STRI is delighted to announce the winners of the Golf Course Environment Awards 2009. These awards recognise the golf courses that have most effectively managed a sustainable programme to support the environment and wildlife. The award winners were chosen from applications from golf courses throughout the UK.
The winning Greenkeeping team is St Andrews Links Trust, who receives the Overall Achievement Award. The second award goes to Mr. Matt Worster, Assistant Greenkeeper at Minchinhampton Golf Club, who receives the prestigious Conservation Greenkeeper of the Year Award.
A member of the St Andrews team will accompany Mr. Worster on a once-in-a-lifetime study trip to the USA, hosted by STRI. The trip will take place in Spring 2010 and includes visits to America’s most famous and inspiring golf courses including: Pine Valley, National Golf Links of America, Shinnecock Hills, Sebonack and Bethpage Black.
This year’s entries were all of an extremely high standard and choosing the winners was a hard task. Lee Penrose, Senior Ecologist at STRI said, “The entries for 2009 demonstrate the commitment golf courses have to improving our environment for years to come. The proactive attitude and long-term focus of the St Andrews Links Trust team and the attention to habitat improvement projects managed by Mr. Worster are both outstanding and played a major part in our decision-making process.”
Additional prizes including Environmental Consultancy and Training Courses have been awarded to numerous golf facilities across the complete range of categories.
Further details of the awards and a full list of the 2009 winners and prizes can be found atwww.golfenvironmentawards.com.
The awards are entirely golf focused, allowing success and recognition to be controlled directly by the Course Managers and Greenkeeping teams.
Details of the2010 awards programme will be announced early next year.
STRI www.stri.co.uk