In March 2017, while hosting its fourth Golf Innovation Symposium in Vancouver, B.C., the USGA issued a challenge to both itself and the greater golf industry to use technology and innovation to improve the game in meaningful, measurable ways.
The commitment – to improve golfer satisfaction by 20 percent and reduce critical resource consumption by 25 percent, all by 2025 – is merely one of the more recent examples of the USGA’s efforts to enhance the golfer experience and ensure that golf remains viable in the long term. This stewardship began in earnest a century ago, with the founding of the USGA Green Section in 1920.
“The founding of the USGA Green Section was grounded in a recognition that golf course health was critical to the game’s long-term sustainability, and that someone needed to centralize efforts and tend to golf courses in a responsible way,” said Dave Aznavorian, the USGA’s senior director of transformational initiatives.
Among the examples of the USGA’s stewardship is its decades-long support of turfgrass research, an investment of more than $40 million. Those efforts have led to the development of nearly 40 turf cultivars; those new grasses have in turn contributed to a 22 percent reduction in water usage and a 43 percent decrease in nutrient use on U.S. golf courses since 2003.
It’s only fitting that the 100th anniversary of the Green Section coincides with the USGA becoming a signatory of the United Nations Sports for Climate Action initiative. On April 30, the USGA joined more than 135 sports organizations – including the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the International Golf Federation (IGF), the U.S. Tennis Association and the National Basketball Association – in a global collaboration to advocate for sustainability, using the platforms provided by their respective sports.
After the IGF joined the UN agreement in 2019, it sought the USGA’s involvement, noting that the association’s longtime leadership in turfgrass science and its record in sustainability would enable it to meaningfully advance the initiative’s global objectives.
“The IGF recognizes the tremendous work done by the USGA in sustainability over the past century and has no doubt that its unique expertise will bring great value to the international discussions, for the benefit of golf and the sports community,” said Antony Scanlon, the executive director of the IGF, which is based in Lausanne, Switzerland. “The overall aim is to bring together the sports community to accelerate the transformative change needed to reach climate neutrality in the sports sector by the second half of the 21st century.”
While initial sustainability efforts in golf focused mainly on the environment, the USGA has worked with the wider industry in recent years to help refine understanding and broaden perspective on the economic, social and environmental factors that contribute to an expanded definition of sustainability.
The USGA supports the health of the game through a range of efforts, beyond Green Section course consulting services and golfer experience. One high profile and ongoing initiative that brings together several USGA departments and industry stakeholders is the Distance Insights project, which is applying learnings about how far shots travel in golf, and the impact of increased distance on courses over time.
“With a wide lens – looking back at the game’s origins, and ahead to its future – the Distance Insights Project is affirming that increases in golf course lengths over the past 100 years simply can’t repeat at a similar rate over the next hundred years,” Aznavorian said. “Forces coming at golf from a societal level make it critically important for the industry to rally so courses don’t feel additional pressure to lengthen or use more water or resources.”
Among technological innovations that golf course superintendents are now able to incorporate is a cloud-based resource management app developed by the USGA in 2017 that gives them a better understanding of how to most efficiently allocate water, labor and other resources throughout the course.
At the Crandon Park course in Key Biscayne, Fla., golfers wore small GPS devices to track on-course movement while playing. By analyzing those results, Crandon Park managers were able to identify high- and low-traffic areas and to remove 29 acres of maintained turf, resulting in an annual reduction of $350,000 in water costs.
“There is opportunity to reallocate and conserve resources to have more of an impact on golfers’ overall satisfaction – on what they really care about when they play,” said Matt Pringle, the managing director of the USGA Green Section.
Through ongoing communication with USGA Members, committee members, volunteers and those who hold a Handicap Index, the USGA can rally key constituents behind the work it is doing to make the game more sustainable, responsible and welcoming.
“Right now, we’re looking down the road and asking ourselves: what’s best for the game long-term? And what will it take for golf courses to be consistently looked upon as positive contributors to their communities?” said Aznavorian.
Across its 14 annual championships, the USGA continues to focus on minimizing waste, repurposing vendor materials and transitioning from plastic to recyclable aluminum beverage containers. At its New Jersey headquarters, the USGA has reduced annual water consumption by 300,000 gallons, paper consumption by 40 percent and electricity use by 14 percent.
As for the bold goals that it established for itself and the industry for 2025, the USGA is hopeful.
“Behind the scenes, the golf maintenance industry is constantly making improvements to conserve resources,” said Pringle. “Whether it’s automation to lower labor costs, precise irrigation to reduce water consumption, or the development of new turf cultivars that require fewer resources, all of these things will ultimately help the game of golf achieve those goals.”
The opportunity to exert influence as part of a movement dedicated to acting on a global level takes the USGA back to its 1920 agronomic roots.
“Becoming a Sports for Climate Action signatory accelerates our reach and gives the USGA an ability to drive action across the sports spectrum,” said Pringle. “If you were to look at the DNA of almost any turfgrass in the world – whether on a golf course, a soccer pitch or your home lawn – you would see the USGA’s fingerprints all over it. That’s a legacy we’re incredibly proud of.”
Become a member today and let’s leave a positive impact on the game we love.
