the evil eye of golf


The Evil Eye of Golf

A golf course outside a big town serves an excellent purpose in that it segregates, as though in a concentration camp, all the idle and idiot well-to-do.
Osbert Sitwell.


The golfing craze and its jetset lifestyle raise crucial questions: how are limited natural resources to be used and for whom?
Malee Traisawasdichai in New Internationalist, issue 263, January 1995.


In the United States, the golf construction boom of the 1990s is not only over; it’s been shifted into reverse. According to the National Golf Foundation, the number of new courses expected to open in the United States in 2009 is the smallest in 20 years. About 100 courses are expected to close this year, versus the 80 or so that are expected to open.
Don Miller in Contrarian Profits, 23.2.09.


I was born in Scania, the southernmost county of Sweden, bordering the Sound. The county has seventy golf-courses, and neighbouring Danish Sealand another forty; coastal areas on both sides of the Sound have been ruthlessly exploited for recreational purposes. And i live on Falsterbo Peninsula, a bourgeois reserve with a disproportionate part of its open landscape occupied by golf-courses. Since i was a young boy i have seen how golf has devoured and irrevocably destroyed valuable habitats, often with compliance from local "nature conservancy". I detest golf, for its impact on the Scanian landscape - but when i look around myself, i see the same destruction repeated everywhere, in Greece, Spain and Portugal, in Cyprus and Malta, in the West Indies, in Thailand, in the Philippines, in Hawaii, in Japan, in mainland China! In all these cases, golf courses are an aspect of a global, wasteful class society, golf the sport of a "culture of irresponsibility". There is a consolation, however: when and where this abscess ripens and bursts, the golf courses will be there as ubiquitous Bastilles, easily recognizable in their wasted framework, ready for the storm. For the present, considering the overall burden imposed on landscape "resources" by golf, and the contributions of golf tourism to global emissions, we should demand a moratorium, a ban on new golf courses. The logical next step is a phase-out, where courses are transformed into turnip fields.

THE GOLF INDUSTRY. ("was"-es added to "is"-es in December 2008). Globally, golf is (and hopefully soon: was) big industry, exploiting and depleting water and landscape much the same way global fisheries and recreational tourism exploit, destroy and deplete "their" particular resources. The business estimated that some 64 million people visited one of the world's 32,000 golf courses in 2005, so golf's following is relatively small, but that shouldn't fool us; it is (was) the No. 1 sport of the global class society. The purchasing power of these followers is (was) extraordinary, and i think it is safe to say that the golf industry is (was) almost on a par with drug trafficking and prostitution in terms of capital turnover, on a global scale. In a "Golf Economy Report", also from 2005, the direct, indirect, induced and total economic impact of golf on the U.S. economy was presented for the first time, here it is suggested that golf generated a total economic impact of $195 billion in 2005, creating approximately 2 million jobs with a wage income of $61 billion. (Reference 1). The core activity in itself is only a minor part of this; in Jan 2004, worldwide, the production of golf accessories and facilities was estimated to be a "mere" $7.1 billion industry (Reference 2).

TOURISM & GOLF. The high overall sum is instead due to peripheral activites like travels, accomodation, maintenance and competitions. According to Sports Business.com sports tourism is a multi-billion dollar business, one of the fastest growing areas of the $4.5 trillion global travel and tourism industry. By 2011, travel and tourism is expected to be more than 10 percent of the global gross domestic product. The economies of cities, regions and even countries around the world are increasingly reliant on the visiting golfer and skier or the travelling football, rugby or cricket supporter. In some countries, sport can account for as much as 25 percent of all tourism receipts, and golf is the leading sport in the world in terms of total economic expenditure. Quantified in hard cash: "The global golf tourism market is worth over £10 billion (US$17.5 billion)." (Reference 3)

LAND USE. By the year 2000, it was estimated that up to 5,000 hectares of the Earth's land surface was cleared for golf courses annually. According to a survey published in 2005 Great Britain had 40 % (2,618) of all golf courses in Europe (6,224), covering some 0.7 % of the British land surface. "Germany, France and Sweden also have a significant share with 10, 9 and 7 percent, respectively. In the Mediterranean region, Spain and Italy have around 250 golf courses (4%) each. Eastern Europe is also developing quickly, with 52 courses in the Czech Republic, and Poland, Slovenia and Hungary together having over 30 golf courses." (These figures of course are a little outdated by 2008). And a quote from 1995: "Japan, Asia’s most golf-crazy country, has at least 2,016 golf courses covering 2,227.7 square kilometres of land, the area exceeds that of Tokyo." (Reference 4). Because of this nation's particular, overcrowded conditions, Japanese capital has been particularly active in golf's exploitation of natural habitats in Hawaii and SE Asia, but many courses (708 out of more than 2,400) went bankrupt in three recessions after 1991, and American capital (Goldman-Sachs being the largest "player") has taken over a fair share of the market.

