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Augusta National: The Good, Bad & Ugly

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The Masters (by Torrey Wiley via Flickr | CC BY 2.0)

Augusta National Golf Club. The very name conjures up emotions deep within us. For some, those emotions might excite and inspire; while for others, they might sicken and disgust.

The Good
Augusta National is perhaps the epitome of golf courses. Despite not being in the birthplace of the game, the course is as symbolic as St. Andrews…perhaps more. We golfers daydream of walking its fairways; of turning Amen Corner; of being immersed in a golfer’s total paradise.

Of course, the club hosts The Masters every April – a tournament rich in history. Marking the start of the golf season for many, The Masters sends us images of Augusta in full spring bloom – lush green grass and floral (mainly magnolias and azaleas) bursting full of color. It’s no wonder there’s a huge marketing push surrounding the tournament – golfers of all levels yearn to go out and play after viewing just a few minutes of the action. Surely the golf industry as a whole benefits through the publicity of such an inspiringly beautiful course.

The Bad
Make no mistake, the course really is in pretty good shape. But Augusta groundskeepers are working with smoke and mirrors too. For example, the course spent half a million on an underground vacuum system that removes excess water. And according to a post here, Augusta National…

“…reportedly dyes ponds blue or black to hide algae bloom, spray paints grass to make it look more green in years when the newly planted ryegrass isn’t flourishing and even refrigerates, or warms, the azaleas so that they’ll be in perfect bloom for the second weekend in April. Rumors have it that this year [referring to 2012] Hollywood set designers have been brought in to Augusta to hide damage caused by the lawn chemical weed killer Imprelis that was found last year to kill trees as a side effect.”

Due to this addiction of perfect grooming (which apparently involves some degree of deception), we have something called the “Augusta Effect.” The notion that every course should strive to be as impeccably maintained as Augusta National – and anything less is less than perfect. This notion has led to other courses overseeding to keep greener longer; led to more pesticide use within the industry; and ultimately led to courses going belly-up – all in an effort to meet the expectations of average hacks everywhere, who have come to expect conditions like those they view on TV.

The Ugly
Unlike the cradle of golf in Scotland, Augusta is no Mecca – You will not find golfers on a pilgrimage to these links like they flock to St. Andrews. This is, of course, because we are not allowed to play there. Augusta National Golf Club, hallowed as it may be, also represents everything that is wrong with golf. It is the very root of negative golf stereotypes: closed-doored, sexist and filthy rich.

Sure, the club recently allowed its first female members, but that gesture made for good PR more than anything else. So the USGA and PGA Tour are faced with a conundrum: On the one hand, Augusta National helps stoke the golf economy every spring. But on the other hand, the club flies in the face of what the governing bodies of golf want to do – which is to grow the game beyond the average white male. They want to reach more women and minorities. They want to reach more inner-city youth. But should Augusta really be their poster child? That’s a tough sell.

For years I believed Augusta National Golf Club represented everything a golf course should be: Lush, beautiful and steeped in tradition – It really did make me want to go out and play. To be sure, seeing images of the course this week will inspire me once again. But over the years, I’ve come to realize the industry is using the Augusta legacy as a marketing tool – a facade, which exists mainly to excite the imagination.

Nowadays my inspiration doesn’t come from Augusta, but rather from the beginning of a new golf season – the excitement of getting out there and playing again after a long, cold winter and the thought of hanging out with good friends while enjoying the game we love. And, I guess, the possibility of finally hitting that elusive hole-in-one.

So my advice to you is to enjoy the tournament; the competition; the phenomenal golf. But take all the pomp and circumstance with a grain of salt. After all – most of us golf in the real world; not in fantasy land.

The Gluttony of Golf

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Did we overdo it with the number of courses? (photo by Gabriel S. Delgado C. / CC BY 2.0)
Is this word overstuffed with golf courses? (photo by
Gabriel S. Delgado C. / CC BY 2.0)

Do you have any idea how many golf courses are in the United States? You can find out easily – just conduct a simple search on our courses and golfers page.

