The Green Golf in the Kingdom of Fife seminar featured presentations from St Andrews Links and Loch Lomond Golf Club. A series of presentations covering efficient energy usage, waste management and the support available to golf courses were also given by experts from the University of St Andrews, Zero Waste Scotland, the Scottish Energy Efficiency Office and Fife Council.
Around 50 representatives of the golf industry attended the seminar hosted by St Andrews Links Trust, which manages the seven public courses at the Home of Golf including the Old Course, at The Scores Hotel. The seminar was supported by the Scottish Golf Union, the R&A, the Golf Environment Organisation (GEO) and Fife Council.
St Andrews Links became the first Open Championship venue to achieve GEO certification last year. GEO is an international non-profit organisation which delivers practical programmes to support sustainability in golf courses and recognises best practice. A presentation was given at the seminar about the GEO OnCourse programme and how it can help golf clubs.
The seminar concluded with a discussion session involving a panel of experts which included Euan Loudon, the Chief Executive of St Andrews Links Trust, Jonathan Smith, the Chief Executive of GEO, David Roy, from the Club Managers’ Association of Europe (CMAE), Richard Windows, from the Sports Turf Research Institute, Carolyn Hedley, from the Scottish Golf Union, and the Scottish Golf Environment Group, Alan Grant from Visitscotland and Jake Coleman from Fife Council.
Gordon Moir, Director of Greenkeeping at St Andrews Links Trust, said, “Sustainability is becoming increasingly important in golf course management and we wanted to bring together some of the leaders in the field to discuss the measures that courses can take to more effectively manage their resources. We work hard to implement sustainable practices here at St Andrews Links and to set a benchmark for effective management of links golf courses. The seminar was an opportunity for other courses in this area to benefit from the experience we have here in St Andrews and atLoch Lomondto take back to their own clubs.”