March 2026

At the recent Gauteng Turf Grass Managers Association (TGMA) meeting, the issue of the career and role of the greenkeeper / course superintendent at a golf club was discussed at length.

During the break over December and January, many of the country’s golfers will be visiting different parts of South Africa and may be planning their golf within areas such as the Cape floristic kingdom, with its famous fynbos, or even in the Savannah bushveld area with its famous trees i.e., the baobab, and grasses such as the red thatching grass.

How far has your club progressed in aligning its sustainability ESG reporting with generally accepted reporting standards as is the case in financial reporting through the club’s annual financial statements?

The CMASA Conference held at Steyn City, Johannesburg on 25 and 26 August 2025, saw 136 club managers and heads of department, and 24 CMASA partners in attendance.

In terms of managing a golf course in a sustainable manner, the three pillars of sustainability; environmental compliance (“E”), social responsibility (“S”), good governance and financial responsibility (“G”) come into play.

In the 18th Edition of the John Collier Survey, we refer to environment, social responsibility, good governance and financial sustainability (ESG) reporting by a company chaired by one of South Africa’s most generous golf benefactors. Furthermore, just last week Africa’s leading entertainment platform, MultiChoice, which provides, inter alia, extensive coverage of golf, published its ESG Report. Why do these companies voluntarily publish their comprehensive ESG Reports? It is because they acknowledge that ESG commitments are not an add-on but are fundamental to who the company is and how they do business. In this regard while golf receives extensive support from these and other organisations how does the golf industry itself measure up in terms of sustainability-ESG status reporting?

World Environment Day (WED) is celebrated on 5 June each year. This year WED focuses on ending plastic pollution, as this particular environmental scourge, exacerbates the deadly impacts of the triple planetary crisis – climate change, nature, land and biodiversity loss, and pollution and waste.