FROM THE FAIRWAYS – VOLUME 1

From the Fairways, Media Article / By

By John Cockayne | From BG Magazine DISCUSSION WITH ALISTAIR COLLIER FROM THE JOHN COLLIER SURVEY Our weatherproofing discussion continues with Alistair Collier (AC), who is the founder of the John Collier Survey, and the backdrop to the discussion is the need for venues, resorts and facilities to adopt a more anticipatory thinking process, and to try to be proactive, whenever possible, practical or when budgets will allow. A tumultuous 2022, in climate terms, was capped, at least for the USA, by the bomb cyclone, which literally froze huge swathes of the USA, to bring record low temperatures across many states – 46.5 in Montana at one stage! – but the lead up to this had been no easier: Storms hit Southern Africa – Storm Ana hit Malawi, Madagascar and Mozambique in January (Rijasolo/AFP via Getty Images) A third of Pakistan was under water in September (Shahid Saeed Mirza/AFP via Getty Images) The Bordeaux region in France suffered devastating wildfires (Thibaud Moritz/AFP via Getty Images) Lightning strikes Kolkata in May (Indranil Aditya/NurPhoto via Getty Images) California hit a record 116F in September (Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images) Typhoon Nanmadol hit southern Japan in September (Yuichi Yamazaki/AFP via Getty Images) JC: All in all, it doesn’t make for very ‘happy’ reading, does it? AC: No, it does not, and the stakes are getting higher every year. It goes to the very core of sport environmental sustainability (sport-ES), where the research is indicating on the one hand vulnerability from exposure to stresses associated with climate change and this vulnerability’s counterpart – resilience, which is the ability to absorb shocks and still maintain function. JC: We shall be returning to these shores, but at the start of the new year, and as we are about to embark on the Eco-Diary with Sabi River Sun Resort GC in the next couple of months, I’d like to take a strategic and almost dispassionate re-look at the whole question of weatherproofing, or to put it differently, the concepts of adaptation and mitigation.We have been bombarded with bad weather news almost continuously for a year, and the pick of the crop of weather-related news stories shown at the beginning of this discussion proves it. In the preamble, we talk about the need for a change of mindset, and although I know we have covered this before, please repeat what the ideal mindset should be for golf to become more environmentally aware. AC: Using the term ‘mindset’ is key, as one needs to understand that the capacity of humans to damage planet earth’s ecological systems, has been widely acknowledged. In this same context, the global scale of the impacts, on the natural environment, are now so pervasive that human activities are primary drivers of environmental change. In this same regard, sport in general, including golf, has had and continues to have a significant impact on the environment. JC: Are we not continually in danger of looking at our environmental impact from too narrow a perspective, or even one-dimensionally? In this context, I would use an example where a club golfer will tend to see golf from the perspective of his or her club, and their monthly game of golf. However, the broader picture in golf terms, shows that golf tourism (which we shall deal with in more detail later in this discussion) is set to rise to US$ 4.8 billion by early 2023, and with these revenues will come a price to be paid environmentally. The linear nature of our thinking was also really brought home to me by the volcanic eruption in Iceland (Eyjafjallajökull) in 2010, where the grounding of European flights, over that ‘no go’ period at the height of the eruption, avoided us from generating about 3.44×108 kg of CO2 emissions per day, while the volcano emitted about 1.5×108 kg of CO2 per day over the same timespan! AC: Indeed, we are ‘guilty’ (if that is the right word) of seeing things from personal perspectives. This makes these types of discussions platform so essential, in keeping everyone updated, as to the real status and the ‘bigger picture’. As for the broader activities encompassed by sport, there is a growing body of literature in sport-ES that has noted the capacity of sports activities to adversely affect the natural environment. In respect of golf, this includes, for example, clearing of land, water usage, turfgrass management, and greenhouse gas emissions, not only from golf course equipment but also the travel aspect, which you have mentioned. All this information needs to be managed, in order to get a comprehensive picture. Research in the sport-ES field indicates increasing levels of sport environmental measurement tools, certification and reporting. From a South African perspective, the John CollierThe survey tool is ideally suited for this country’s requirements, but of real importance is the trend in international research, pointing to entities starting to calculate their carbon footprint, with a goal leading to zero carbon. Embracing a programme of environmental measurement, certification and reporting, and understanding one’s carbon footprint, illustrates a positive mindset. JC: Where does the World Cup in Qatar sit in all of this, and were the bold claims about a zero impact in environmental terms, real, just window dressing, or the result of selective and or wishful thinking? AC: Ever since the 1994 Winter Olympic Games at Lillehammer, called the “green games” the International Olympic Committee have been striving to govern host cities in delivering environmentally friendly games. The research indicates that host cities fell well short of the commitments they made. This includes the so-called environmentally compliant golf courses, such as the Olympic Golf Course in Rio de Janeiro and the Kasumigaseki Country Club at the Tokyo games. Similarly, with the World Cup Soccer, FIFA has also set out environmental standards and criteria, which bid cities need to adhere to. In respect of the FIFA World Cup held in South Africa in 2010, research by Govender, S., Munien, S., Pretorius, L., & Foggin, T., they concluded that

