The publishing efforts of Bill Love and the American Society of Golf Course Architects provide a valuable source of information on the environmental issues involved in the design, construction and subsequent management of a golf facility with the third edition of Love’s “An Environmental Approach to Golf Course Development.”
The work, introduced at the Golf Industry Show in Orlando last week, follows the inaugural edition in 1992 and the second publication seven years later.
Love, who is chairman of the ASGCA’s Environmental Committee and was the Society’s president in 2004-05, says the book’s content has evolved over time, from the first edition’s basic approach to the idea of golf course design and the environment to becoming more specific — “What the issues are and how we deal with them,” he says. “… I think it (the 2008 edition) will be a very useful tool for decision-makers.”
The Golf Course Builders Association of America Foundation is the chief underwriter of the latest publication, with additional funding support coming from the ASGCA Foundation, GCSAA, the USGA Foundation and the Toro Foundation.
More stringtent construction requirements and the emergence of worrisome water issues have led to an expanded content as well, plus the publication’s popular case studies of new courses or renovations that embody environmental principles along with a great golfing experience, have increased to such stories in the 2008 edition.
But for Love, the book is an ongoing resource to bolster a bigger story, one that all of golf needs to continue to tell at every chance — that golf courses really are compatible with Mother Nature.
“Our three organizations (ASGCA, GCBAA and GCSAA) are great environmental stewards and this is a great way to get the message out,” he says.
“An Environmental Approach to Golf Course Development,” Third Edition, is available by contacting the ASGCA www.asgca.org