Top Club Award Winner 2023/2024:
South Africa’s Top Club Award For Environmental Compliance, Social Responsibility and good governance (esg)
John Collier Golf awards the annual John Collier Top Club Award on World Environment Day in June each year. This award is made to the club that leads the way in applying the principles of people, profit and planet into the club’s value system, embracing environmental compliance, social responsibility, good governance and transparency.
AWARD WINNERS 2023/2024
On winning the TOP CLUB AWARD in the John Collier Good Governance, Social Responsibility and Environmental Compliance (ESG) Survey Report Review for 2023 – 2024.
The work being done at, Elements Private Golf Reserve is truly impressive, and it is especially relevant that the club’s efforts should be recognised in June – the month of World Environment Day (WED).
WED is celebrated annually on 5 June, with the key focus, in 2024, on land restoration, desertification, and drought resilience.
What Elements did so effectively, in their survey questionnaire, was to illustrate that its stewardship of the land is linked to the WED focus areas, and their attention to ESG and SDG and in particular the Sustainable Development Goals, while also illustrating a clear understanding of the triple planetary crises; climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution and waste.
What was also illustrated is the understanding of the relevance of ESG, and the importance of the SDGs for Elements Private Golf Reserve.
This understanding that has laid the groundwork by setting a sustainability approach that takes into consideration the positive and negative impacts of their business on the ESG risks and opportunities, and setting up short and long-term environmental compliance, social responsibility and good governance goals that are aligned with the ESG and SDGs, and then overseeing the progress on them, reporting back, and engaging with stakeholders.
Elements understanding and implementation of the three pillars of ESG, sets a standard that many clubs in South Africa should want to emulate.
Notwithstanding Elements’ receiving the survey’s top award, special mention must also be made of the UMHLALI COUNTRY CLUB and OLIVEWOOD PRIVATE ESTATE, and their respective efforts towards ESG and environmental sustainability.
Winning a top club award is achieved with the support of a committed and passionate ‘team’ of people, who completely embrace the benefits of environmental compliance, social responsibility, and good governance.
Therefore, special congratulations go to Elements Private Golf Reserve Chairman Mr Waldo Du Toit, the board of trustees including Mike Engelbrecht, Johan Smith and Nico Hager, as board portfolio holders and subcommittee members, the residents, general manager Gerhard Lombard, club manager Charles Smith, and Tshepiso Mabena and the Matkovich Team.
HOW DOES MY CLUB BECOME ELIGIBLE FOR THE TOP CLUB AWARD?
Eligibility & to qualify to be judged in this category, is based simply upon ‘signing-on’, as a participating club in the John Collier Survey.
Once your club has ‘entered’ the programme, at the end of each year the data collected is analysed by John Collier Survey, & each club is assigned a level of certification – Bronze, Silver or Gold – based on the results of this data.
All certified clubs have shown a sustained level of commitment, but naturally, only the Gold Level certified clubs will be in the running to receive the Top Club Award each year.
With the addition of the Top Province Award, every club now has a role to play in supporting its provinces’ chances of winning this prestigious accolade.
The reason why each club’s individual activities are important is that the winner of the Top Province Award is determined by the aggregated contributions made by each province’s member club.
HOW DO I ENTER THE AWARDS?
All Gold Level certified clubs are automatically ‘in the running’ to win the John Collier Survey’s Top Club Award each year.
Every club, which has received any level of certification, has shown a sustained level of commitment to their responsibility to be good corporate citizens and to safeguard the environment, but naturally only the Gold Level certified clubs will qualify to receive the Top Club Award each year.
SELECTED PREVIOUS TOP CLUB AWARD WINNERS
Blair Atholl Golf & Equestrian Estate
2022/2023
Sabi River Sun Resort Golf Club
2021/2022
St Francis Links Golf Club
2020/2021
Umhlali Country Club
2019/2020