John Collier FAQ – Environmental & Governance Matters

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By Alistair Collier | From BG Magazine John Collier Survey’s FAQs section in BGM, explores answers to some of the most commonly asked questions about good governance and environmental compliance. This issue looks at environmental responsibilities and the practical application of an environmentally sensitive set of activities in terms of a board’s overall responsibilities. Question I am a club GM and we had a debate recently at the board level about what my role is and how it intersects with the board’s responsibilities in a management sense. I thought the matter would be dealt with quickly, and that we would move on, but it turned into a complex debate. So, for clarity could you offer some sort of a summary of the board’s roles and responsibilities, not just as they are in the ‘book’, but rather in a more practical day-to-day sense? Answer One of the most important things with the John Collier Survey, is that the structure will allow you to identify your own goals, and then set your own pace to achieve the objectives that your club has identifed. So, it is not a question of tackling all the challenges that your facility has at once – some of which may not even come into play at your facility – and this makes sense, because club’s budgets and staff structures vary enormously, as do the challenges that they face. In terms of the specific questions, there are certain ‘must dos’, and examples of these, would be that every club, or venue, has a responsibility, both in terms of its environmental and governance policies, to re-cycle waste oil responsibly, manage water consumption, wherever, and whenever possible, and note the presence of and then remove alien vegetation. The John Collier Survey’s dashboard, allows you to track your club’s progress in specific areas and monitor results for as a long as the data is input. The last aspect relates to costs, because the only new costs, if any in terms of the survey itself, would be related to the small amount of time needed each month for the designated staff member / members to input the fresh data. The upside of using the dashboard is that it allows you to track the progress made with interventions, such as collecting and storing run on water more efficiently. Over time, activities such as the modification in fertiliser programmes, the reduction in the areas of maintained turf, will all make an impact on the bottom line and show as savings in terms of expenditure. The club’s board has an overarching responsibility and duty of care to ensure that the club is a good corporate citizen, which includes the need for it to be active in helping to protect the environment.

John Collier Golf FAQ – Board Responsibilities

FAQ, Media Article / By

John Collier Survey’s FAQs section in BGM,
explores answers to some of the most commonly asked
questions about good governance and environmental compliance.
This issue looks at governance and its practical application in
terms of a board’s responsibilities

Serengeti Mashie Course

“Mashed Potatoe…” A shout-out to the Mashie Course

Media Article / By

Golf fans, in general, are a pretty respectful bunch, but every so often they ditch the reverential silence of the course to shout completely random nonsense. According to Metro News in the UK, the ‘mashed potato’ shout was made famous by golf fan Andrew Widmar, who was identified by The Golf Channel as the man behind the epic outburst at the Chevron

Letter From Africa: Pachyderms And Other Challenges!

