The host venue of the 2017 Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship (AAC) and previously 7 New Zealand Open Championships, Royal Wellington Golf Club made a great step toward sustainability by becoming GEO Certified.
Here are some actions of Royal Wellington took to achieve sustainability:
- To ensure the preservation of natural habitats, Royal Wellington Golf Club has collaborated with leading New Zealand environmental agencies on stream, wetland and woodland management including buffer zones to protect sensitive areas.
- Solar powered sensors were also installed to monitor the flow of the course’s waterways.
- Furthermore, a tree advisory group supports the club in caring for its valuable forest areas, which include unique New Zealand species, such as a 500-year-old Kahikatea.
- In 2015, an energy audit led to LED lighting upgrades and other energy efficient resource management.
- Petrol powered golf carts have been replaced by models fitted with rechargeable lithium-ion batteries.
- They will replace also maintenance machinery and irrigation hardware with new, more resource efficient technology.
- A community walking and cycling path were constructed along the banks of the Hutt River.
The importance of reconomy
The Royal Welling Golf Club should also consider reusing, recycling materials and not just reduce the energy consumption. What would be a great initiative is utilizing recommerce to grow the game.
Recommerce (at its core, the buying, and selling of used goods) could help those people who otherwise would not afford to buy golf clubs and balls, but also frugal golfers.
I know this is not something totally new, but worth highlighting. I assume some of you have already heard about The RealReal a recommerce luxury company. They claim that they are a leader in the circular economy movement and an innovator in sustainable luxury.
We could move beyond lake balls (aka recycled golf balls). I could imagine a cooperation between golf clubs and second-hand golf equipment sellers (e.g. Golfbidder, Globalgolf, TGW) to facilitate this idea.
Consumers who have always been comfortable reselling items like cars, electronic devices, they will be open to resell their golf clubs as well (I know several such groups on Facebook). Today’s customers want to be seen as savvy and less as conspicuous customers. This means customers are moving toward considered consumption.
The golf club will have an important task, namely to curate the quality of the golf club.
Do you want to have savvy, current and eco-friendly customers?
