Which great designs have been most beneficial to ecology?

[Mark_Rowlinson]

Has anyone done serious, scientifically sound ecological surveys of great courses through the years? How have TOC, Ballybunion, ANGC, NGLA, Merion, Royal Melbourne, Cypress Point etc contributed to the health (or detriment) of their flora and fauna during their lifetimes?

I expect many of you active golf course architects have had to carry out such surveys in order to satisfy conditions of planning permission. What are your successes? To the well-being of which species have you been proudest of your contributions?

[Melvyn Morrow]

Mark

Great, well I do consider Askernish great, so I nominate Askernish as the most beneficial to ecology certainly over the last 50/60 years.

South Uist with its machair is known to have orchids but the island is best known for its aquatic plant called Sender Naiad. Sorry do not know its Latin name.

Melvyn

[Mike_Clayton]

Mark,

No scientific surveys but the sandbelt courses have been almost the sole preservers of the small heathland plants that dominated the south-eastern part of Melbourne prior to the suburban encroachment. Royal Melbourne is the biggest property and consequently has the most of it but Victoria next door has reclaimed much of what was lost by removing the all-smothering and invasive tea-tree. Peninsula too has expansive areas of heath.

[Rich Goodale]

Industry Hills outside of LA.  First golf course (that I am aware of) that was built on a garbage dump.

[Jim_Kennedy]

Industry Hills outside of LA.  First golf course (that I am aware of) that was built on a garbage dump.

Bell must have been fond of the concept, he built Victoria GC on a garbage dump in 1966. 

[John Kavanaugh]

Based on the billion grasshoppers at Dismal last year I have a feeling that man has provided a fertile breeding ground. While unlikely it would seem that the erosion control and irrigation has been a benefit to the original Sand Hills inhabitants.

[John Chilver-Stainer]

Mark,

Try browsing the GEO site below, which pursues a scheme to certify existing golf courses with an environmental award, based ultimately not only an on-site evaluation of the fauna and flora, but also on the sustainability.

http://www.golfenvironment.org/oncourse

Machrihanish Dunes is one of the many certified courses.

[Tom Kelly]

TOC or St Andrew's links as a whole has just been certified too hasn't it?

[Melvyn Morrow]

Thomas

Check out this links re St Andrews links http://www.golfenvironment.org/clubs/standrewslinks

[Tom_Doak]

Mark:

This is a great question, and I've got to think a while about the answer.  I've never really thought about it this way before.

Michael Clayton's suggestion of Royal Melbourne is a very good one.  Also, when I worked for Pete Dye, he asked me cryptically what course in all of my travels had the most variety of grasses and had done the most research about different grasses.  The correct answer [which I knew right away] was Pine Valley -- the longtime superintendent there, Eb Steineger, was a pioneer in using native grasses and native plants, much like Crockford in Australia.

But, ecology is more than that, so I need to think about my answer.

[Marty Bonnar]

This IS a truly marvellous question. Got me thinking about the possibility that the courses most beneficial to ecology just might be the ones which have done least to damage the local biodiversity OR IS IT maybe the ones which may have actually enhanced the quality of the local flora and fauna.
So maybe the courses built on the landfill sites or the rehabilitated sites might actually be more 'beneficial' than the ones whcih have merely cut grass. I'm struck by the contrasts of somewhere like Machrihanish Dunes and Liberty National. Which of those CONTRIBUTED more to the environment???
It's interesting that even the minimalist maestro is having an issue deciding where to go on this one!
Maybe we need to bifurcate this whole thing and make awards in both categories...

FBD.

[Bradley Anderson]

Many clubs were farms before they were golf courses, and generally speaking they may actually become much better habitat as golf courses than they were as corn and soybean fields, particularly golf courses with streams and rivers.

The Blackwolf Run courses are fine examples of this. The population of invertebrates and fish species really benefited from lining the river with the prairie and fescues which control the erosion and sedimentation. That of course benefits everything up the food chain.

[Tim Martin]

Stephen Kay`s McCullough`s Emerald Links in Atlantic City was built on a garbage dump. Pretty interesting property.

[Joel_Stewart]

I've heard that The Honors Course spares no expense in trying different things in all aspects of the environment.  I'm talking about water, agronomy and wildlife.

