Six Ways Golf Courses Hurt the Environment

• Underneath the rolling, manicured hills of any golf course lies an ugly truth: they are environmental blights diverting water, poisoning rivers, utilizing exorbitant amounts of energy, and monopolizing green spaces.
• There are over two million acres of golf courses in the U.S. and nearly 40,000 golf courses worldwide. Golf courses privatize what could more fruitfully be used as a public resource: water, electricity, and prime land.

Six Ways Golf Courses Are Terrible for the Environment and Society

Golf Courses Waste an Excessive Amount of Water

• Many golf courses don’t irrigate with recycled water, using up a huge percentage of the county or municipality’s freshwater. Over nine billion liters of water are used in the U.S. each year, simply to maintain the aesthetically pleasing appearance of golf courses.
• In Las Vegas, which deals with chronic water scarcity, 28 of the top 100 water users were golf courses in a 2003 water-use survey.
• In Salt Lake Country, Utah, nine million gallons of water are used per day to keep 30 golf courses blindingly green.

Golf Courses Damage Developing Countries

• A UN Environment Programme reported that golf tourism, particularly in developing countries, rapidly depletes freshwater resources and contributes to water scarcity and saline intrusion into groundwater.
• In Thailand, just one golf course utilizes as much water as could be used by 60,000 rural villagers in the same region.

Golf Courses Contribute to Deforestation

• Forests are cleared to make room for pastoral landscapes mimicking nature.
• Abbie Richards, writing in EuroNews, says:

"There is a common misconception that to play golf is to be in nature. That is false. Golf courses are not natural — they are nature-themed amusement parks.” 

Golf Courses Hurt Wildlife

• Golf courses impede wildlife corridors and reduce wild animals' ability to forage.
• With all the toxins used on the grass, experts question whether the land can be considered a healthy source of food anymore.

Golf Courses Privatize Land that Could be Used as a Public Good or Housing

• California housing activists have been suggesting that some of the land that holds the thousand golf courses in the state be converted into affordable housing, especially considering that many of these courses are operating at massive financial losses. 
• Golf courses are typically located on desirable tracts of land in appealing areas. Why not make these spaces public parks, nature reserves, or trails that the public can use and enjoy?

Golf Courses Release Pesticides and Chemicals into the Environment

• Greenways are heavily treated to keep them artificially bright and appealing, which entails many pesticides and chemicals. In 1991, more than 50,000 pounds of pesticides were being used on golf courses — more than in the agricultural sector by acre.
• A study by the Environmental Journal found that 95% of herbicides eventually reach a destination other than their target species. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently banned paraquat, a popular herbicide used on golf courses, but that is only one of the hundreds used.
• 2,4-D, declared a possible human carcinogen, is still used on golf courses and was one of the active ingredients in Agent Orange, the chemical that decimated thousands during the Vietnam War.

Golf Courses Damage Fragile Waterway Ecosystems

• Pesticides and chemicals run off into water bodies like rivers and ponds, leading to eutrophication and algal blooms that can destroy entire ecosystems in a short span of time. 
• Eutrophication is a process that happens in bodies of water, where algae growth blooms from too many nutrients, ultimately suffocating the animals living in the region. It creates dead zones where there's a lack of oxygen for anything to survive. 

Do you support golf courses? Do you think the land could be put to better use? Share your thoughts.

—Emma Kansiz

(Photo Credits: iStock/simonkr)