GOLF COURSE 2030 SCANDINAVIA

To achieve maximum impact from the turfgrass sector´s sustainability work in the future, it is of the utmost importance to establish international interdisciplinary collaborations, where all stakeholders make efforts to cooperate and align their resources and efforts using the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development with its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a steering document.

The R&A Golf Course 2030, established by the Royal & Ancient (R&A) in 2018, is a significant initiative to support and stimulate golf industry stakeholders to agree on a roadmap that secures optimal golf course condition and playability for current and future generations. The roadmap is also intended to highlight the potential for golf courses to be designed and managed to promote critical ecosystem services, and to restore and enhance biodiversity in ecologically simplified landscapes.

As part of the R&A Golf Course 2030 initiative, STERF has created Golf Course 2030 Scandinavia. This collaboration between STERF and the R&A regards ready-to-use research as an important tool to help prevent negative impacts on the planet and aims to develop new knowledge that is necessary to change the mindset and attitudes of people worldwide.

Thirteen on-going projects, including STERF´s IPM GOLF project, are being match-funded by the Golf Course 2030 programme. A new call for proposals was issued within the Golf Course 2030 programme during the autumn 2022 and a number of new projects will start during 2023. The aim of all projects is to improve sustainability and develop solutions that can be shared with golf course managers, greenkeepers and organisations involved in the maintenance and conditioning of golf facilities around the world.

Information about the R&A initiative Golf Course 2030 can be found at: https://www.randa.org/en/sustainability/ golfcourse2030

Information about Golf Course 2030 Scandinavia can be found at: www.sterf.org