The European Institute of Golf Course Architects (EIGCA) and the American Society of Golf Course Architects (ASGCA) have agreed to support the Golf Environmental Organization’s Guidelines for Sustainable Golf Development.
“We were all impressed with GEO’s achievements to date and the golf course design industry unanimously agreed to support their Guidelines project,” said EIGCA President David Krause and ASGCA President Erik Larsen in a joint statement.
The GEO project, which started in 2009, aims to produce environmental guidelines for the planning, design and construction of golf courses that are “challenging but relevant.”
“We are thrilled to have the opportunity to present this project to such as large and knowledgeable audience, and we are buoyed by the positive feedback we received,” said Jonathan Smith of GEO. “The combination of credible content and international partnership will represent a robust and valuable statement on behalf of golf architects worldwide.”
The sustainability agenda is flexible enough to be applied to any course in any country, ranging from a 6-star resort to a 6-hole children’s course.
GEO is now set up to provide guidance and consultation among selected institutes, and the final version of the Guidelines will be finished by the end of 2010.
“Jonathan Smith and his team are to be congratulated on their work to date and for their Sustainable Golf Development Guidelines,” said Peter Thomson, Patron of the Society of Australian Golf Course Architects. “Golf is and has always been a game with nature and it is time that non-golfers became aware of this fact.”