Jacobsen's Cost and Fuel Savings Calculator

Want to save money on fuel? Check out Jacobsens Cost and Fuel savings calculator and compare your current costs to the potential of an Eclipse 322 model. 


Check out this video of Jacobsen electric greens mower being demonstrated in front of the new Golf Club on the Trail Creek Golf course in Sun Valley Idaho. The mower is really quiet and clean running on golf cart batteries. Master mower Darren operates the unit for the crowd showing the technique that won him 3rd place in the southeast Idaho mowing divisional.





Bookmark and Share

Removing Turf at Las Vegas Golf Courses


Turf Tips - National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service

There are a lot of tip sheets out there on how golf courses/turf systems can reduce their environmental footprint. Sustainable Turf Care by the NSAIS provides a few good points, in particular the compost section, here's the intro:


Continued applications of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides create a toxic environment for earthworms, fungi, bacteria, and beneficial nematodes through radical changes in pH and the buildup of toxic salts and other compounds (heavy metals) sometimes found in fertilizers. In contrast, mature compost enhances populations of soil organisms by providing them with an excellent source of nutrients.


Bookmark and Share

Golf Course Industry Magazine : Sampling Success

Golf Course Industry Magazine : Sampling Success article discusses the many benefits (economic, conditions, environmental) of tissue and soil sampling.
From the article:

There has been no shortage of news about environmental contamination. It seems with each passing election cycle, public opinion shifts further toward restrictive policies. There is a common misconception that the golf course industry is a heavy polluter of the environment. However, the fact is the golf industry has long been a champion of the responsible use of fertilizers and pesticides.

Tiger Woods' Golf Course Considers Environment... Finally.

From TheFanhouse Golf section: Tiger Woods' Golf Course Back on Track -- Golf FanHouse
An Asheville, N.C., golf course, designed byTiger Woods is back in construction mode after developers agreed to reduce the potential impact the course would have had on the local environment.

Construction on The Cliffs at High Carolina, a mountain course scheduled to open in the fall of 2012, has picked up again now that developers have dropped by nearly half the effect the course would have had on adjacent trout streams.

A coalition of environmental groups had challenged permits issued by the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources, charging that the course would negatively impact trout streams without mitigation. Course developers slowed down the construction to address the issues, and cut the number of linear feet of impact from 3,132 to 1,665 by making the course shorter and by lengthening the walk between tees and greens.
Bookmark and Share

Machrihanish Dunes: Yearly Quadrant checks!


One of many Golf Blogs I follow is this one for Machrihanish Dunes, the first true Links course to be built through existing landforms in over a 100 years on the West Coast of Scotland.

This recent post about their natural areas caught my attention. Below is the post, followed up by a few comments that were passed on to me once I requested more info specifically about this post. I've also decided to include a video and a few articles of interest about the property, what a cool course!

The first 2:20 of the video is a little boring, but you'll enjoy the rest.



GreenFix Golf Ball Mark Elimination System

Tags
The GreenFix Golf Ball Mark Elimination System is a slight tweak on the traditional Ball Mark Tool. What do you think? Innovation or Gimmick?


Course Vision

Course Vision is just one of many great mapping options for supers. From maximizing operational efficiencies to pursuing environmental certification, accurate mapping is a must for any golf course.  Even those courses that begin with very accurate information, find that over time it can become outdated or lost.  GPS mapping may provide a partial solution, but can be expensive and time consuming.  CourseVision™ provides you an accurate inventory of your entire golf property at a fraction of the cost of other solutions and takes none of your valuable time.  And that’s only the start of what CourseVision™ can do for you.

The Old Collier Golf Club

The Old Collier Golf Club is fairly well known for their environmental efforts. They've done an excellent job at public education, the following video is just one example (press Read Full Article to view Video):
We all know that golf courses can have a negative connotation with non-golfing public. One way to overcome this is to educate those people and help them understand the environmental benefits of a golf course. Tim Hiers, CGCS at Old Collier Golf Club, is doing just that. He has established a tour to teach the public about what goes into maintaining a golf course.



From their website:
For generations, respect for the land has been a guiding force in Collier family businesses. Within the 1.3 million acres acquired by Barron Gift Collier in the 1920s were the 267 acres selected by his grandson, Miles C. Collier, as the site of The Old Collier Golf Club.

This pristine property, only minutes from the Gulf of Mexico beaches and bordering the Cocohatchee River, was ideally located for a world-class golf club that would complement the natural environment. Working cloesly with Audubon International and regulatory agencies, Collier Enterprises devised a water management plan with new approaches to water use and conservation, land management, landscape design, and selection of turf grass and native plants.

Excerpt: 'All for a bloody golf course'

Tags
Excerpt: 'All for a bloody golf course' - An excerpt from "Oka, A Political Crisis and it's Legacy" Harry Swain, recently published in the Ottawa Citizen.

Bookmark and Share

"Ryder Cup Green Drive Enters Home Stretch" - SportsNewsIreland

Tags
More Ryder Cup details emerge, this article Ryder Cup Green Drive Enters Home Stretch | SportsNewsIreland is one of the most concise, outlining many, if not all of the Green Drive details.

Considering Wildlife in Golf Course Management

Considering Wildlife in Golf Course Management is an Extension Fact Sheet put out by Ohio State Universitys School of Natural Resources.