If you only select “USA” as your country and hit search, you will get 725 pages worth of courses with 25 courses per page. Some quick math will tell you that adds up to 18,125 golf courses in the US.

Do you have any idea how big that number is? Well, let me help put it in perspective for you: How long will you drive down the main drag of any city or town in America before you pass a McDonlad’s? Not very long, right? Well, there are only 12,804 Mickey D’s in the United States.

Does that help you wrap your head around 18 thousand f’ing golf courses? Let me ask you something else: What the hell is this country doing with 18,000 golf courses? There’s only 50 states for goodness sake! That’s nearly 400 courses per state! I can understand a state the size of Texas having hundreds of courses (actually has 940), but why does my pea-sized home state of Connecticut have hundreds (199 to be exact)?

The way I see it, having this many golf courses poses a couple problems: First, there’s the negative environmental impact. In the U.S. (which is home to more than half the world’s courses), golf is played on nearly 2 million acres of land. That land requires more than 2 billion* gallons of water daily to be kept green. In addition, vast tracts of natural habitats are being displaced.

In Wyoming in 2004, for example, bald eagles in the region were driven from their nests to accommodate a new golf course just outside of Jackson Hole – an area already established as a golfing mecca.

But giving the middle finger to wildlife is only part of golf’s environmental problem – every year, millions of pounds of pesticides are used on courses in the US. And there’s runoff of those chemicals into our rivers and streams – water that will eventually contaminate wildlife, plant life, and human life.

If this wasn’t bad enough – let’s look at the second problem I have with America’s overabundance of golf courses: It simply isn’t good for the game. The reality is (to quote a post I wrote over a year ago) “every year since 2006, more golf courses have closed in the U.S. than have opened.”

We over-did-it. A decade ago, new courses were springing up everywhere. Now, they’re closing – And struggling private courses are opening their doors to the public in an effort to stay afloat.

Cost-saving measures include squeezing in as many tee-times as possible and trimming staff (course rangers in particular). Both of the aforementioned steps have contributed to slow play (a turn-off for both new and established golfers alike).

Look, I love golf (if you’ve read this blog before, I think it’s obvious) – but don’t you think 18,000 courses is spreading this game a little thin? In this post-Tiger era (and let’s face it, it’s definitley post-Tiger), interest in the game has waned somewhat – we can no longer afford to maintain (successfully anyway) all these tracts of land.

Perhaps a small downsize would be good for golf. Lord knows if our gluttony continues…”Be not among winebibbers; among riotous eaters of flesh: For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags.” – Proverbs 23:20-21.

*Corrected Figure (this post originally stated 4 billion gallons of water per day).

Can Worm Turds Save the Golf Industry?

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zerowaste 007
Worm turds in action (Photo courtesy of Green Golfer Foundation)

Right now, as I pen this post, people knee-deep in worm feces are revolutionizing the future of golf courses – and quite possibly saving the golf industry to boot.

That’s right – worm crap. Or, more politely; worm castings. When utilized properly, this poop can save golf courses big money. And when courses save, golfers, golf retailers – in fact the entire golf industry, benefits. All from worm feces.

As absurd as this sounds, it may actually be pretty accurate. You see, worm dung, when brewed into a tea-like liquid (trust me, this isn’t your pappy’s sun-brewed iced tea) can be used as a decent substitute for chemical fertilizer and pesticides.

Less chemicals means less pollution run-off into streams, rivers and oceans. But what it also does is save the course from spending on said costly pesticides and fertilizers. In addition, using this worm castings tea can “reduce water usage by 30-50 percent” – see where this is starting to make sense from a golf course perspective?

So how do golf courses do this? I mean, is it really that feasible? What about costs? Well, one course in California has implemented this process and it hasn’t costed them a dime – not in equipment, labor or worm poop.

