Scottish Golf
Scotland
2026
Golf is Scotland's national game and has been played across the country for over five centuries. Scottish Golf, the sport's governing body, represents 566 affiliated clubs and more than 200,000 members, with courses rooted in city, town and rural communities from the Borders to the Highlands and Islands. Collectively, these clubs manage more than 35,000 hectares of land - much of it green space woven into the fabric of the communities around it.
In 2024, Scottish Golf published Sustainable Golf in the Home of Golf, its national plan for leadership in sustainability and climate action - developed with the GEO Sustainable Golf Foundation. Sitting within Scottish Golf's wider strategy for the sport and organisation, the plan is built around three aims: to support and strengthen clubs; to further enhance golf's image and influence, and to make a valued contribution.
It is organised around the Sustainable Golf Framework - Fostering Nature, Conserving Resources, Taking Climate Action and Strengthening Communities, which in turn are directly aligned to national policy and priorities, and the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Chief Executive Robbie Clyde frames sustainability as a movement that brings “new risks and opportunities to the long-term popularity and success of golf,” with clubs facing rising costs, tightening regulation and changing weather patterns. The strategy aims to help grassroots clubs “become more resilient and come out stronger,” proud of the net positive impact they deliver to nature, climate and communities “up and down the country.”
Delivery runs through four parallel action areas. Effective leadership starts in-house, with Scottish Golf’s operational carbon footprint, and working to make leading amateur events more sustainable. Supporting and engaging clubs happens chiefly through the Sustainable Golf Pathway - from Pledge to Certification - and with OnCourse Scotland, a dedicated sustainable club management platform, provided free of charge and backed by subsidised sustainability and carbon footprint reports and a programme of club workshops. Sharing and inspiring is delivered through communications, supported by promotion of Sustainable Golf Highlights, a growing library of club stories. Collaborationunderpins all of this work, with partners including the GEO Foundation, R&A, BIGGA, VisitScotland, SportScotland, Active Scotland, Scottish Environment Protection Agency and NatureScot.
Over 140 clubs have joined the Sustainable Golf Pathway, and over 40 are fully GEO Certified for leadership in sustainable golf. A recent milestone is the first Scottish Golf Water Stewardship Report, published in July 2026 during the Genesis Scottish Open Sustainable Golf Symposium. Built on a national survey of 115 clubs - 21% of all Scottish clubs - alongside OnCourse Scotland data, it found only 14% of clubs escaped flooding-related closures in the last two years, with more than one in ten losing over 25 playable days, while almost half rate summer drought, particularly acute in the East at 69%, a “big threat.” A third of clubs already plan water management upgrades within five years.
There is still much to do to meet headline targets that include no net-negative impact on ecosystems and biodiversity, with habitat restored on and around Scotland's courses; zero waste to landfill and an end to single-use plastics across its own operations and leading amateur events; and a 50% cut in direct emissions by 2030 en-route to net zero by 2040. The water stewardship findings will now feed directly into that agenda, sharpening support for clubs facing the sharpest flooding and drought risk.
Find out more at: https://www.scottishgolf.org/sustainability