[Tom_Doak]

This IS a truly marvellous question. Got me thinking about the possibility that the courses most beneficial to ecology just might be the ones which have done least to damage the local biodiversity OR IS IT maybe the ones which may have actually enhanced the quality of the local flora and fauna.
So maybe the courses built on the landfill sites or the rehabilitated sites might actually be more 'beneficial' than the ones whcih have merely cut grass. I'm struck by the contrasts of somewhere like Machrihanish Dunes and Liberty National. Which of those CONTRIBUTED more to the environment???
It's interesting that even the minimalist maestro is having an issue deciding where to go on this one!
Maybe we need to bifurcate this whole thing and make awards in both categories...

FBD.

Martin:

I've always been bothered that the architect's societies and the USGA tend to tout case studies of landfill reclamations or "sensitive" site work like Machrihanish Dunes as the greatest in environmental sensitivity.  It seems to me that most courses are good to very good for the environment, and that we shouldn't be giving the impression that golf should be confined to reclamation sites in the future, or that we can only work on a nice piece of land if there are tons and tons of restrictions and expensive & complicated technological solutions to drainage issues. 

I think back to a project like Stone Eagle where they made us put a fence around the whole 400 acres to keep Bighorn Sheep and Desert Tortoises out of the golf course if they ever wandered down that way ... how can you integrate with the natural environment if the environmentalists make you fence it off?  Or Lost Dunes, where the language of Michigan Critical Dune Act [written to stop people from building houses in the dunes or putting sand quarries there, like the one which existed before our golf course] prevented us from restoring the dunes or tying into them more naturally.

I liked Mark's question because it gets back to the heart of the matter to me -- are the courses which are best for golf also good for the environment?  I know that they can be, but I haven't thought long and hard about which ones are and which are not.  It would be terrific if we could discuss both sides of the coin intelligently without putting a target on our backs.

The other not-so-big secret in golf is that it's much easier to build an environmentally friendly golf project if you have plenty of land to spare and to put into conservation.  The case studies we usually see aren't on 120-acre sites close in to urban areas where they might better serve the community.

[Tommy Williamsen]

The last time I played Westward Ho! i thought that the grass on the course actually helps the sheep.  I suspect that is true of other courses on common land.

[Mark Hissey]

I have to point out what we did at Sebonack.

Our site was a horror show in all honesty. It had been farmed for 200 years and it had been left to go to rack and ruin in the 20th century by the two owners. The invasive species were rife on the site, there were numerous dumps of all kinds of debris and materials, and there were 50+ structures on the property. The sceptic systems alone were a nightmare to deal with.

With the help of our architects and the brilliant work of Dr. Stephen Handel, we changed this site from an ecological nightmare to a place of true ecological beauty. Our biological diversity has increased tenfold; from bird count, to amphibians, to plants. We used eight different revegetation palates in carefully chosen places, to enhance the beauty and diversity of the property. The marine life on the constructed ponds and the naturally occurring wetlands has been startling. Four species of fish, as well as crustacians thrive in the bodies of water.

Our efforts to provide a healthy turf growing medium have also been pretty successful. I'm convinced that our root raking and compost soil amendments have helped make our playing conditions what they are (along with the brilliant work of Garret Bodington). There was no stone left unturned in regard to making Sebonack Golf Club the most environmentally friendly golf course ever built. I'm sure there are other contenders, but we are up there.

It would have been wonderful if we had had the leeway that our neighbors have in golf course construction and maintenance. But we don't. We've done the best we can in a very uneven playing field. Given that fact, I'm proud of what we have done ecologically, and unfortunately, it gets all too easily overlooked.

Rant over. 

[Philippe Binette]

If you built the perfect golf course from an environment standpoint, but 90% of your players having to drive 40 miles to get to it, is that good for the ecology..

A golf course in an urban area is great for the ecology.

[Sean Remington (SBR)]

  Some great points being made.  In the cases of PB and CP these golf courses have preserved the open space on the shoreline that may have otherwise been turned into housing.  PB has the added benefit of being open to the public.

[Bradley Anderson]

If you built the perfect golf course from an environment standpoint, but 90% of your players having to drive 40 miles to get to it, is that good for the ecology..

A golf course in an urban area is great for the ecology.

There are a lot inner city areas that come to mind which could be reverted to green space and golf courses could be a good fit. They would provide employment and recreation for inner city youth.

If a project like that were to be undertaken it would be important to also create natural areas with native trees and grasses.