WATER USE. "On average, a golf course needs between 10,000 and 15,000 m3 of water per hectare and year, similar to the water requirements of a rice pond" (Reference 5). Around the shift of the century an ordinary 18-hole course in the subtropic region could consume more than 2.3 million litres of water daily (on average 90 million litres/month) according to a Philippine study, that is order of magnitude 1 million m3/year. 120 courses in arid Coachella Valley, California, used 123 million m3/year - most of it groundwater - "and some soak the turf with more than 6 million gallons a day during annual reseeding" (Reference 6). In 2004 a prospective "Billings Ranch Golf Course" (the project failed) was considered as a recipient of 1.0 - 1.25 million gallons - some 4 million litres - of effluent water per day by the city of Ashland, Oregon). By the year 2000 a golf course in Benidorm, Spain, used as much water as 10,000 people, while a typical golf course in Thailand in the late nineties equalled the consumption of 60,000 rural villagers. Today it is not as easy as ten years ago for golf to waste water; i assume that the water consumtion is decreasing, without having any exact figures. A recent Spanish study (probably housebroken, commissioned work, there's a lot of it around) concluded that "the volume of water used for golf irrigation is extremely small compared to agricultural irrigation", and 41 % of it comes from wastewater reuse. (3,3 million ha, 15 % of the total arable area are irrigated in Spain). Agriculture is the main water user of this country, laying hands on 23,000 million m3/year, or 70 % of all water used at the present time.

This isn't the end of the exploitation of water resources, however; Julia Martinez, a researcher at the University of Murcia’s Department of Hydrology and Ecology, estimates: "In 2015, it is likely that residential water consumption levels will actually exceed those of the agricultural sector." If we assume that an 18-hole golf course has an average acreage of 60 - 80 hectares, this means that 276 (2006 level; another 150 are on the way) Spanish golf courses occupy some 19,500 hectares, i.e. some 0.6 % of the total irrigated area, but with a gross estimated water consumption of c1 million m3/year they consume 276/23,000 = 1.2 % of the irrigation water available. With recent emphasis on reuse of water this estimate may be on the high side (or low side; there is a black market for water, statistics can't be trusted, and large grounds probably consume well in excess of 2 million m3 per annum) - and also keep in mind that Spain, with the third highest rate of consumption per capita in the world, is always short of water! First of all read the excellent Water transfer from the Ebro River, by Cecilia Tortajada, Vice President of The Third World Centre of Water Management, highlighting the over-development of the water-hungry Valencia region. In addition Spanish Sahara, from 15 March 2008, and a WWF document from 6 May 2003: Water transfers are increasing the water crisis. The case of the Tagus-Segura Transfer in Spain. In April 2008, Barcelona is facing a water crisis; Catalan reservoirs are at 20 percent of their capacity, and at the national level, Spain's reservoirs are half empty, long before the summer is ripe. Precipitation has been only half the normal since October, Spain is "muy seco" already in March 2008.

CONSTRUCTION COSTS. The survey quoted above further states that the average construction cost for an 18-hole golf course in the EMA region is EUR 3.56 million, while constructing a 9-hole course costs almost three times less (EUR 1.23 million). The average construction cost of an 18-hole golf course varies widely, with the lowest recorded in Eastern Europe, with an average cost of EUR 1.25 million, to the most expensive in the Middle East, costing on average EUR 6.14 million.

THE ECONOMIC DOWNTURN IN 2008 AND GOLF. "Golf industry in trouble as economy worsens". Golf had and has a close connection to highly compromised financial firms like Lehmann Brothers, Merrill Lynch, J P Morgan Chase, Wachovia and Goldman-Sachs, and the recent/past boom in the establishment of golf-courses was partly financed by a new financial gimmick, the so-called pro forma commercial loans, where part of the security was supplied in the form of expected dividends from an ever-growing market. The brokers financed these credits by issuing bonds, the value of which has now evaporated in the general financial disintegration. This is good news for anyone who wants to see an end to golf's exploitation of natural resources. The Trump financial empire, one of the biggest speculators in nature, recently couldn't keep up with interest payments for "Trump Entertainment Resorts" - although Trump still managed to pay for his pet project, the Aberdeen course, in cash... And on 18 November 2008, LPGA announced that there will be three fewer tournaments in 2009, while prize money will dip by about $5 million. These figures will probably improve from the perspective of nature conservancy in the months to come, there will be 24 LPGA tournaments in 2010, down from 34 in 2009. It remains to be hoped that banks will be able to put a spoke in Mr Trump's wheel as well. Come on Deutsche Bank!

