A lighter shade of green


Richard Browning, top golf estate planner. Browning has worked on some of South Africa's high profile golf estate developments. He came to South Africa from England in the late 1980s to help with the development of Fancourt. He recently wrote in 'Golf Digest' about the question of water use by golf estates.

“Golf and the environment is a precarious and uneasy relationship. They seem to seek different corners of the room, but the two really have no option but to embrace each other. By their very nature golf developments are successful if they bring their target audience closer to nature.

“In a country such as South Africa where funding for non-profit initiatives is scarce, golf developments can play a leading role in funding the drive to preserve what Mother Nature has given us.

“South Africa probably has some of the most advanced and progressive legislation regarding development and preserving the natural environment,” says Richard Browning, the project manager for Ernie Els' Oubaai Estate development at Herold's Bay. “If a development meets all these requirements there is very little chance they can harm the environment, or that something can go wrong.”

Browning stresses that South African golfers will have to accept that in the long run our golf courses will not be the wall-to-wall green carpets featured on TV broadcasts.

“Water is a scarce resource in this country and golf courses use a lot of water,” he said. “If we are going to make a lasting commitment to preserving the environment we will have to cut back on water consumption. I envisage courses with green tees, green landing areas and green greens complexes. Outside of that the landscape will be brown, as courses need volumes of water to create the lush green scenery golfers seem to crave.”

Readers and interested parties are invited to put forward their views on possible solutions to this problem.