Sustainable practices earned acclaimed Los Angeles restaurant Providence a Michelin Green Star (in addition to the two Michelin Stars it’s had since 2009). However, earning awards isn’t the driving force behind Providence’s eco-friendly approach. Instead, this elegant eatery works to offer one-of-a-kind dishes that make the most of Earth’s resources. For Providence, this means using produce from its rooftop garden and incorporating organic honey into cocktails and desserts.
During a recent tour of the restaurant, I got up close and personal with honeybee hives, explored the garden, tasted fresh ingredients, and spoke to chefs about sustainable cuisine. Here’s what I learned about designing a menu that keeps people and the planet happy.
What goes into eco-conscious dining
A lot of different terms get thrown around when discussing Earth-friendly cuisine. Go organic, reduce food waste, eat in season — these terms help define our relationship with food, but they can quickly overwhelm a person who’s just trying to enjoy a good meal. At Providence, dedicated professionals work together to enact sustainable practices at every level.
Let’s take it from the top. Providence’s rooftop garden and beehives provide chefs with a wealth of delicious, organic ingredients. During my tour of the garden, I tried currant tomatoes plucked straight from the vine and some of the best honey I’ve ever tasted. Regenerative beehives keep the bees healthy and encourage them to pollinate the garden. As on-site beekeeper and garden designer Robin Jones explained, the regenerative beehives also help prevent colony collapse.
Honey and produce harvested from this garden then get taken down to the restaurant’s kitchens. There, chef de cuisine Tristan Aitchison and his team use them to craft incredible meals. Fresh vegetables and herbs will join sustainably sourced seafood, while the organic honey sweetens pastries and cocktails. And when there are any scraps that the kitchen isn’t ready to part with, bar director Kim Stodel helps turn them into drinks. This summer, Stodel transformed watermelon rind and leftover mint into a flavoring for a cocktail known as the Cannonball.
Looking forward, Providence has its eye on starting a sustainable farm. Until then, the team will continue finding clever ways to green their kitchen.
Can we change up the old adage to say, “Get your chips on. . .Route 11”? OK, so it may not evoke the same memories as the old Route 66 song, but the statement is true. If you have the chance, pick up a bag or two (or ten) of Route 11 Kettle-Cooked …
Can we change up the old adage to say, “Get your chips on. . .Route 11”?
OK, so it may not evoke the same memories as the old Route 66 song, but the statement is true. If you have the chance, pick up a bag or two (or ten) of Route 11 Kettle-Cooked Chips.
Here’s the story: Sarah Cohen (pictured above) and a partner started producing small batch potato chips in 1992. They went with the old-fashioned way of cooking them, and built their way up to a 25,000 sq. ft. state-of-the-art facility located on—what else—Route 11 in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. While they still work in small batches, they now cook up between 15,000-30,000 pounds of potatoes a day.
Cohen is understandably proud of their 31st anniversary this year. “It started with me and one other person,” she says. “Now we have 50 employees.”
As for selling the product, she points out that the company’s namesake, Route 11, makes a difference. “When I started the business, I had to beg people to deliver. Now people are driving by and they stop. We are within 500 miles of 60 percent of the U.S. population.”
Cohen, who grew up working in a family-owned hotel and restaurant in D.C., says she chose potato chips “because they have velocity—they move off the shelves quickly.” It also taught her the value of good working relationships. She says, “I knew I didn’t want a lot of employee turnover, so I really bend over backwards to make sure my staff is happy. Now 75 percent of them have been working here between 10 and 15 years.”
Of course, it all starts with selecting quality potatoes, sourcing locally when they can. In fact, they buy a million pounds of potatoes from one local farmer alone per season. Then it’s a matter of patiently working through the process. It takes two full days to cook 50,000 pounds of potatoes.
“Since day one we’ve encouraged people to come in and see the process,” Cohen says. The lobby of the plant is testament to that, with windows open to see the potatoes through each step.
Those steps are:
Step One: The potatoes arrive, then are seasoned and weighed.
Step Two: Peeling, which sounds daunting until you realize they have a machine that does 50 pounds in 20 seconds.