The Stanford Financial Group is another scandal-ridden golf sponsor, see e.g. : PGA Tour, LPGA go into damage control as SEC busts sponsor Stanford Financial from examiner.com, and Golf sponsor Stanford Financial accused of 'massive' fraud from GolfChannel.com 17.2.09. By that date the firm had been put under receivership by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and later the commission amended its complaint to describe the alleged fraud as a "massive Ponzi scheme". Finally Wall Street Journal 19.6.09: Stanford is indicted in fraud: surrenders. Golf, including players like Tiger Woods and Vijay Singh, has lived happily with such sponsors, and the stupid, the genuinely stupid and accessory global sports journalism hasn't had a word to say about this state of things. (ADDITION: The following cut is from The Irish Times, 5.12.09, it shows another side of the dilemma for sports journalism: The golfing press became aware that stories about Tiger’s temper, say, or about his ties to unsavoury corporate grifters, would mean the end of access to the only golfer in the world who matters. There is a quick way to tell now which journalists have made this devil’s bargain and which ones haven’t – the ones insisting that ‘the accident’ is somehow ‘not a story’ are the sopranos in the chorus.)

I will continue to update this list as more banks and carmakers return to the real world. The UK branch of Setanta Sports went bankrupt on 23 June, BBC reports: According to an estimate by Citibank, Setanta paid about £85m annually for rights for the Scottish Premier League, the Football Association (England games and the FA Cup), boxing and the US PGA golf tour. These rights will be resold and, given the economic climate, the rights costs could "more than halve", according to Citibank analyst Marc Sugarman. This could affect how much cash filters down to different sports - from top level to grass roots. [CP]

LINKS

A. The golf industry, B. The artificial golf course: biological problems, technological fixes, C. The Unholy Alliance: Golf, PGA, tourism and estate brokers, D. Sponsoring a class pastime: Fraudulent financial firms and collapsing car companies, E. Critical voices, F. Archaeology on golf, G. Examples, H. Bankruptcies.

Begun 18.3.08. To readers: please notify me of links that you think belong here!


A. The golf industry

How to maximize (sic! [CP]) your fungicide purchases, Golf Course News Feb 2004. C
Fungicides hit growth spurt in T&O markets, Golf Maintenance. Know-how for golf & green industry professionals. QUOTE: "This growth was fueled largely by rising consumption by golf courses, which collectively spent more than $130 million to keep the nation's links fungus-free." Additional link to Kline: Market Research: Professional Turf and Ornamental Markets for Pesticides and Fertilizers USA. C
A Global Perspective on the Environmental Impact of Golf, Sport in Society 9: 427 - 443 C
Global Recession puts Golf Industry deep in the Rough, from Daily Markets 24.2.09. C
Golf in recession: Industry finds itself in the rough during economic slump. Sport’s lobbyists hit D.C. to drive home point that downturn on links hurts local business, From Chicago Tribune 14.5.09. C
The Golf Channel.com is 100 % commercial, but its journalists have integrity. C
Golf Course Industry C
Golf Course Pesticide Usage 1994 - 1997, for Great Britain, by David Garthwaite. C
Golf industry in trouble as economy worsens, from MSNBC, 3.12.08. C
Golf Switch Network, "The GolfSwitch Network is a standardized communications platform that uses patented technology to connect golf courses around the world to a single platform for golf reservations." C
The green is fading from golf course business, Atlanta Business Chronicle, 24.10.08. C
IAGTO, International Association of Golf Tour Operators. C
Results of the searchword "golf courses", University of Florida, IFAS Extension. Very housebroken. C
Narita Golf Club Plans Legal Fight With Goldman Sachs, by Takahiko Hyuga and Kazu Hirano on bloomberg.com. C
National Golf Foundation, "Helping the business succeed". Golf course openings continue decline. C
PGA Design Consulting, Golf Course Architect, Golf Course Design, UK. There is a lot of information about the capital involvement and the general ideology of PGA design on this site; emerging markets are targeted. C
PGA Golf Management,is involved with Riffa Golf Club/Bahrein, Kinsale/Ireland, a course in Cap Verde Islands, Bayhood No. 9 Golf Club in Beijing and St Andrews in Scotland. It's one important propagandist (not the only one) for golf as a bourgeois lifestyle in the global class society. C
Trends in Golf Course Water Use and Regulation in California, by Robert L. Green, Un. of Cal., Dept of Botany. Revised August 2005. For domestic use; volumes expressed in "acrefeet"... C
Water and Golf - The Facts, from Club Murcia, Dec. 2006. C


