generations, so we all need to do our best to make things better. And golf, perhaps of all sports, has such a wonderful role to play. We can showcase how to manage community landscapes with a low use of resources and leaving space for a lot of wildlife; we can collaborate with communities to make good things happen beyond our boundaries."

Corey Pavin (2010 Ryder Cup Captain) – “Partnering with the GEO Foundation just gives me a better platform to use my influence as a professional golfer to promote sustainability. We are the ones that can make changes but it starts with one household at a time. It is important for professional golfers to be leaders in this important endeavour and I am proud to lend my name and influence to the cause.”

Danny Lee (Korean-born, New Zealand professional) - “Korea and New Zealand are both environmentally conscious, so I was exposed to sustainability from a young age, even before I knew what it was. I have kids and we have to think about their futures and what steps we can all take, whether it is helping make people aware of their responsibilities or taking action. We all have a role to play and GEO is my caddy, helping me understand and become more conscious of my responsibilities in all areas."

Through Sustainable Golf Week, the focus will be on different aspects of sustainability within golf. Here’s the schedule:

Tuesday 4th: Golf Courses of the Future

Wednesday 5th: Big and Visible – The Professional Game

Thursday 6th: Golf, Cities and Land

Friday 7th: Moving Day

Saturday 8th: Highlights of the Week

Sunday 9th: Driving Further

Visit Sustainable Golf Week and GEO Foundation to find out more.

Fergus is Golf Monthly's resident expert on the history of the game and has written extensively on that subject. He is a golf obsessive and 1-handicapper. Growing up in the North East of Scotland, golf runs through his veins and his passion for the sport was bolstered during his time at St Andrews university studying history. He went on to earn a post graduate diploma from the London School of Journalism. Fergus has worked for Golf Monthly since 2004 and has written two books on the game; "Great Golf Debates" together with Jezz Ellwood of Golf Monthly and the history section of "The Ultimate Golf Book" together with Neil Tappin , also of Golf Monthly.

Fergus once shanked a ball from just over Granny Clark's Wynd on the 18th of the Old Course that struck the St Andrews Golf Club and rebounded into the Valley of Sin, from where he saved par. Who says there's no golfing god?