Step Three: Slicing. In just 8 minutes 100 pounds of potatoes turns into 25 pounds of chips.
Step Four: Cooking—in sunflower oil.
Step Five: Chip inspection for quality control. (And, for the record, the cows down the road get all the chip rejects!)
Step Six: Package, distribute, eat, repeat.
Route 11 Chips in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia–warm and right off the production line.
While they have high tech conveyors and scales, this is still small batch, with people at every stage. “We’ve kept jobs that could be automated,” says Cohen. “We only have two production lines. The equipment requires someone to stand there anyway.” She adds, with a grin, “They are like chefs on steroids!”
As for their customers, Cohen says they are primarily mom and pop stores, with some regional grocery and a pick-up from Costco for their region only. While the big business is nice, Cohen points out, “When we are this small we can’t sell to everybody.” She says that makes them “very selective about our customers. We want low maintenance and high margins.”
Then she brings out warm potato chips, fresh from the production line. “People are dedicated to their potato chip brand,” she warns. “It’s a comfort food. It can be hard to get them to switch.” In spite of her words, we are immediately hooked. The bag of warm chips is soon gone, replaced by a huge bag of packaged variety flavors. “We were the first ones ever to invent the dill pickle flavor on chips,” says Cohen, who is wearing a green t-shirt with the saying, “Dill Pickles Are a Big Dill.”
She adds, “We are certified kosher. The rabbi shows up every two months for an extensive inspection process.” (And, we suspect, for some chips.)
The chips run the gamut from the traditional flavors such as Barbeque and Salt N Vinegar, to the traditional with a twist: a seasonal Yukon Gold “which tastes like butter,” and a seasonal Sweet Potato. They have Chesapeake Crab, and a hot variety called Mama Zuma’s Revenge. You can get a bag of Lightly Salted, or Sour Cream N Chive, or Salt and Pepper, or even No Salt.
Then, if you still want to carry some Route 11 with you, check out the earrings made from recycled chip bags. It’s a sign of the commitment to local, to sustainability, and, yes, to a little bit of quirky. So, if you find yourself on Route 11, be sure to stop. For a real kick, try the Dill Pickle.
About This Series
The Shenandoah Valley is nestled between the Blue Ridge and Appalachian Mountains in historic and scenic west-central Virginia. It has the transportation infrastructure and connection to markets in every direction. One of their major areas of focus is the food processing taking place in the region. The Food Channel recently had the opportunity to work with the Virginia Economic Development Partnership (VEDP) to tour some of the up and coming places, and to talk with entrepreneurs as well as established business people eager to tell the Virginia story.
The Shenandoah Valley is nestled between the Blue Ridge and Appalachian Mountains in historic and scenic west-central Virginia. Interstates 81 and 64 traverse the region, providing an excellent transportation infrastructure and connection to markets in every direction. The area is plentiful in natural resources and boasts a powerful cluster of employers rooted in manufacturing, agriculture, and logistics. Food and beverage production is at the heart of the manufacturing sector, representing four times the national average and employing more than 5% of the Valley’s labor force of over 175,000 people at major companies. The Shenandoah Valley is also the No.1 region in Virginia for the total value of agricultural products sold.
Extreme E has released new figures outlining the level to which its female drivers improved relative to their male counterparts in the second season of the all-electric offroad series. Extreme E is unique in that each team must run both a male and …
Extreme E has released new figures outlining the level to which its female drivers improved relative to their male counterparts in the second season of the all-electric offroad series.
Extreme E is unique in that each team must run both a male and female driver – with both sharing driving duties of a single car, switching places midway through each race – and Extreme E’s annual Sustainability report, released today, shows that that there was a 26 percent improvement in performance of the female drivers compared to the series’ first year.
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The difference between the male and female median times across Season 1 (2021) was 9.7 percent at its highest point (the Island X Prix in Sardinia), with a season average difference of 5.8 percent.
However, last year that season-long average dropped to 4.5 percent, with the biggest gap being at the season-opening Desert X Prix in Saudi Arabia (6.3 percent), and remaining in a window of 1.5 percent for the rest of the season.