North Fingal

Ireland boasts of 440 golf courses in recent (Nov 2008) attempts to kindle its ailing golf industry. The whole Fingal coastal area (north of Dublin) is an inaccessible and on the whole extremely ugly and repellent bourgeois reserve, where estate brokers rule and nature conservation is Utopia. (In addition the bathing water is the most polluted in Ireland, and much of the landscape is wasteland, obviously just waiting for the blessing of "development". Devastation continues when you move north, culminating in the Boyne estuary at Drogheda, probably dating back to the industrial revolution...). Red flags indicate sites of golf courses and i guess the marina of Malahide was intended to be the crown jewel of the whole mess - but it's a worthless imitation in a setting of imitation. Three "bird reserves" marked with bird in a square cage are no more than backyards of golf courses; littered and in a sad state of repair. The only reserve receiving some attention (from BirdWatch Ireland) in recent years, Rogerstown Estuary, lies NW of Donabate, it is fairly new and not marked on the map. The triangle edging out into the estuary is a former dump, probably leaking both this and that. What is most absent here is the Irish state as a mediator between interests (and this absence is obvious in other parts of Ireland - and other parts of "government" - as well), the whole area has been conquered and fortified by a gang of pirates - much like the Vikings did in olden times. It could be added that some of these courses are for men only, e.g. Portmarnock Golf Club; Dublin city is still being held in a narrow patriarchal-capitalist iron grip. [CP]


B. The artificial golf course: biological problems, technological fixes
Clean Greens - UV Green Protection, a Dutch site about killing mould with a dose of UV light that doesn't affect the grass. C
STERF - Scandinavian Turfgrass and Environment Research Foundation, with three paper abstracts: 1. Irrigation on sand-based golf greens, 2. Ageing of a sand-based golf-green, 3. Status of surface water and how it is affected by the activities of the golf club.C
Yucky grass keeps birds off golf courses, a yucky article from News in Science, 8.8.06. C

