By Alistair Collier | The Business of Golf Magazine
While ESG (environment, social responsibility and governance) is an ongoing theme in BG, in June and July each year, BG’s focus turns particularly to the environment.
And, it would seem that every year the need to keep our eyes on the environmental ‘ball’ becomes ever more poignant, with 2025 seeing ‘weather incidents’ on a global scale taking up an increasing amount of media ‘space’.
While ESG (environment, social responsibility and governance) is an ongoing theme in BG, in June and July each year, BG’s focus turns particularly to the environment.
And, it would seem that every year the need to keep our eyes on the environmental ‘ball’ becomes ever more poignant, with 2025 seeing ‘weather incidents’ on a global scale taking up an increasing amount of media ‘space’.
Most recently, cyclones, heatwaves and hurricanes, along with very strong weather systems wreaked havoc, especially in terms of increased temperatures and the amount of rain that fell, from China to France and even in our own Eastern Cape, which was the ‘victim’ of extensive and ultimately lethal flooding.
A key part of this focus is in our own back yard in South Africa, with the announcement of the John Collier ESG Annual Survey’s (JCS) results.
We know that the Sustainability Top Club Award, and special mentions went to Umhlali Country Club, De Zalze Golf Club and Reading Country Club respectively, while on pages 36 and 37 of this issue, we announce all the golf clubs achieving gold medal certification status, the best clubs in each region, and the award for the best performing provincial golf union, and the final list of the certification levels for all the participating clubs.
That said, it is also the time of the year when we do an annual ‘stock-take’, with Alistair Collier (AC – and founder of the JCS), on where we are, both in the context of the golf sector, and ‘the golfer’ as a species, in terms of our responsibilities to ESG, within a broader look at this arena, while also examining the findings of this year’s JCS survey.
BG: One aspect that ‘bugs’ me is that people often miss the fact that the elements in ESG, are inextricably interconnected. The interconnection is to the point that you actually cannot have a good ESG scorecard, if you are misfiring badly in any one of the key areas.
I recently used a golf analogy in the form of putting together a round of golf, and expecting the scorecard to reflect a really good result, if you were only able to 2-putt every green.
This does have some reference to the old saying that ‘you drive for the show and putt for the dough’ (not quite true, as every golfer knows that good tee shots underpin any great score), but it does make the point that while putting is central to scoring, without a complete game, you are not going to score consistently well.
AC: Absolutely, and in terms of ESG, if, as a business, your governance levels are strong, then you will generally have good social and environmental responsibility levels, and the reverse case will be that if a business is environmentally responsible, this should almost certainly reflect back well on its overall levels of governance.
BG: As we know, the JCS data, which is received from golf clubs throughout South Africa, is combined with desktop research and interviews with people knowledgeable about golf courses throughout the region, and then analysed, which enables the publication of the John Collier Annual Survey in March every year.
In winning the Sustainability Top Club Award, Umhlali Country Club evidently ticked more boxes than any other participating club.
That said, how many clubs were ‘in the mix’ this year, and how fine are the margins between becoming the top club, receiving an honourable mention, or a gold certificate?
AC: As was reported in the 18th edition of the John Collier Annual Survey there is uncertainty as to how many golf facilities are actually operating in South Africa. However, if one refers to several published sources, the number is somewhere between 442 and 460 golf facilities.
Of this number, during the 2024 survey period some 214 clubs were surveyed, and of that number 14% of the surveyed clubs achieved the creditable recognition of GOLD compliance status.
At the gold compliance level, the scores differentiating the clubs receiving an honorable mention and gold recognition was very tight indeed, with very little separating the clubs.
BG: By extension, to the previous question – what are the key differentiators between the gold, silver and bronze levels in terms of John Collier Golf’s certifications?
AC: The review process is purely objective in that clubs are requested to indicate whether or not they have put in place ESG practices, policies or procedures, and thereafter to disclose the data applicable to those implemented ESG practices, policies or procedures.
Clubs are then scored on each of these responses.
The differentiator between gold, silver or bronze, is whether a club scores between 50% to 64% for bronze compliance, 65% to 79% for silver compliance, with a score of 80% and above for the gold compliance level.
BG: What would your key-points and, or conclusions that you feel can, or should, be drawn from the results of this year’s survey?
AC: As stated above, very little separates the gold level clubs, with probably the main differentiating factor being how clubs manage their data from year to year in developing trends to assist management, and the governing boards, in their decision-making processes.
Within the silver level clubs, it was noted many clubs were particularly strong in two of the three ESG pillars, but lacked that wholistic approach to sustainability.
Within the bronze level, which was where many of the clubs participating in the survey reside, (some 62%) indicate an understanding of sustainability principles and the three ESG pillars, but they require more focus on practices, policies and procedures.
BG: Outside of the survey itself, and both at a local and global level, how important are the official bodies in a region or country to its golf sector becoming more compliant across all levels of ESG, or is it rather a case of ‘ho-hum’ we don’t need to wait for them, but should get on with it ourselves?
AC: From a global perspective there is a strong emphasis by the two governing bodies of amateur golf, namely the Royal and Ancient Golf (R&A) and the United States Amateur Golf Association (USGA) in leading golf sustainability.
An example of this is the recently published annual report of the R&A, which specifically reports on the three pillars of sustainability, namely, environmental compliance, social responsibility, good governance and financial sustainability.