Further highlighting the increase in performance of the female drivers was Cristina Gutierrez, who set the fastest overall lap time in the Copper X Prix in Chile, which helped her and X44 teammate Sebastien Loeb secure the title.
Cristina Gutierrez (left) was fastest overall in Chile last year. Charly Lopez/Motorsport Images
“We feel incredibly proud to see the performance gap between males and females close by almost a third in just two seasons, proving beyond doubt that this gender equal sporting format is creating genuine sporting impact for female drivers,” said series founder and CEO Alejandro Agag.
On the environmental side, a key focus of Extreme E, the report also confirmed that it has remained completely carbon neutral, and reiterates that last year’s season finale was powered by completely renewable energy.
The Energy X Prix in Uruguay (pictured top) was the world’s first zero emissions motorsport event thanks to the use of on-site solar panels and hydrogen fuel cells to power all event infrastructure, including the charging of the race cars.
The event set the blueprint for future events, with the series increasing its investment in renewable solutions as part of its plans for an entirely sustainable future.
Extreme E has already increased the capacity of the hydrogen fuel cell it uses to power events as well as planning to introduce a microgrid system that will combine the hydrogen with solar and wind power to help with its pledge to continue to use 100 percent renewable energy.
“The Report illustrates how Extreme E is leading the way as an action-based test bed for innovation and progress beyond the series,” said Agag. “We have once again consistently achieved the lowest carbon footprint in motorsport in front of a TV audience which grew by 30 percent – reaching 135 million viewers during Season 2 and continuing to grow its circle of influence.”
Outdoorsy people flock to Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada, for its water activities, remote forest hikes, whale watching, and Indigenous culture. Management organization Destination Greater Victoria (DGV) is protecting these natural and cultural resources. In March, DGV earned Biosphere Certification, making Greater Victoria the first urban destination in Canada or the United States to receive this honor. The Responsible Tourism Institute, which awards this certification, recognizes destinations that demonstrate extreme commitment to environmental sustainability, cultural diversity, equity, and social responsibility.
The team celebrates the new certification. / Photo courtesy of Destination Greater Victoria
“I am so proud of the hard work that our committee has done since forming in 2020, and of Destination Greater Victoria’s dedication to sustainability, despite so many challenges our industry faced during this time,” Erin Cassels, chair of DGV’s Sustainability Committee and the general manager of Huntingdon Manor and Pendray Inn and Tea House, said in a statement. “It is incredible to see the values of so many tourism stakeholders in Victoria align and commit to a future in which we have the most positive impact on our home community as possible.”
The Responsible Tourism Institute has four ranks: Committed, Certified, Gold Certified, and Platinum Certified. Currently, only 45 destinations around the world have earned Biosphere certification. Many of these locations are in Spain and Portugal. In Canada, the Northern B.C. Tourism Association, Kootenay Rockies Tourism Association, Cariboo Chilcotin Coast Tourism Association, Thompson Okanagan Tourism Association, and Tourism Vancouver Island are all Biosphere Certified.
Photo courtesy of Destination Greater Vancouver
Greater Victoria includes the city of Victoria, plus other Vancouver Island communities like Saanich, Sooke, and the Gulf Islands. Tourism adds $2.3 billion annually to the economy. As more people prioritize sustainability in their travel decisions, Biosphere certification could become even more important — especially for industry meetings and events.
“The landscape of the business events sector is evolving, and conferences and major events are increasingly seeking tangible evidence of a destination’s dedication to sustainability,” Emma C. Parston, a partner at events specialty company Connect Seven Group, said in a statement. “Biosphere certification marks a significant achievement for Destination Greater Victoria, providing international recognition of ongoing efforts to enhance sustainability practices, as well as a strong foundation for a local sustainable supplier network to create and attract more sustainable events in and to the destination.”
Photo courtesy of Destination Greater Victoria
In addition to the region as a whole being certified, DGV’s member businesses can also get individual Biosphere certifications. So far, 12 Victoria area businesses are participating in the program. DGV hopes to get the number up to 60 by the end of 2023.
A desert course can use up to 1 million gallons of water a day in the heat of the summer, less in the cooler winter months.