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By John Cockayne | Golf Business News | Destination Golf Travel For some months (with the advent of the first lockdown in South Africa in March 2020 in fact) a hippopotamus, known as Harpo, was spotted in our small town on the edges of the Hartbeespoort dam (Harties), having taken up residence in the adjacent waters, writes John Cockayne. While he has been very good both for morale, especially among animal lovers and as a talking point, both here and further south across the Northwest Province’s border with Gauteng, he has not been setting a good example in terms of the required health protocols. Curfews are of little concern to him, as he has been seen walking around our estate at night, long after he should have been tucked in bed at home and left footprints in our back flower bed, as evidence of these nocturnal transgressions. He never wears a mask and when the recent inter-provincial travel restrictions were in place, he had the temerity to sashay forth to the south across the border into Gauteng and take in the big city lights. On this excursion (it has been reported that he is now back at home in Harties and more large footprints in our flower beds suggest this to be true), he was spotted wandering about in the leafy and upmarket suburb of Bryanston. Having criticised Harpo’s disregard of the health protocols, to be fair he does observe the social distancing requirements. This positive aspect of his behaviour is probably due to his ramblings being in the cool of the night and the fact that the human residents, of the areas he frequents, are not overly keen to ‘associate’ too closely with a mammal that can weigh up to 7 000 lbs!! To give this a sense of scale; if you consider that most professional rugby union team’s scrums weigh in at around the 1800lbs mark – you will realise that Harpo is a seriously big fellow! So, for those of you worrying about foxes disturbing the bins in your suburb, spare a thought for me as I take my rubbish out at night, while never being quite sure of who might be ambling about nearby in the dark! If Harpo is a gargantuan task, then that faced by golf in its efforts to be seen to be environmentally friendly are much larger. This is not because golf does not care, but more because it has been slightly slow on the uptake and is historically poor in sharing its good news stories. The levels of communications have been so poor that many anti-golf ‘knockers’ still think that we use tap water to irrigate the greens and fairways! To be fair, there has been very little said to date to really dissuade them from this view, and other equally negative opinions and prejudices, as golf continues to keep quiet about what good it does do. Still on the subject of hippos, in May I visited the lowveld in Mpumalanga at the invite of Tsogo Sun’s Sabi River Sun Resort. This was on the occasion of the reopening of its golf course, after the greens had been rebuilt. The re-launch had been delayed by the activities of a cyclone, which had dumped a biblical quantity of rain in the area in February as the images show. For those not quite sure what a cyclone might look like – imagine something up to 2,000 kilometres in diameter, which acts like a large washing machine by sucking up water from the ocean in its path, circulating it in the air and then rinsing it out over everything that passes under it! A good time was had by all at the relaunch, the weather and the course were perfect and the family of hippos, who live in the large dam, adjacent to the 4th, 16th and 17th holes, were impeccably behaved throughout! The trip had a dual purpose, the second of which was to introduce Alistair Collier from the John Collier Golf Survey  (JCS), and the mechanics of the programme to Sabi River Sun’s management team.  There are several environmental programmes available to golf clubs in South Africa, such as Audubon, but what is particularly compelling about JCS’ proposition, especially in these difficult economic times, is that it is home grown and free of charge to the participating clubs. This makes the support tools, questionnaire and their related elements specific to the region and its particular challenges, both in environmental and governance terms.  JCS takes the data from all the surveys received from clubs throughout South Africa and then this is published in the John Collier Annual Golf Survey. The JCS panel then re-visits the questionnaires, to ascertain which club had submitted the most comprehensive report each year. Notwithstanding a positive 44% response rate from golf clubs and a 30% national compliance level, it is inevitable that there are clubs that will stand out as exceptional. This survey was no different and despite there being several strong contenders, the panel’s conclusion was to give the TOP CLUB award to Leopard Creek, which will be known to all followers of European Tour events. In making their assessment of the data returned, the reviewers were particularly impressed with the level of detail and standards set, in terms of good governance and environmental compliance, by the Leopard Creek team and it was appropriate, that the club’s efforts should be recognised on World Environment Day. 2020 was a year with multiple crises, including the global COVID-19 pandemic, but all the participating clubs had stepped up to the plate in recognising their environmental responsibilities. In winning the JCS award, where Leopard Creek had been particularly effective was in linking the practical application of ecosystem restoration, its relationship with nature and then in taking the specific steps needed to move from crisis to healing. Leopard Creek’s initiatives are an example of what many clubs are doing to contribute to help fight the climate crisis. These activities, on a collective scale, will also

