The World Has Almost 40,000 Golf Courses And A New Study Shows The Cost It’s Having On Our Environment

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If you ask a golfer, you’ll likely hear that it’s the best hobby in the world: just you, an open green, your clubs, and that small white ball that you hope to get into the hole rather than the lake.

It’s exercise for the body and the mind, as immense levels of concentration and calculations go into directing the ball while taking wind speed and gusts, the terrain, the distance and the various angles into account.

If you ask someone who hasn’t played more than a few rounds of mini-golf, however, the hobby seems much less enjoyable, with snooty golf clubs, expensive membership fees, and considerable levels of boredom just some of the factors that put people off playing.

Regardless though, golf is a highly profitable venture, with golf clubs maintaining prestigious membership packages and making between hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars every year, from a combination of members fees, green fees for visitors, and various other transactions.

So there’s no denying that golf contributes to economies, whilst making owners considerable amounts of money – a certain president being a prime example.

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However, golf courses have come under fire when it comes to global efforts to quell the burgeoning climate crisis.

Given how much water a golf course uses per year – not just for filling artificial lakes, but for keeping its grassy surface pristine – there is no denying that the venues use more than their fair share. This is particularly obvious when drought measures are in place in a community and, because of their business requirements, golf courses are still permitted to use all the water they desire to keep their grass a thick and luscious green.

But both the golfing community and the climate aware were staggered by new statistics from a study recently published in the journal Environmental Research Communications – but for different reasons.

While much of the world were aghast at the realisation that the world’s 40,000 golf courses take up more of the planet’s surface than all the solar panels and wind farms combined. Meanwhile, many in the golfing community were shocked by the suggestion that if just a small portion of each golf course were handed over to renewable energy generation, the effect on our efforts to combat the climate crisis would be astonishing.

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As the researchers write in the paper, the use of land for golf rather than renewables is understandable contentious:

“Land use is a critical factor in the siting of renewable energy facilities and is often scrutinized due to perceived conflicts with other land demands. Meanwhile, substantial areas are devoted to activities such as golf, which are accessible to only a select few and have a significant land and environmental footprint. Our study shows that in countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom, far more land is allocated to golf courses than to renewable energy facilities.”

But is transforming part of the green into a solar or wind farm really realistic?

Well yes it is, the researchers suggest. And in fact, if just some of the huge areas of land – particularly in countries where golf courses are most prolific – were sold to the environmental cause, we would have a much better chance of keeping this planet hospitable for generations to come:

“Areas equivalent to those currently used for golf could support the installation of up to 842 GW of solar and 659 GW of wind capacity in the top ten countries with the most golf courses. In many of these countries, this potential exceeds both current installed capacity and medium-term projections. These findings underscore the untapped potential of rethinking land use priorities to accelerate the transition to renewable energy.”

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The scientists used data from OpenStreetMap to discover that, of the 38,400 golf courses that our planet’s golfing community supposedly require, over 80% are spread over just ten countries – with the US’s 16,000 golf courses the most staggering figure.

There is more land taken up by golf courses across the world than by solar or wind energy plants, according to the findings of a new study.

Not only would transforming just some of this land result in huge amounts of clean energy generation, it would also save our planet from some of the excessive watering and chemical usage that happen on golf courses every day.

While the authors of the study claim that they are not advocating for the full-scale obliteration of golf courses, they are encouraging governments and local planners to consider the priorities of their land use more carefully.

Sure, golf can be fun, but isn’t having a clean and safe planet more enjoyable?

If you found that story interesting, learn more about why people often wake up around 3 AM and keep doing it for life.