Reading the top100 sustainability thread - https://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,72545.0.html - does kinda ask the question "what golf can do without".
Thoughts and things that are done that the game can do without?
atb
The one thought that came to my mind while browsing the list was revetted bunkers. Whenever I see videos of the work and amount of sodding needed to create a revetted bunker wall, I think it's such a shame to waste perfectly good turf sods on such an artifical construction. I also think they look totally unnatural and look out of place on links courses.
Don't get me wrong, I think the workmanship and effort put in to creating revetted bunkers is very impressive, but I just feel that there must be a better and more sustainable method of maintaining bunkers on links courses. RCD (which was included in the list for this very reason) and Royal Dublin don't have revetted bunkers, so why don't others follow suit. We've become so used to them that it would be difficult to transition to a more environmentally friendly alternative. Besides, many courses are synonymous with pot bunkers; take them away and these courses would become teethless. A start would be to use wooden planks - as seen at the European Club - for shallower bunkers, but I'm not sure how you'd replace the sodded wall on deeper bunkers like the Road Hole bunker.