C. The Unholy Alliance: Golf, PGA, tourism and estate brokers
BULGARIA: From Bulgaria Propertywise, 28.7.08. "Three to four Black Sea hotels file for bankruptcy every week, Bulgaria would soon share Spain’s fate where the state began buying out all bankrupt hotels, demolished them and created green areas and parks instead." C
CALIFORNIA: Lake Las Vegas On 15 Jan 2009 a federal bankruptcy court judge allowed the owners to abandon one of the resort's three golf courses, one can only hope that the others will follow suit. C
CHINA: signonsandiego.com, "Foreign investments, global demand for cheap goods and labor give China the fastest-growing economy in the world." (for the time being somewhat outdated). See the header "Golf as indicator". C
CRETE: Cavo Sidero, from minoangroup.com. C
CYPRUS: Akamas Peninsula, A brief historical background and important milestones (1986-2000), from Terra Cypria. C
globalgolfproperties.com C
GLOBAL: Golf Plaisir This is a Swedish site, it is stupid and vulgar enough to merit inclusion here. C
Golf Course Realty.com These pages speak for themselves. C
Golf Home Connect, Discover Golf Home Communities! C
Golf Property Shop, "Specialist Spanish Golf Real Estate Agent" C
Golf Residential Ireland, "Golf Residential Ireland has access to some of the most prestigious Golf Properties in Spain, Portugal and Morocco. Apart from being keen golfers and understanding a golfers unique requirements Golf Residential Ireland realises that golf properties offer excellent investment potential and growth margins. Golf properties often exceed mainstream properties in investment return and re-sale potential and therefore are an excellent purchase." The site is closed 18.6.09. C
GREAT BRITAIN: Donald, where's your golf course? from Guardian Unlimited 6.12.07. C
GREAT BRITAIN: Trump golf resort given backing, report from the ever-partial and pro-tourism BBC. C
GREECE: INVgolf: Invest in Golf, Golf swings into play in Greece. A really unsavoury page, but last updated only 14.4.06. [CP]C
IRELAND: doonbeggolfclub.com, a misplaced golf Disneyland, the most kitschy and vulgar of all Irish projects, in the Shannon area; it can't be improved by a Seamus Heaney quotation.
The Clare Champion: Doonbeg Golf Club warns: local windfall is in jeopardy., The Irish Times: Golf resort's coastal protection plan appealed, Dublin European Institute: "A Cocktail of Mis-fit and Politicisation: The Tortuous Implementation of the Habitats Directive in Ireland". C
NORTH CAROLINA: Ocean Ridge Plantation, from Golf Course Home. "Getting into the swing of things in Charleston, S.C., has special attraction for anyone looking for the ideal golfingsouth carolina golf community experience. Throughout this pristine coastal area, championship links afford some of the country's most challenging greens and fairways, among some of the world's most stunning natural settings." C
Orlando Golf Realty "Disney World is situated in the heart of a unique area of Central Florida named “The Four Corners.” This is where four counties (Orange, Lake, Osceola, and Polk) converge into large tracts of land, the last so close to Disney with enough expansion for enormous development." C
PORTUGAL: Virtual Portugal Most courses seem to lie in southern, arid Algarve. C
SOUTH CAROLINA: Charleston Golf Communities Real Estate, "Getting into the swing of things in Charleston, S.C., has special attraction for anyone looking for the ideal golfing south carolina golf community experience. Throughout this pristine coastal area, championship links afford some of the country's most challenging greens and fairways, among some of the world's most stunning natural settings." C
SWEDEN: Lake Lagan Golf Resort, another stupid and wasteful Swedish project, the construction work initiated as late as 3.10.08. By that time everyone involved knew that the rightful place of this project was in the paper-basket. Prospect aiming at Danish investors. Very strange that this thing continues! [CP] C
SWEDEN: PGA of Sweden National Golf Resort, outside Svedala in Scania. In Sweden, with massive overestablisment of golf courses and receding membership numbers, PGA is establishing a 48-hole course, close to an already existing course. An initial membership share costs 200,000 SEK, compared to 15 - 25,000 SEK in more average Swedish clubs. This is narcissistic capital waste, typical of the golf industry throughout the world, and one can only wish the project all ill fortune possible. Bevara Hyby Backar. C
TRUMP Golf, no comments necessary. Silence about the project by mid-2009. C
TURKEY: Turkey goes head-to-head with Spain on golf, from PROPERTYWIRE 6.4.08. C

D. Sponsoring a class pastime: Fraudulent financial firms and collapsing car companies
Buick Can't Swing Golf Sponsorships in '09, from Autopia 24.11.08. C
Economic crisis could squeeze golf tours, from Leader-Post, canada.com, 27.11.08. Quote: There will be no need of a red-tag day for the world's No. 1 player, of course, over the loss of an estimated $7 million to $10 million US a year from GM. Woods had been with the automaker for nine years, appearing in ads for Buick, but sales for the brand have dropped 58 per cent from 1999-2007, and 20 per cent over the past year, according to a report. C
Golf and cards consumed too much of Cayne’s final days at Bear Stearns,, from Muckety, "Exploring the paths of power and influence". C
PGA Tour, LPGA go into damage control as SEC busts sponsor Stanford Financial,, from examiner.com. C
Top Golf Sponsors, from Ezine @rticles, 27.11.08. Quote: The first name that comes to mind as a top golf sponsor is HSBC Bank (The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited). HSBC has several sponsorships and it's portfolio of professional golf tournaments include: HSBC World Match Play - UK, HSBC Women's World Match Play - USA, Champions - China. And a financial quote Dec. 19, 2008 -- Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today that it revised its outlook on HSBC Holdings PLC (HSBC) to negative from stable. C

