In recent years, many golf courses, including many high-end courses that have hosted Major Championships and PGA Tour events, have cut back on the amount of grass they cut on their golf course. They have taken areas where golfers should not normally hit a ball and have cut back on the maintenance to create natural habitats. This strategy creates the following positive impacts on the golf course and the ecosystem.
- Allows us to minimize the amounts of fertilizers and pesticides used.
- Increases wildlife habitat, leading to greater biodiversity. At JS Clark GC, employees and customers have noticed increased numbers of hawks and fox. These types of native areas have also been known to attract butterflies, small animals, and birds.
- Greatly reduces fuel consumption and exhaust fumes.
- Reduces maintenance time. Reducing the amount of time required to mow the course allows us to mow the “good” grass more often – which results in higher quality turf. Allows us to focus our labor on areas where the game is primarily played (Greens, tees, and fairways)
- Reduces equipment wear and tear allowing longer equipment life and more efficient operation of the golf course.
Maintenance of golf course pond edges:
- Native areas adjacent to ponds protect our drinking water supply and our environment.
- Plants, particularly dense grasses, located along lakes, ponds, and/or drainage ditches act as a natural, biological filter. These grasses slow runoff and consume fertilizers and pesticides – before they have a chance to reach bodies of water like ponds, lakes, and rivers.
- Vegetation on a pond edge prevents erosion and filters out fertilizer and other nutrients which could cause vegetation growth and algae in the water.
- It is best practice to not clear all edges of a pond.
- USGA Grass Along Water Areas Article – Information on golf course pond edge maintenance.
Beginning in 2015, native areas were identified and maintained BREC golf courses. The most extensive native areas are at Beaver Creek GC. These areas add to the natural beauty of the golf courses and show how a highly-maintained golf course area can co-exist with areas maintained in a more natural parkland manner.
USGA Grass Along Water Areas Article – Information on golf course pond edge maintenance.