From the Fact Sheet:
Public open spaces or greenspaces (parks, cemeteries, and golf courses) account for millions of acres of land in the United States. As urbanization spreads, these greenspaces have the potential to accommodate the needs of both people and wildlife. Golf courses and other public open spaces can be developed and managed to have a significant positive impact on the quality of habitat for sensitive and desirable wildlife species (Mankin, 2000), as well as enhancing the recreational, educational, and aesthetic aspects of these golf courses.

Lookout Mountain Golf Club at the Pointe Hilton Tapatio Cliffs forced to go for the 'green'

Lookout Mountain Golf Club at the Pointe Hilton Tapatio Cliffs forced to go for the 'green'
From the www.azcentral.com article:
Maybe Forrest Richardson was just ahead of his time.
When the Valley-based golf architect collaborated with former senior golf pro Bill Johnston on the layout of Lookout Mountain Golf Club at the Pointe Hilton Tapatio Cliffs in the mid-1980s, he envisioned a course that embraced the Arizona desert as it wound through the North Mountain Preserve.

PodCast - "Water Thirsty Golf Courses Need to Go Green"




Bookmark and Share

Bad and Best Management Practices

Two very different stories, one common message - water should never be taken for granted.
Assuming this Oklahoma mans story (Former worker claims wastewater illegally used on golf course) is true, I hope this golf course gets nailed bad. It's courses like this that give the rest of us a bad name.
From the article:

Bennar claims that for years untreated and inadequately treated wastewater has been periodically discharged into the Clinton-Sherman Reservoir and an adjacent creek flowing into Little Elk Creek, a source of drinking water for Washita County residents.

There are three sewage treatment lagoons in the area of the golf course. A permit authorizes wastewater to be applied to 44 acres of golf course land as long as certain rules are followed, records reveal. At issue is whether those rules were ignored.


Meanwhile in Arizona this course is struggling to hold on to it's water rights - Lookout Mountain Golf Club at the Pointe Hilton Tapatio Cliffs forced to go for the 'green'
From the article:
"It was a decision made more about aesthetics than function or strategy," Richardson said. Trouble was, the nearest source of treated waste water was miles away, and bringing it to the course near 7th Street and Thunderbird was cost prohibitive.
Instead, the course simply tapped into the Phoenix drinking-water system to water the turf and supply three water hazards, two of which were not part of the original design. It was the kind of thinking that was common at the time, but ultimately created an image problem for the golf industry when water conservation became a priority.
Now, 23 years after Lookout Mountain opened, Richardson is back to give the course sort of an environmental makeover designed to save water and celebrate the desert setting. "At the time, there wasn't nearly as much concern about the use of water or the cost of water," Richardson said. "Now, we're in a reality where things have changed."

Bookmark and Share

Who Is TurfScout?



Recently Turfhugger learned of a company called TurfScout. So I asked Darryl James of Arbor Turf Solutions (Turfhugger.com's "Irrigation Guru") to give Yale Leiden, President at TurfScout LLC, a call to find out more. Check out the interview Below.


The Celtic Manor Resort - Environmental Policy

Tags
Celtic Manor will be hosting this years Ryder Cup in early October and there's a lot of environmental buzz surrounding the event. We'll be posting links to articles, interviews and case studies as we get close to the event, in the mean time here is a copy of the Celtic Manors Environmental Policy which includes info on their Carbon Management Programme, the recent Building of the course and Future Commitments. Celtic Manor is registered in the Golf Environment Organisation's on-line certification programme click here to see the certification.

The Green Ryder Cup, are you ready golf?


I'm sure you've heard about the Ryder Cups efforts to host the greenest sporting event of all time, but just in case you haven't be sure to watch this video featuring Jonathan Smith of Golf Environment Organisation.

2010 Deutsche Bank Championship - A PR Case Study

I've seen quite a few articles describing the green efforts at this weekends PGA events at TPC Boston. Although I was impressed to see the following initiatives on the events website (even though some of them have nothing to do with golf) I couldn't help but notice they left out a number of accomplishments and initiatives that should have  been the main focus.

Golf Channel: Water Conservation

Rain Gardens - FYI


I'm trying to track down some more info about this specific project, but for now here is the press release and a quick excerpt:
Construction will begin in mid-September on a new garden that will capture stormwater runoff coming from downspouts and pavement around the clubhouse and pro shop at county-owned Saxon Woods Golf Course in Scarsdale. 
Plants and soil in this “rain garden” will filter out many of the pollutants commonly found in runoff before they enter water supplies.
The construction, scheduled to last about a week, is not expected to disrupt golf play or activities at the clubhouse and pro shop. The rain garden will be built in an area now partially covered by asphalt
pavement, which will be torn up to accommodate the garden.

Water Restrictions Through Permitting


In North-East and Central Florida the St. John's River Water Management District is responsible for managing water resources under the Water Resources Act. Recently amendments have been proposed to the current permitting rules, below is an excerpt explaining what will now be required by golf courses in the region.

According to the press release: As part of the proposed changes, applicants for ERPs for projects that include irrigated landscape, golf courses or recreational areas would be required to develop and implement a water conservation plan.
The water conservation plan would include a water conservation-based irrigation plan, which would:
* Require separate irrigation zones for turf and non-turf areas
* Limit the use of high volume irrigation to no more than 60 percent of the landscaped area on a residential or commercial lot
* Require measures to increase the efficiency of irrigation systems

Arizona Drinking Water: Ok for Ski hills, but not Golf!


Drinking water for irrigation of golf courses is a tough sell anywhere you go. Personally, I believe it should be for Ski hills too despite the threats of lawsuits. "Don't eat the grey snow" I say.