Arthur Weber helped
develop Old Westbury’s
code of environmental
conduct, which is
commemorated with a
plaque at the club.
Jones. “Better golf courses are being built
because they incorporate all the natural characteristics of the site, and we preserve them.”
And just as Jones had hoped, Atlantic’s
success has provided a road map for others
hoping to build golf courses in environmentally sensitive areas. There was no chance
Mike Pascucci would have gotten permission
to build Sebonack had he not been willing to
sit down with local environmentalists. He
did, and the resulting course is not only one
of the most stunning courses to open anywhere last year, but the winner of this year’s
MGA Club Environmental Award.
Says the project manager for Sebonack,
Mark Hissey: “The golf community’s record
on the environment is one of innovation, care
Poll Results from mgagolf.org
Poll taken May 5-19, 2008 Yes No
Is your home course
taking steps to reduce its
environmental impact?
Not Sure
50% 5% 45%
and success. We can hold our heads high and
know that we do the best work for the environment. Society demands that we protect the
environment and this world will be a very different place 20 years from now. Our industry
has a head start and we’ll lead society to
where it needs to be.”
Superintendents are in a tricky spot here.
They are no longer just grass farmers. Many
have advanced degrees in agronomy. They are
capable of doing things right but are caught
between following sound environmental practices and the need to please the members. Part
of the difficulty is that it’s hard to get ahead
of the available technology. Green products
are becoming more available but progress is
slow. At Bethpage they are experimenting
with both hybrid and electric mowers—so far
the hybrids seem to work better—and there
are a number of solar-powered golf carts on
the market too. A Canadian company called
SunCatcher makes solar canopies for golf cart
roofs that promise greater efficiency. The
company claims its roof can cut costs by more
than half while also extending battery life.
Weber has watched the march of environmental science and technology with interest
and some hope. He considered restoring the
windmill blades to the top of the Old Westbury water tower, but concluded that the
technology was impractical, for now at least.
Not that he’s been idle: Weber recently was
awarded his eighth patent, but his first for a
golf-related product. It’s for an environmentally friendly way of removing moss infestations from greens.
But Weber knows better than anyone that
we cannot expect technology to fix everything
for us. He once made a modest proposal to
the USGA: Just as there is an appendix to the
Rules stipulating the specifications for equipment and balls, so there should be one for
agronomic parameters, limiting how fast
greens can run and how short fair ways can be.
He offered it as a way to reign in crazy expectations. “Nobody went for it,” says Weber. “At
least not yet.”
That’s a shame. We’ve made so much
progress in so many highly technical areas. We
can now hope to control many of the diseases
and pests that pushed us away from sound
environmental practices in the past. But we
will only be the true environmental stewards
we might be when we learn to control our
own expectations. ■
Merrell Noden is a frequent contributor to The
Met Golfer. He writes from his home in Princeton,
New Jersey.
