02 Sep 2022
It’s been a big summer for golf in Scotland, with the best players on the planet having visited the country for some of the biggest tournaments the sport has to offer.
The 150th Open, the AIG Women’s Open, the Genesis Scottish Open, the Trust Golf Women’s Scottish Open and The Senior Open Championship were all held in Scotland between June and August, with the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship following in September.
Such a busy calendar provided a platform from which to showcase the sustainable practices that many events adopted, with GEO Certified courses like Gleneagles and Dundonald Links playing host.
These events were aligned to a wider promotion of sustainability and climate action, a programme which is led by VisitScotland and delivered in partnership with GEO Foundation for Sustainable Golf. The programme seeks to accelerate Scotland’s leadership in golf and sustainability, as well as promote it on a global stage.
“It’s something I’m very proud of,” says Alan Grant, Senior Golf Manager at VisitScotland. “We’re the first national body to join with GEO Foundation. As the home of golf, we created this game hundreds of years ago and we should be responsible for its continued growth moving forward and lead the way for other countries to follow us.”
VisitScotland’s responsible tourism plan aims to minimize the Scottish tourism industry’s carbon footprint and educate the industry on reducing emissions, and their partnership with GEO Foundation aligns these goals with the sustainability activities being carried out at this summer’s tournaments.
“What’s even more important now is the impact these events have on the environment within which they’re delivered,” said Grant. “Whether it’s for the event week itself or the periods before and after.
“The environment and sustainability initiatives are all key measures of government now. Moving forward, more and more events will be judged on how they deliver against these metrics as much as how they deliver against the media impact and the economic value of events.
“We have to deliver things in a safe and sustainable way and leave a future that’s full of golf events for children of years to come to enjoy.”
The Renaissance Club and St Andrews Links hosted the Genesis Scottish Open and The Open respectively.
Grant was speaking at Dundonald Links, which hosted the Trust Golf Women’s Scottish Open in July. The course has been GEO Certified since 2013, joining Muirfield, St Andrews Links, The Renaissance Club and Gleneagles as certified facilities to have hosted events in Scotland this summer.
“If you walk around the venue here, you see little signages all around the venue showing the different types of plants and animals. There’s a blue butterfly that’s very rare and lives in this environment at Dundonald Links.
“The ability to bring a major tournament here and showcase these things through media coverage is all part of trying to explain that golf is much more than just players hitting a golf ball on a golf course.”
Similar stories can be heard and felt across Scotland. Greenstaff at St Andrews Links are careful to protect sand scrapes that are hidden away between the Old and New courses, providing seasonal wet areas through the winter and an undisturbed haven of bare sand in the summer.
The Renaissance Club supported a volunteer beach cleaning event run by the charitable organisation Keep Scotland Beautiful in an effort to educate people about the impact of waste on the natural environment, while Gleneagles even teamed up with a local bus company to help their employees to and from work, taking cars off the road and reducing harmful emissions.
Throughout golf, these stories are showcasing what can be done in the face of challenges related to climate change, and with the help of VisitScotland, the Summer of Golf has brought those stories to the fore once again.
You’ll find countless other examples of clubs fostering nature, conserving resources and supporting communities on the Sustainable Golf Highlights Hub. Click here to see more.
