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Easy Sustainability Answers

I love golf. I also love the environment. Do I have to choose between them?

Adriene Hill Jul 21, 2010

Easy Answer: Yes. You probably do.

Think of it like this: If the environment is your wife, golf is your pricey mistress.

When you mess around with your mistress, you’re hurting your wife. Why? Your mistress’ alluring beauty doesn’t come cheap. She requires manicures and facelifts, constant plucking, round-the-clock attention, and all those resources come right out of your family bank account.

Similarly, your golf course requires hundreds of thousands of gallons of water each day to stay fresh-faced. And she needs her powders and potions too — pesticides and chemicals keep her that bright green shade that’s so darn sexy.

You can try — and here I’ll stress TRY– to work out some kind of, shall we say, “arrangement”. But you’re going to need to accept that you’ll never be able to afford the starlet-perfection of your current mistress. Some golf courses are working to become more environmentally friendly. They are cutting back on water and chemical use and are trying to pretty-up with native plants. So if you’re willing to be open-minded about looks, if you can get used to a few more blemishes, brown spots and rough patches, you may be able to make it work.

Is it enough? Is it even what you want? That’s up to you. If you really love both, you’re going to have to do some soul-searching. You could try to make everyone happy, try to have it both ways. But really, does that ever work out?

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