E. Critical voices

1. Site choice, environment

ASIA: The Asia Golf and Environment, a TED case study. QUOTE: According to Chee Yoke Ling and Mohammad Ferhan Ferrari of the Malaysia-based Asia-Pacific People's Environment Network (APPEN), "Golf development is becoming one of the most unsustainable and damaging activities to people and the environment." C
AUSTRALIA, Canberra: Golf club accused of using more than its fair share of lake water, from ABC News 17.5.07. C
AUSTRIA, TIROL: Golf im Alpenraum, from Österreichischer Alpenverein. The usual sad story. C
BAHAMAS: CDNN Eco Warning: Bahamas, a description of a golf course developer's practices in the Bahamas. 25.8.05. C
Bait and Switch, an Audubon description of the "developments" Parklands, Saturnia Falls, and Mirasol, including golf courses, in the western Everglades. The article contains an excellent evaluation of the role of the Army Corps of Engineers and its "mitigation" measures, heavily criticized by the US Fish & Wildlife Service: "The Army Corps of Engineers issues dredge-and-fill permits under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act, tossing them out like confetti." C
Is there sabotage behind the destroyed greens at Barsebäck? by A. Leopold on a golf news site: "leopold report". Swedish text. C
British Virgin Islands, Heritage Conservation Group,, "Did you know that we have already lost over 80% of our mangroves in the British Virgin Islands and more are being lost daily!" C
CALIFORNIA: Helping Our Peninsula's Environment, "Calif. Coastal Commission votes 8-4 to reject Pebble Beach Co.’s rezoning effort. Fifteen year long Forest vs. Golf Course battle seemingly over." C
CHINA: Golf tourism,, by Chee Yoke Ling. C
CRETE: Cavo Sidero: is this Crete's paradise lost?, by David Sawers in guardian.co.uk. C
CRETE: Save The Cretan Landscape: Stop Golf Development On Cavo Sidero, by Michael House. "The Greek Supreme Court’s hearing of the case has been postponed until May 9, 2008." C
CRETE: Cavo Sidero: "New Giant Resorts", from palekastro.com (the developers). The orthodox church (Toplou Monastery) owns the land and is leasing for 80 years. "April 11th 2009: The High Court in Athens says NO to the Cavo Sidero Resort!" C
Chasing the Little White Ball, Issue 263, January 1995 of New Internationalist. C
DENMARK: Golfbaner som borgerlig natur (Golf courses as bourgeois nature) , Lars Kjerulfs Weblog. Jfr: Flere golfbaner - godt for naturen (more golf courses - good for the nature) from the Conservative People's Party of Denmark. C
The Global Antigolf Movement, a manifesto from 1993, but the "movement" is something of an anticlimax, non-existent, although much referred to. It seems as if everyone WANTS a counterforce to be somewhere out there, but there is none! C
HAWAII: Tourism’s Negative Impact on Native Hawaiians, by Rev. Kaleo Patterson. QUOTE: "If one day a molotov cocktail is thrown into the lobby of a resort hotel, none of us should be surprised to learn that it was thrown by a native Hawaiian." C
INDIA: Anti-golf activism remains on the agenda - the case of India, from some "Tourism Investigation & Monitoring Team". C
IRELAND: Golf courses are not environmentally friendly, article in SE Ireland-based Waterford News, 19.1.07. QUOTE: "We have already lost areas of spectacular coastline beauty, such as the Old Head of Kinsale and Doonbeg to exclusive golf courses." C
IRELAND: Free the Old Head at Kinsale, "Restore public access to Ireland's magical headland". C
Old Head of Kinsale Golf Club, Ireland's Disgrace No. 1. Old Head of Kinsale Protest. C
MALLORCA: Plans for a golf course at Son Bosc, Muro, threatening a local stand of the very rare Orchis robusta. C
MALLORCA: Deutsche und mallorquinische Umweltverbände rufen zum Widerstand gegen Naturzerstörung auf Mallorca auf, press release from Deutsche Naturschutzring (DNR), the Frankfurter Zoologische Gesellschaft and the Mallorcan environmental group Grup Balear d'Ornitologia i Defensa de la Naturalesa (GOB). C
MALTA: Verdala. Front against the golf course, a patchy activist page, possibly the same project as above. C
MEDITERRANEAN: Mediterranean water resources threatened by expanding tourism, a WWF document from 2004. C
SPAIN: Development in the Drought: The incompatibility of the Ebro water transfer with sustainable development in the Southeast region of Spain. A WWF document written by Meinke Schouten, April 2003. C
SPAIN: Parched Spanish Coast Taps Sea Water for Growth, broadcast from National Public Radio. C
SPAIN: Scorched earth, by John Vidal, The Guardian, 22.7.05. C
SPAIN: The "poverty complex" destroying Spain, The Olive Press’ JON CLARKE talks to Greenpeace director Juan Lopez de Uralde. C
SPAIN: Spanish Paradise Gone Awry, by Handan T. Satiroglu on WordlandI.com. C
SPAIN: Developers of Albatera Golf and Country Club go into Administration, from Club Murcia C
SPAIN: Spain's environmentalists sound alarm, Los Angeles Times, 8.9.08. C
SPAIN: Golf courses drinking Spanish Farms' Water, European Water News, 3.12.08. C
USA: More Americans are giving up golf, by Paul Vitello, The New York Times, 21.2.08. C
UTAH: Green space, black holes: Subsidized golf courses costing cities, taxpayers, a good, in-depth article from deseretnews.com. 7.8.2005. C
VIRGINIA: Just Say No to Golf Courses in Wetlands, from virginia.sierraclubaction.org. C

