Though popular around Asia, golf is often seen as an environmental nightmare. Paul Spencer Sochaczewski explains why it doesn’t have to be so. All agreed to credits to be added….

The world has no shortage of argument-generating themes: Politics, religion and the idea that golf is bad for the environment are favorites. The first two are endless discussions. But I’m more concerned with the golf debate, since anti-golf proponents seem as numerous as golfers themselves.

Taking a positive approach to the topic is Greg Norman, the highly successful Australian professional golfer who also designs courses. “Golf courses can be community assets. Not only can they elevate property values, create jobs and provide tax revenues, they can also provide green spaces, filter air, purify water and create wildlife habitat.”

Still, I needed more than that to be convinced so I went to Singapore in search of my own answer. At the city’s Keppel Club, and elsewhere throughout Southeast Asia, are indications that suggest “good” golf courses exist, and that a well-managed course can be beneficial both for nature and for people.

These are not insignificant issues, given that there are an estimated 18 million golfers in Asia who play on 3,700 18-hole courses – more than a quarter of them built since 1990 – according to the R&A, a St.Andrews, Scotland-based organization that serves as the game’s rules and development body. With many more courses under development throughout Asia – Vietnam alone has 18 golf courses open for business, 58 under construction, with a further 68 having applied for licenses – the questions revolving around golf and the environment take on more gravity.

Water use, contamination from fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides; and land conversion are the main issues surrounding golf courses, and all lead towards the question of long-term environmental impact. “Courses get developed and the land and communities are changed, though not necessarily permanently,” says Christopher Plante, director of environmental programs at the Asia Foundation. “In the last 15 years, I have walked through abandoned golf courses in Southeast Asia that have pretty much returned to their original state, including a revitalized watershed capacity and wildlife habitat cover.”

Photos: Keppel Club, Singapore (photo used with permission of IGOLF)

Plante adds that golf courses can be environmentally friendly, with careful planning. “Communities should be involved earlier and more often in the development,” he says.

I’ll be the first to admit that I am biased. As well as an avid golfer, I work in the nature conservation field and am chairman of the Swiss-based International Golf and Life Foundation (IGOLF), a nonprofit organization that promotes eco-friendly golf. I had been told that Singapore’s Keppel Club is one that sets a good standard. Within sight of Sentosa Island, the club was established in 1904 and now has some 4,000 members playing about 5,500 rounds a month. As I tee off on the hilly, lush and difficult inner-city course, my mind overflows with mental baggage. I have the usual golfing thoughts clamoring around my head – straight back, bend right elbow, follow through. But I also have a head full of information that indicates Keppel has got it right.

(c) Paul Spencer Sochaczewski, Reprinted with permission.  Be sure to read Paul Sochaczewski’s new book The Sultan and the Mermaid Queen (Editions Didier Millet 2008), and can be ordered at: Amazon.com

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