Golf Styles; Golfology: News, Notes, Etc., June 2007
What do the Blue Heron Pines Golf Club in Cologne, the Shark River Golf Course in Neptune, the Wild Turkey Golf Club in Hamburg and the Black Bear Golf Club in Franklin have in common? Yes, they’re all in New Jersey and, yes, they’re all named after some wild creature.
The latter is aptly so, because along with scores of other Garden State courses, they’re all involved in the Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Program for Golf Courses (ACSP), meaning they’re taking seriously their environmental commitment.
This is a good thing, said Audubon international’s (AI) president and CEO Ron Dodson. “Protecting the environment can’t be something that we do every once in awhile. It must become the way that we work, live and play,” he said.
AI launched ACSP as a way of assisting golf courses with environmental projects, looking to a concept of environmental sustainability and using resources wisely. As great preservers of open space, golf courses are inherently suited for an environmental stewardship role.
“While our focus is to provide a framework for those associated with course management to implement their environmental strategies, the real goal is to help the golf course industry become a leader in the free enterprise system as it relates to conservation oriented business management,” Dodson said.The once-radical notion that being environmentally friendly is also good for business is being embraced by those courses that participate in Al’s Cooperative Sanctuary Program.