Pesticide + water usage, golf course botany, management

Activists target golf courses for wasting water, from Westcountry IMC, 8.4.06. C
Escaped golf-course grass frees gene genie in the US, New Scientist 9.8.06. C
Fungicides: What will we do without them?, Golf Ecology News. C
Pesticides on Golf Courses: Mixing Toxins with Play?, by Caroline Cox, from www.pesticide.org. C
Matters of Scale - Planet Golf, from Worldwatch Institute, April 2004. C
USA: Testimony by EPA director Robert H. Wayland, III, before Senate Committee, 26 June 1997. QUOTE: The case that gave rise to the Tulloch rulemaking involved a project in New Hanover, North Carolina, that converted a 700-acre tract of pocosin wetlands to a residential/commercial development and golf course through carefully conducted actions that drained and cleared the wetlands, while only causing incidental, small volume redepositions of dredged material. In that case, the Corps had initially determined that the 700 acres of wetlands were subject to the jurisdiction of the CWA, and, therefore, that discharges of dredged or fill material into the area would require a section 404 permit. While the developer originally applied for a section 404 permit for the development, it subsequently withdrew the application after comments from other federal agencies, including EPA, raised concerns about the adverse effects of the project.
Rather than pursue the permitting process, the developer decided to try to remove the site from CWA jurisdiction through the construction of drainage ditches that would convert the wetland to dry land without triggering the need for a permit." C
USA: Toxic Fairways: Risking Groundwater Contamination From Pesticides on Long Island Golf Courses, from the office of the New York State Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo, first printed in 1991, revised 1994, 1995. QUOTE: "The 52 golf courses reported using a total of approximately 200,000 pounds of bulk dry products and close to 9,000 gallons of bulk liquid formulations in one year. This included 192 different pesticide products containing 50 different active ingredients which totalled more than 50,000 pounds. If these 50,000 pounds were applied evenly across the total area of the 52 golf courses, it would amount to an average of 7 pounds of pesticides per acre annually. By comparison, a national average of 1.5 pounds of pesticides per acre are applied in agriculture annually." The link is dead, but the text can be bought on the web. C

F. Archaeology on golf

The desecration of aboriginal burying-grounds in the United States, Canada and Hawaii is very wide-spread and has old roots; there are thousands of web links commenting on these practices. I have found golf courses involved at several dozen different disputed sites already; from the very outset golf course developments were often based on unlawful and treacherous appropriation of public land, and this pattern still prevails on Hawaii (Japanese capital), in the West Indies, in China (practically all existing courses lack a planning permission) and in SE Asia.

Angkor authority shuts down golf course construction, "Cambodia's Apsara Authority, which oversees the management of the Angkor Archaeological Park, shuts down a golf course being built by South Korean company." Many natural and cultural sites are exploited in this way in the third world, it remains to be hoped that some backlash hits capital debauchery of this kind. [CP] C
CRETE: Save The Cretan Landscape: Stop Golf Development On Cavo Sidero, by Michael House.
The peninsula is also of the greatest archaeological importance, for a peculiar reason. In antiquity, probably under a more favourable climate, it consisted of farmland. In Greek and Roman times, it supported the city of Itanos, until the decline of the Byzantine empire. Then came the corsairs. Pirates especially haunted this corner of Crete, where they preyed on passing ships and also raided on land. With the fall of Itanos, the peninsula became untenable and remained uninhabited for a thousand years. In consequence, Neolithic and Minoan farms, terraces and fields, and check-dams of Ancient Greek and Byzantine cultivators survive on a landscape-wide scale, not hidden or destroyed by the works of later cultivators. Here, as nowhere else except on a few remote islets, one can see what the farmed countryside of Mediterranean antiquity looked like. C
Golf course threatens Stone Age site, by Eleanor Momberg. Pinnacle Point "beach and golf resort" offers "luxury living" at Mossel Bay, South Africa, the article was published on www.iol.cvo.za. This project is peak vulgarity at the golf level. C
Heritage at Risk, a British site listing "endangered" battlefields, parks and gardens and monuments - golf courses are among the threats. C
The Octagon Earthworks, Ohio was built by Hopewell Indians and make up a neolithic "planet observatory". Today it is occupied and permanently desecrated by Moundbuilders Country Club golf course on a long-term lease contract with Ohio Historical Society. Octagon Mound: Public Treasure or Private Playground for Golfers? by Nancy & Leonard Becker. C
Preservation Sub-Par: Residents and local Muwekma are teed off over plans to plunk a golf course on a rare archaeological site in the Santa Teresa Hills, by Laura Stuchinsky on metroACTIVE. C
Proposed Development Would Destroy Historical and Pre-Historical Site in the Bahamas, while Threatening Fragile Reefs and Marinelife, by Caribbean Conservation Corporation & Sea Turtle Survival League. C