Even in the middle of a cool and wet winter in California in general, officials of the Coachella Valley Water District have a blunt message for the desert’s golf course industry: Take the ongoing drought seriously, because changes could be coming to water availability sooner rather than later.
“We wanted to give the picture as we know it today where the state of play is for our water resources,” said Dr. Robert Cheng, assistant general manager for CVWD and one of the main speakers at a golf and water summit that attracted more than 150 golf industry officials Wednesday at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage. “We hope we paint a picture that is accurate, that is dire, that there is a need for additional actions from the golf industry to help them still maintain viability in this current situation.”
Golf course superintendents and general managers from throughout the desert listened to presentations on advances in drought-tolerant grasses and technological advances that can help save water on the desert’s 120 courses. But Cheng and Pete Nelson, a director of the CVWD, made the more important presentation on the state of the Colorado basin and how water from the Colorado River can no longer be counted on as a long-term solution to irrigation needs for golf courses or agriculture in the desert.
“The facts on the ground in the desert have never really created any sense of urgency,” said Craig Kessler, director of public affairs for the Southern California Golf Association and the head of the Coachella Valley Golf and Water Task Force. “But the important point in today’s presentation is the facts on the ground now create a sense of urgency in the Coachella Valley golf community as well, precisely because it is the Colorado River water allocation that has to be dealt with.”
Eighteen golf courses served by CVWD use strictly river water for irrigation, while more than 30 others use a blend of river water, recycled water and groundwater pumped from the aquifer under the desert. A desert course can use up to 1 million gallons of water a day in the heat of the summer, less in the cooler winter months. River water has been an inconsistent source of water, with Cheng saying the district has received as much as 70 percent of its contracted allotment in some years since the mid-2010s, but only five percent of that allotment in each of the last three years.
“This valley has survived droughts. That was the whole point of me making the point to 2014 (a drought year with just 5 percent allotment). I mean, something happened, and we still survived,” Cheng said. “I think what the story now is, as we are starting January 2023, it’s a different world. I think the spotlight and intensity of the drought conversation in the 23rd year of the drought is real.”
Nelson told the gathering how water levels at both Lake Powell and Lake Mead on the Colorado River continue to decline. Even with the snowpack in the Colorado basin at 126 percent, Nelson said that will only provide a little more water than needed for an average year, not enough to wipe out two decades of drought in the basin that provides water for seven states and Mexico.
“That 7 million acre feet of water (in the snowpack this year) does not meet the demand of 9 million acres feet in the lower basin,” Nelson said. “So that’s Arizona, that’s California and it’s southern Nevada. And interestingly enough, that’s where all the golf courses are, right?”
The Mesquite Golf and Country Club in Palm Springs, January 31, 2020. (Photo by Jay Calderone/Palm Springs Desert Sun)
Federal mandates coming?
Nelson is part of negotiations trying to reach a consensus by the end of the month on a framework to keep the lakes above levels needed to generate electricity and to provide water for the Colorado basin. He told the crowd Wednesday he was not confident a deal can be reached by Jan. 31, which would allow the United States Bureau of Reclamation to come up with its own plan.
“Will the bureau come up with their own framework? Absolutely,” Nelson said. “They are going to look at things like reasonable and beneficial use of water. In government terms, that’s a 417 action. So they look at water use and see if it is reasonable and beneficial. Your and my observation of what is reasonable and beneficial is probably different from theirs.”
Chris Bien, golf course superintendent at Desert Willow Golf Resort in Palm Desert and president of the Hi-Lo Desert Golf Course Superintendents Association, said the turnout Wednesday showed that golf facilities are taking water conservation seriously.
“We talk about it more than we used to and having this many people in the room sit there for two and a half hours and listen to everyone’s opinions, well, everybody came because they wanted to hear about it,” Bien said. “So absolutely we are taking it much more seriously.”
Tim Putnam, director of agronomy at La Quinta Country Club, said he attended the meeting to hear about the future Colorado River water restriction. Putnam said his club could move quickly on some conservation projects.
