Sustainable Golf Design

Sustainable golf course development involves meeting critical standards in three major areas: planning and design, construction, and maintenance. Design Workshop Golf Architecture specializes in the highest possible sensitivity to planning and design, while holding strong experience in construction Best Management Practices (BMPs). We keep current with the new technologies in all three industries.

Misconceptions about golf course development

The leading public concerns about the development of golf courses are the use of pesticides, the impact on water quality and soil quality, and irrigation water usage. These concerns are often inaccurate and are repeatedly used to contest the development of golf courses. It is a misconception that golf courses are harmful to the environment. Environmental criticism is often linked to an anti-development and community growth sentiment.

We employ a series of environmentally holistic golf design systems that ensure every site is treated as carefully as possible through the development and life of a golf course. We do not design courses that harm the environment.

One example of our work is the Glacier Club in Durango, Colorado. This course was designed in a mountainous setting amongst a series of sensitive wetlands. The golf course ultimately affected less than half an acre of water, and no tainted water flows back into the natural systems without being cleaned through a series of bio-filtration systems.

Our process includes constant referral to some of the golf industry’s main organizations that have contributed millions of dollars into research of cutting-edge practices over the last twenty years. We constantly review new information published by the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America (GCSAA), United States Golf Association (USGA) and Audubon International. These organizations provided numerous free resources on how to properly build and maintain environmentally sustainable golf courses.