The trick is capitalizing on the green movement that’s been sweeping the nation over the last several years. There are many non-for-profit eco-organizations out there more than willing to fork over cash in return for a better and safer environment. Such was the case in California – when Dairy Creek Golf Course, in conjunction with the Green Golfer Foundation received a grant from multiple state-funded eco-organizations to fund their “ZerO Waste” initiative.

In a nut-shell; you get the worms (in this case, they were provided free of charge by another eco-organization), put them in worm bins (built by volunteers from the Green Golfer Foundation) and then watch them multiply exponetially in just a few months. Then you get all your leftover restaurant waste (which is free anyway) and let the worms chow down. They start pooping and you brew said poop in a 500 gallon compost brewer (assembled for free from the good folks at Green Golfer Foundation) and begin spraying the tea on the course.

Not only are you saving costs in fertilizer and pesticides, but you’ve just created one of the world’s first zero waste golf courses. Yell that out the pro shop window and watch those lovable tree-hugger groups (cash in hand) come running!

But all joking aside, this concept is working at Dairy Creek Golf Course – a zero waste solution with no cost to the course. In fact, Dairy Creek is actually saving money by limiting the use of fertilizer, pesticides and water. The Green Golfer Foundation is looking for members willing to implement similar systems on golf courses all over the country. If you’re interested in helping on a golf course in your area, please email them at: richard@environmentalprotectionassociates.com.

The Advent of Organic Golf Courses

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vineyard golf club
Vineyard Golf Club – Martha’s Vineyard, MA

Twenty years ago, Whole Foods supermarket was virtually unheard of, save for a minimal portion of the population in Texas. The organic food phenomenon was just beginning to take root, and many thought it was doomed to fail.

The idea that food could be grown on a large scale without the use of pesticides or synthetic fertilizers was dismissed as hogwash. But yet these days there are nearly 300 Whole Foods markets across North America and the UK, and a growing number of consumers are seeking organic meals around the dinner table.

Like the organic food industry of two decades ago, today we’re at the dawn of a new way to manage golf courses. Within the last 10 years, an increasing number of golf course managers have begun to realize that the “Augusta effect” is not only expensive, but environmentally irresponsible to boot.

As I mentioned in a previous post, overseeding, a common practice in warmer climates to keep grass green year-round, is beginning to wane. As a result, golfers in those regions are learning that brown grass doesn’t necessarily mean bad grass.

But beyond overseeding, what about all the pesticides and synthetic fertilizers used to keep courses in line with our expectations? According to the Worldwatch Institute, golf courses encompass nearly 2 million acres of land in the U.S., and they collectively take-in 2 billion gallons of water a day. This water mixes with pesticides and fertilizers, which contributes to water pollution, and ultimately the health of plants, animals and humans suffer – A 1994 study of death certificates from over 600 golf course superintendents revealed unusually high numbers of deaths from specific cancers, including brain and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

These risks have led to a new breed of golf course: Organic. In 2002, residents of the upscale Massachusetts island of Martha’s Vineyard were so afraid of water pollution from a proposed golf course, they successfully lobbied course management to operate 100% free of pesticides and synthetic fertilizers. Vineyard Golf Club (pictured at top) is perhaps the only course in the United States to not use a drop of chemicals.

But others are taking similar measures. Bear Creek Golf Course in the state of Washington only uses fungicide and fertilizer on its greens; Applewood Golf Course in Colorado uses synthetic fertilizers, but no pesticides; The Resort at Squaw Creek golf course in Lake Tahoe uses no “pesticides and only a minimal amount of organic-based fertilizer;” and Kabi Golf Course in Australia has been called the only organic course in the southern hemisphere (check out the review by our buddy Michael over at the Aussie Golfer blog HERE).

There are probably more courses like this out there, but they’re not easy to find – this really is a new concept (perhaps one of the best resources is this in-depth look at golf and the environment by Golf Digest in 2008). But in a couple decades (as more courses begin weening off the chemical baths and more players begin to accept a little more brown grass) we may all have played on at least one of these organic tracks – to the benefit of both the land and ourselves.

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