“We’ve got a turf reduction design ready to go. That’s why we asked the question. If we implement this right away, will we get credit for it,” Putnam said about looming mandates for reductions. “If they stick to the water budget, you’ve got a water budget based on the acreage at your facility, you’ve got to reduce the amount of that budget, not just a flat say 20 percent when you are already watering super efficiently.”
Another concern for superintendents and general managers was funding of such project. Clubs estimate it costs between $15,000 and $20,000 to take out one acre of turf and replace it with drought-tolerant plants and irrigation, and the return on that investment is long term. Some new funding for such projects could be on the way through the federal Inflation Reduction Act passed last August. Some of the money from that bill is set aside for fund water conservation projects. Cheng told the crowds that by May, CVWD will be ready to help golf courses apply for those funds.
“The message we hope (golf officials) will take to heart is that we want the golf course industry to survive,” Cheng said, noting that golf employs around 8,000 people in the desert and produces $700 million in revenue. “We recognize the importance of it. Right now, we have a golden opportunity to access some funding from the federal government to help you achieve some of these conservation measures.”
“There is confusion on how to sell it to a membership or a municipality,” Bien said. “You want to be able to say, ‘Hey, we are going to do this and we are going to get it paid for, or part of it paid for, or we’ll get funding.’ And we don’t know that we are actually going to get that, and it is hard to say that. So I think we are all trying to do other (conservation acts) in addition to that.”
Bien added that the message for the golf industry at the summit was clear.
“It was informative. We got a picture of what the future could hold, and we need to do better as an industry as a whole,” Bien said.
Kessler added the desert is still in better shape for golf courses than other areas of Southern California.
“Urgency by desert standards is a fraction of the coast (Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties), but as you heard from Peter Nelson’s presentations, if you look at the levels of those two lakes, it just keeps going down even when we have wet years,” Kessler said.
The report took a look at how much water golf courses in Arizona were using, the source of the water, the allocations allotted and what, if any, enforcement mechanisms existed to crack down on any potential bad actors.
In response to the story, the Arizona Alliance for Golf sent a statement to The Republic and Golfweek, rebutting many of the points raised in the story.
The statement was signed by The Arizona Alliance for Golf, Arizona Golf Association, Visit Phoenix, Southwest Section PGA of America, Cactus & Pine Superintendents Association, National Golf Course Owners Association (Arizona Chapter), Greater Southwest Chapter, Club Management Association of America, Junior Golf Association of Arizona, First Tee of Phoenix and The Thunderbirds, a community organization that runs the WM Phoenix Open at TPC Scottsdale.
We are running the statement in its entirety here:
What a disappointment. The story “Arizona golf courses use way more water than they’re supposed to. Nothing is stopping them” by Balint Fabok published July 28th could have been an opportunity for an insightful and important discussion of water use by one of the state’s leading industries. Unfortunately, it was not. Rather, it reads as a biased commentary that lacks understanding of significant current industry and water conservation practices and uses incomplete data to reach half-truths and mischaracterizations.
The assertion Arizona golf courses “use way more water than they are supposed to,” is simply unfair and untrue. Our industry uses just 1.3% of Arizona’s CAP water. We make significant contributions to the state and courses strive to use our water allotment as efficiently as possible each year. The Arizona Department of Water Resources offers an excellent interactive dashboard of water use. A quick look at its charts shows (while a few courses may sometimes exceed their individual allotment) the industry as a whole has consistently used less water than the conservation allotments.
The article also states total water usage by all golf courses in Arizona has not significantly changed between 2002 and 2020. By itself this statement is accurate. However as presented, it is grossly misleading. The total number of golf courses in the state increased considerably between 2002 and 2020. Leaving out this critical context biases any discussion of total water-use. A per capita analysis of water use over time would have been more enlightening to your readers.
Besides, such assertions just don’t make sense. Water is expensive. Depending upon the size of the operation, water is either the biggest or second biggest expense to any golf course in Arizona. Not only that, but overwatering a golf course creates substantial problems, ranging from poor playing conditions to turf disease. All are costly and time consuming to remedy. There are zero incentives for golf courses to waste water and substantial benefits to using water as efficiently as possible. In fact, many courses are reducing turf annually, and 30 courses have recently taken advantage of a state-sponsored incentive program to reduce turf at their facilities to continue saving water.
