Noord Nederlandse Golf & Country Club

Notable Observations

• Creation of New Wet and Dry Nature Areas Significant habitat creation has taken place alongside the course through the development of new wetland and dry nature areas following wider water management improvements. The club is deliberately allowing these areas to develop naturally and monitoring how native flora responds.
• Starling Nest Boxes for Natural Pest Control The club has installed dedicated starling nest boxes to encourage starlings to feed on leatherjackets and grubs. This as an example of using nature-based solutions to reduce pest pressure.
• Protection of Historic Pingo Landscape Features The course actively protects and manages a rare Pingo remnant, an Ice Age geological feature. Restoration work around water bodies has helped reveal and maintain this important cultural and natural heritage asset.
• Precision Irrigation Through Redesigned Sprinkler Network The irrigation system has been redesigned with a greater number of targeted sprinklers, allowing water to be applied only where needed. This approach has reduced unnecessary irrigation and improved overall water efficiency.
• Comprehensive Sustainable Building Renovation The clubhouse renovation incorporated extensive energy-saving measures, including high-quality insulation, LED lighting, heat recovery technology and upgraded kitchen equipment designed to reduce gas consumption.
• Robotic Driving Range Ball Collection System A robotic ball collection and dispensing system has been introduced on the driving range, helping to save fuel and energy.
• Exceptional Volunteer Engagement More than 120 volunteers contribute across the facility, supporting nature management, competitions, committees and wider club activities. This level of volunteer involvement is particularly notable and helps strengthen community ownership of the club.
• Strong Youth and Community Outreach The club hosts annual neighbourhood open days, participates in the Joost Luiten Foundation's school engagement activities and supports the NGF "Welcome to the Club" initiative to encourage young people into golf.

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“The golf course is doing an excellent job in many ways of putting sustainability into practice. On this beautiful estate, historical cultural heritage is combined with native nature on and around the course. Nature on the course is given the opportunity to develop naturally, although in the future target species can be determined for the many existing and newly created water bodies. During the renovation of the main building, strong emphasis was placed on sustainability to ultimately reduce energy consumption. A good future step would be to work together with the catering operator to consider how incoming waste streams can be minimized as much as possible. Finally, the introduction of a new robotic ball collector and accompanying golf-ball cleaning machine for the driving range is another excellent sustainable initiative.”

Ewout Sala (GEO accredited independent verifier)