G. Examples
GolfClubAtlas.com, an interesting "Feature Interview with Scott Anderson", head superintendent at the Huntingdon Valley Country Club in Huntingdon Valley, Pa. August 2005. Not available June 2009. C
Linlithgow Golf Club, Environmental Statement. C


H. Bankruptcies
Bickford Ranch crashes in bankruptcy court, from The Sacramento Bee 20.12.08. Quote: Bickford Ranch, a 1,942-acre residential project in the Sierra foothills between Penryn and Lincoln, collapsed after its sole source of cash – Wall Street investment bank Lehman Brothers – imploded in September, developers said. The community, long controversial for its potential impact on its rural foothills setting, was a partnership between Lehman Brothers and Irvine land development giant SunCal Companies. C
Cherokee Run Country Club, from Georgia Bankruptcy Blog. C
Gold Creek Golf Club, from Georgia Bankruptcy Blog. C
Golfklub er gået i konkurs, concerning Greve Golfklub, financed by bankrupt Roskilde Bank. From ErhvervsBladet.dk, 10.11.08. C
Kendisgolfklub er gået konkurs, concerning Ledreborg Palace Golf A/S, financed by bankrupt Roskilde Bank. From ErhvervsBladet.dk, 26.11.08. Quote: The budget originally amounted to 60 million DKK for 18 holes, club house and machinery, but there was an overdraft of 15 million DKK, a.o. because archaeologists from Roskilde Museum, paid by the contractor, dug the area for ancient finds for more than a year. C
Horseshoe Bend Country Club, from Georgia Bankruptcy Blog. C
USA: Indoor golf chain files for bankruptcy, from Nashville Post.com, 21.11.08. C
La Moraleja, SPAIN: Golf is hit by home sales slump, from the olive press, 18.9.08. C
Ontario, CANADA: Humber Valley Enters Bankruptcy Protection, from OntGolf.ca, 8.9.08. C
Murcia, SPAIN: La Manga Club declares itself insolvent, from typicallyspanish.com, 24.11.08. C
Players Club in bankruptcy. Members unsure whether their money could be lost, from The Signal, Santa Clarita Valley, 4.10.08. C
Promontory Club Seeks Bankruptcy Protection, from The Land Report 25.3.08. C
Jutland, DENMARK: Rømø Golf & Wellness Center, from InvestEgate 5.12.08: Therefore, given the uncertainty surrounding the disposal of Rømø and its deteriorating financial position, the board of EuroTrust has been left with no other option but to file for bankruptcy in respect of RGW A/S, which has today been approved by the Danish Court.
From the very start, the project was built on sand in more than one respect; the club never attracted 100 members. Still, there was capital at hand, to be wasted! [CP] C
Yellowstone Club Files for Bankruptcy, from The Land Report, 11.11.08. C
Yellowstone Club, Montana Resort, Seeks Bankruptcy , from bloomberg.com, 11.11.08. Quote: The bankruptcy shows that even the most exclusive enclaves aren't safe from the deteriorating U.S. real estate market. Most of the club's revenue came from property sales. Lots once sold for $2 million and higher. Like other troubled ventures, the Yellowstone Club borrowed heavily when times were good. In 2005, it borrowed $375 million from Zurich-based Credit Suisse Group. C


And an afterword:

Stop building golf courses now! The religion of corporate America has enough cathedrals.
David A. Howell, letter to the Editor of Arizona Republic, 12.11.07.


135 links 24.6.09

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