It started with an energy check in order to energy optimise the buildings, but developed into a geothermal system and became the starting point for a large number of sustainable and environmentally sound initiatives at the Samsø Golf Club.

Green Golfclub on Samsø

CATEGORI: Planet

Contact Person and project manager from the Energy Academy:

Purpose and description

Through Energy and environmentally correct initiatives to make Samsø Golf Club pioneer in the industry – both in Denmark and abroad.

To become the inspiration and learning platform for other golf clubs, for the training of greenkeepers and for park rangners wortking for the municipality.

Samsø is already known as renewable energy island, so the golf course also wanted to contribute to this project on several different fronts. The goal was to show that a golf club and a leisure activity can work without the use of fossil fuels, and at the same time do something good for the environment.

As part of this, Samsø Golf Club has set a goal of becoming environmentally certified in the Golf Environment Organization (GEO)

World Goal:

7. Affordable and Clean Energy. 13. – Climate Action. 15. – Life on Land. 17. – Partnership to achieve the Goal

Running time:

2011 – ?

Progress and conclusion:

The energy and environmental solutions that greets the golfers and the visitors to Samsø are many. The project has developed over the years. Samsø Golf Club considers the environment and leads the way for other golf clubs around the world. Now the golf club, along with various suppliers and the Samsø Energy Academy, are developing products and methods that other sectors also can benefit from. Innovation through collaborations can cause environmental solutions that without working together across industries never would have been developed and implemented. On Samsø they can be tested before they are propagated and scaled up. Visualisation promotes understanding of environmental problems and solutions and it promotes more innovative initiatives.

Local particepants:

Samsø Golf Club, Samsø Municipality, Samsø Energy Academy, Local farmers

Partneres:

Grundfos, DLF trifolium, PRODANA, Svenningsen maskiner

Partnerships on the golf course between the energy and environmental sectors, municipalities, private companies as well as input from aroad can lead to the development of new energy and environmental solutions.

Therefore, the Energy Academy supports and facilitates cooperation between the parties at local level to ensure:

1. Barriers are identified and the solutions implemented

2. A faster realisation of environmental goals

3. Better environmental conditions than the rules require

4. Involvement, co-ownership and positive behavioral impact of civil society

Donor:

No donor – Voluntary support from Samsø Energy Academy and Samsø Golf Club

Criteria for success:

Samsø Golf Club was presented with The Golf Environment Prize in 2015 as proof of the great environmental effort the club had made and continues to make.. The prize was founded to focus on the many green initiatives the country’s golf clubs are implementing.

The Golf Sports Environment Prize was awarded by a committee consisting of representatives from the Danish Golf Union, the Outdoor Sports Council, the Danish Sports Federation, the Danish Society for Nature Conservation, the Danish Environmental Protection Agency and the Danish Greenkeeper Association.

Already, the pilot project with micro-clover and algal fertilizer is being used on Samsø Municipality’s football field and the municipality’s other green areas.

Ecology and sustainability consideration is still growning on Samsø. The growing environmental conscious German market and the other neighboring countries inspires.

It is easy to imagine the difference in the calculation of the environmental impact on a green green compared to a traditional green.

Results:

Every year, the course receives more and more visits from interested parties who not only come to play golf, but also to experience the various initiatives that have been made to become Denmark’s Greenest Golf Course.

Water is recycled on the golf course – and nutrition is therefore maintained in the circuit. In a future project, rainwater, which is led from the drainage systems to the low-lying golf lakes, will be pumped back to a reservoir by means of pumps powered by solar cells and a small local wind turbine. The green mower is now powered by electricity,and it has solar cells. The golf carts have got solar cells on the roof. The machines that cannot yet run on electricity have received a loving environmental treatment, so for example, the new fairway mower runs on common rail diesel, optimized for operation, this has made it 40% more enviromental friendly than the old one.

Sheep also gets a role. The latest effort is the maintenance of the rough with Gute sheep, a sheep breed that dates back to the Viking ages. In collaboration with a local farmer, it is ensured that the sheep along with the transportable fence moves around the right places on the field. Along with this organic weed control, delicious and healthy meat is produced under optimal animal welfare. Furthermore, the areas that are hard to access now being cared for by sheep, indeed as the golf club also uses the sheep to drive the weeds away, it now ends up in the sheep’s stomachs.

The golf course is no longer fertilized with traditional fertilizers, organic fertilizer, among other things are used. with cold-pressed seaweed algae, which improves the soil structure and therefore helps avoid snow molds disease etc.
As a positive side effect, new herdsmen, the preserved, green seeds, partridges etc. are thriving. The golfers can now meet a variety of small animals and watch these along with the larger animals such as hare and deer, and all visitors can enjoy the biodiversity of the trip around the course. The golf club currently has a development project with the development of micro-clovers that can save a lot of nitrogen and inhibit weeds. As a side win, it creates a beautiful and greener color in the off-season and on heavily loaded parts of the track. Micro clover also reduces the need for watering.

Since the golf course is not sprayed at all, dandelions from the grreen can be eaten – so perhaps the next club evening is called: Roast leg of lamb with a side golf course.

In order to involve and create co-ownership and pride in the golf club’s high environmental standard, the club has hands out a small tools that can take up dandilions easily for the players and engaged them in ecological operations.