We are willing to chalk these oversights up to Mr. Fabok’s inexperience and his unfamiliarity with the subject matter. Afterall, he is, in his own words, “not an expert.” Mr. Fabok didn’t share in his article he had been asked to speak with some courses and was also invited to join a local podcast hosted by Arizona golf course superintendents to discuss water use in the state. The hosts had hoped to have an in-depth discussion with Mr. Fabok and provide comprehensive answers to his questions. Instead, Mr. Fabok declined the invitation, stating he is “not an expert” and that he already had determined the focus of his story. His reluctance to be on a podcast is understood if he was not wanting to air his conclusions prior to completing his story. However, how could he not have used the opportunity to at least ask his questions offline on this complicated issue with actual experts? Instead, he purposely avoided an opportunity to be educated and then led the reader to conclude the entire industry was unwilling to communicate with him.
If he is not expert enough to discuss the topic, how is it exactly that he is qualified to write about it?
Another gross mischaracterization is the insistence Arizona’s golf industry is unwilling to pull its weight in the state’s water conservation efforts. Nothing could be further from the truth. For some perspective, ADWR allocates water resources using 10-year management plans. The Third Management Plan went into effect January 2000. The Fourth Management Plan was to go into effect in January 2010. However, that plan was not finalized until recently. Currently the Phoenix Active Management Area is still operating under the Third Management Plan. The Fourth will go into effect this coming January 2023. It will reduce the golf industry’s water allotment by 2.7%. To help the state catch up, the Fifth Management Plan will be enacted in January 2025. It will reduce the golf industry’s water allotment by an additional 1.3%. In total the golf industry’s water allotment will be reduced by 4% over the course of two years.
The author also chides Scottsdale National Golf Club for appearing to exceed its allotment. He was using Scottsdale National’s allotment number for the club’s water allotment prior to 2016 when it operated only one 18-hole golf course. Since 2016, the club has opened 27 more holes. The fact it now uses “more than twice as much water” than it did in 2016 should come as no surprise. This same circumstance occurred at least one other time we know about.
It also is not accurate to say neither the Arizona Alliance for Golf (AAG) nor the Arizona Golf Association replied to the author’s emails. The AAG sent him a statement and directed him to our website. The website has all the information he sought, information the author blithely discounted, as if $4.6 billion in economic impact to the state and 51,000 jobs aren’t worth considering. The article acknowledged the golf industry uses just 2% of the state’s water but then the author wrote of golf’s economic contribution, “though $4.6 billion is a lot of money, it represented just 1.2% of the state’s economy in 2019.” By comparison, the agriculture industry uses 70% of the state’s water and contributes roughly 6% to its economy. Is agriculture an unworthy industry in The Arizona Republic’s eyes as well? Is it not worth considering almost 10% of the state’s population participates in golf, the millions of dollars in charitable contributions, the millions of tourists, or the hundreds of thousands of underprivileged kids being taught life lessons?
This article is better suited as an opinion piece. The Arizona Republic should have pursued a more complete data set, understood the evolution of ADWR management plans, and should have engaged, rather than avoided, industry experts to provide the reader accurate and balanced reporting.
Our industry provides Arizona considerable contributions to jobs, tourism, hotel occupancy and restaurant sales, enhances property taxes and sales taxes and offers significant social outreach programs. Up to 10%, and perhaps more, of Arizona residents play golf for their recreational, social and lifestyle needs. Golf deserves a deeper understanding of our positive impacts before any one writer falsely predetermines we aren’t appropriate stewards.
As water demands grow in the West, the USGA supports studies that help keep golf afloat.
The U.S. Golf Association doesn’t just run championships and make rules. The governing body of golf in the U.S. and Mexico also has invested nearly $47 million dollars in the past four decades to promote turfgrass and environmental research.
It’s money well spent, as the USGA says its recently renamed Mike Davis Program for Advancing Golf Course Management and its related research saves the golf industry an estimated $1.92 billion annually. Much of that comes in the areas of water savings and more efficient use of fertilizer and pesticide.