GROWTH OF GOLF THROUGH LEADERSHIP AND GOVERNANCE

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Board governance (in other words the management committee of a golf club) is fundamental to the success of non-profit sport organisation such as golf. The guidance of the board in setting direction, and ensuring the organisation maintains that direction in a fiscally responsible manner, is found in organisations ranging from national sport governing bodies to local sports clubs. In essence amateur golf in South Africa, with the exception of the employees of GolfRSA, by and large all other administrators representing amateur golf in South Africa, such as the South African Golf Association and other national representative bodies, the provincial unions and individual golf clubs carry out their functions in an unpaid capacity. In this regard the growth of golf in South Africa is inextricably intertwined with leadership and governance. Over the past few years there has been increasing research into understanding the mechanisms and impact of non-profit sport board performance. Much of this research is focusing on the need to understand the mechanisms that contribute to “teamwork” or dynamics of the volunteer board of directors, its members, and its leaders.

RECOGNITION OF LEADERS IN ENVIRONMENTAL COMPLIANCE AND GOOD GOVERNANCE

Golf Course Management, Industry News, Info Brief, Media Article / By

Dear Club Managers, Directors of Golf, Course Superintendents, and golf enthusiasts, RECOGNITION OF LEADERS IN ENVIRONMENTAL COMPLIANCE AND GOOD GOVERNANCE AHEAD OF THE ANNOUNCEMENT ON WORLD ENVIRONMENTAL DAY OF THE JOHN COLLIER TOP CLUB AWARD As the John Collier Annual Survey has done over the past number of years, once we have collated all the data from the John Collier Surveys received from clubs and through desktop research and interviews with people knowledgeable of golf courses throughout South Africa (caddies, green keepers and staff and members), and published the John Collier Annual Survey in March, we then re-visit the data on the golf clubs to ascertain which club has the most comprehensive report. Notwithstanding a 42% response rate from golf clubs throughout South Africa and a 30% national compliance level, there are always those clubs that stand out as being exceptional. In this regard, we acknowledge those clubs in each Golf Union Province as leaders in environmental compliance and good governance. BOLAND GOLF UNION Pearl Valley Review Comment: – “An excellent example of a club where attention to detail is everything, even to the smallest issue. The Club is part of a national project monitoring river water quality thereby building up a picture of water quality within the aquatic system and noting the different water quality tolerance levels for insects and larvae.” BORDER GOLF UNION East London Golf Club Review Comment: – “It is refreshing to see a club with its golf course data at its fingertips. It is a delicate balance of managing the fauna and flora on the course as well as having cognisance of the weather and how the sea influences day-to-day planning.” EASTERN CAPE GOLF UNION St Francis Links Review Comment: – “A previous John Collier TOP CLUB WINNER and continually maintaining high quality and exceptional standards. But it is not only managing the footprint of the facility but also reaching out to the a community such as assisting with the St Francis Bay Community Garden by making the garden an ideal spot to walkthrough and relax in the peaceful surroundings that the club rally makes an impression.” EKHURHULENI GOLF UNION State Mines Country Club Review Comment: – “A fundamental of any successful club is the quality of the management data available to assist in decision-making. This can be seen through the immaculate condition of the course and greens, friendly staff and quality food.”