GEO Foundation has facilitated the development of three sets of practical Voluntary Sustainability Standards for Golf, drawing from a large body of knowledge and best practices, and developed collaboratively according to ISEAL's Codes for credible standard setting, including public consultation and international Expert Groups. Also, in alignment with these codes, GEO Foundation will communicate any changes to the standards or assurance processes to any impacted stakeholder groups before they are made publicly available.

These have then been used as the basis for developing the OnCourse programme designed to make it easier for facilities, tournaments and new developments to achieve the Standards. They are also the criteria for GEO Certified.