Golf House Pinehurst is a six-acre campus dedicated to sharing the USGA’s work to unify, showcase, govern and advance the game of golf, and it includes the USGA Administration and Test Center.
From a local perspective, in South Africa, GolfRSA governs amateur golf, and through its membership of the R&A, it would be required to follow their sustainability initiatives, which are underpinned by the ESG principles.
Regrettably, there seems to be little evidence of this global initiative filtering into South African golf through GolfRSA and down into the clubs. Notwithstanding this, it is concluded that clubs should not hold back and wait, but should get on with it.
In this regard, much like the international financial reporting standards (IFRS), which most golf clubs follow in terms of financial reporting, it is only a matter of time before golf organisations will be required to comply with the sustainability disclosure reporting standards, as set by the International Sustainability Standard Board (ISSB Standards).
BG: On a broader global level, given the pressures being exerted by budget constraints, countries pulling out of key environmental agreements, etc., how effective and or relevant is World Environment Day (WED) now, and where do you feel we are, in terms of the environment and ESG in general, at a global level, both in terms of the business of golf and humankind in general?
AC: WED is celebrated annually on 5 June, and its purpose is to raise awareness and serve as a global platform for public outreach, motivating individuals, communities, governments, and businesses to address pressing environmental issues, and promote sustainable solutions.
The announcement of the John Collier Sustainability Awards coincided with WED, and the award function was registered on the United Nations WED website.
According to reports in 2024, WED was a landmark event, achieving unprecedented success with 3,854 official events, and tens of millions of online engagements.
The Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) said the impact of WED was very widespread, “from Times Square to Trafalgar Square to bus shelters and airports in Beijing, Beirut, and Osaka, to billboards in Botswana, Eswatini, Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe – WED was clearly on everyone’s mind”.
BG: All of this year’s John Collier Survey results are now available, and a breakdown of the entire award’s allocations, and certifications, including all the ‘movers and shakers’ is in the JCS section on pages 34 and 35
What is your overall sense of the results, and please remind us of the processes involved in compiling the same.
AC: In terms of raising awareness of sustainability and its three ESG pillars, within the South African business of golf, it is important to note the 2024 survey results indicated that there are some 83 clubs throughout the country that have attained gold or silver compliance recognition. This is certainly a positive achievement.
In keeping with its now established modus operandi, once John Collier has collated all the data from the surveys received from clubs, and the supporting information, the John Collier Annual Survey, in this instance the 18th edition, is published in March each year.
A copy of the current survey can be accessed at www.johncolliergolf.com
The aforementioned data is then revisited, to ascertain which club has submitted the most comprehensive report, and we have formally acknowledged Umhlali Country Club, as being the recipient of the John Collier Substantiality (ESG) award for 2024 / 2025, as the National Top Club in South Africa, with Reading Country Club and De Zalze Golf Club receiving special mention awards.
The next step is then to acknowledge the top clubs in each of the 14 Golf Union Provinces, as leaders in sustainability (ESG), and the club winners per province this year are:
Following the notification of the National Top Club Award, the special mention clubs, and the provincial winners, each participating club in South Africa, where data was collected in terms of the John Collier Survey, has been sent a letter of recognition, with congratulations on their sustainability (ESG) status, as being either gold, silver or bronze level.
In this iteration, 14% of clubs in South Africa are recognised as being gold sustainability status, which is an increase in the number of clubs achieving gold status from the previous survey period. Of the 30 golf clubs achieving gold sustainability status, we noted that 7 golf facilities are new entries, however 3 golf clubs dropped out of gold sustainability status, achieving either silver or bronze status.
Of the 52 golf courses achieving silver status, this reflected a slight increase in the number of clubs achieving this level. Offsetting the gains achieved by improving clubs, several clubs’ compliance status slipped back to bronze status.
62% of clubs in South Africa achieved bronze sustainability status. This was a marginal decrease in the number of clubs achieving bronze sustainability status (138 in 2024 and 137 clubs in 2025) from the previous review period, but still a creditable achievement. The marginal decrease can be ascribed to the fact that while several clubs improved their compliance status, this gain was offset by some clubs falling back.
Not forgetting the pivotal role, which the different provincial golf unions play in the success of golf clubs throughout South Africa, from a golf union perspective, we identified the top golf union’s clubs’ sustainability status.
BG: How do you ‘measure’ the unions’ performance, and make the top union award?
AC: To calculate each union’s final status, we award points based on each of the participating clubs’ sustainability ESG level scores, with 3 points for gold; 2 points for silver and 1 point for bronze.
This points system, enables us to calculate an average sustainability level for each golf union, and the winner for the 2024 review period is the Boland Golf Union.
In conclusion, from a sustainability status perspective, our overall assessment is that there are positive trends developing within South African golf.
These trends included an improvement in the national sustainability status level from 29% to 32%, while the participation level saw a marginal 1% increase to 46% of clubs in South Africa, and there are several reasons for this, which are discussed in more detail in the 18th edition of the John Collier Survey.
If you have any queries, why not contact the John Collier Golf through our website or via email ajcollier@telkomsa.net?
Yours in Sustainable Golf
JOHN COLLIER
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to email ajcollier@telkomsa.net or visit the John Collier Golf website at www.johncolliergolf.com