In an era of droughts and increasingly demanding water restrictions, particularly in the U.S. West, such savings and improved agronomic practices not only help golf course superintendents provide better playing surfaces, in many ways the program has helped make the sport possible at all in the desert environments of the West.
As major lakes go dry and the Colorado River provides decreased flow to seven states, golf is often targeted as a waste of water. The USGA’s stewardship in sustainability has become even more important to an industry that provides a $192 billion annual economic impact involving some 2 million jobs in the U.S., as measured by the American Golf Industry Coalition.
“Golf Course superintendents have always been under scrutiny for water use,” Brian Whitlark, the USGA’s senior consulting agronomist for the West Region, told Golfweek. “… Everyone is in the same boat, and everyone is concerned about water use. I think we’re all – golf course superintendents, the research community, USGA agronomists – we’re all working together to find methods, strategies and technologies to reduce water use with the goal of still producing a good playing surface and keep business thriving. We’re all working toward that, and we’re definitely making strides.”
Moisture meters allow golf course superintendents to apply water only when and where needed. (Courtesy of the USGA)
Many of those strides are the result of the Mike Davis Program, which was launched in 1982 and until 2021 was known as the Turfgrass Environmental Research Program before being renamed in honor of the former USGA executive director/CEO.
In 2022, the program opted to provide funding for more than 80 university research projects, many of which focus on reducing water usage either though improved irrigation or the development of more drought-resistant grasses. The USGA said it invested $1.9 million in those programs in 2022, with more than a dozen universities receiving grants for both short-term and long-term projects.
“We’re trying to think 10 to 15 years into the future, what are the problems now, how we think that is going to change, and how we need to alter our research investment to make sure we have answers for those problems,” said Dr. Cole Thompson, the USGA’s director of turfgrass and environmental research.
Research topics tackle water sustainability in many ways, ranging from the development of better grasses that requires less water all the way to technology such as soil-moisture monitors that help golf course superintendents determine when to water and how much without wasting recourses.
Whitlark said most courses in the West have made dramatic changes in recent years to tackle water use responsibly, and the USGA-funded research has trickled down through the industry to help.
“I’m excited about drip irrigation,” Whitlark said. “I’m excited about turf conversion to bermudagrass. I’m excited about all these universities working together to breed a new grass that will stay green and grow year round. Those are the areas that will really change the industry over the next 10 to 15 years.”
Whitlark said there are many misconceptions among the non-golfing public about how course superintendents approach water use. Too many people, he said, are under the impression that golf course managers are trying to grow as much lush green grass as possible, and that they will use as much water as is available.
“Something that needs to be said, especially to non-golfers, is that the last thing golf course superintendents want to do is to produce lush green conditions,” Whitlark said. “I’ll tell you why: That means it’s an overwatered golf course. It’s not a great playing surface to play on lush green conditions.
“What superintendents want is to produce a firm golf course and healthy grass. And that can be a green golf course, I’m not talking about brown, it’s just not lush green. Golf course superintendents are producing a playing surface. Non-golfers look at their own lawn or gardens with lush green, but it’s so different on a golf course. It means just enough water to keep the grass healthy, and that’s it.”
Turfgrass research sponsored by the USGA has helped develop new varieties of grasses that are more drought and disease resistant. (Courtesy of the USGA)
Advancements in recent years have been able to cut water usage by as much as 30 percent at many courses, Whitlark said. Much of that has come through targeted water usage, as research topics have made their way into real-world applications. Other savings come through reduced turf acreage as courses replace traditional rough with native areas that require much less water. Many research topics involve the use of effluent water where available, even the use of new strains of grass such as paspalum that are saltwater tolerant.
Technology plays a great role. Instead of sprinkling blindly over dozens of acres of turf, modern course superintendents can individually control each of thousands of sprinkler heads on a course. Some courses have investigated targeted drip irrigation, providing just enough water to exactly the correct location. Advanced irrigation computer systems help superintendents further target areas identified by in-ground sensors – often in cooperation with onsite weather stations – as needing moisture replenishment while not overwatering nearby areas.
“Just by raising awareness about these types of strategies and getting people to help implement them, I think we can save a lot of water in the West especially,” Thompson said.
As climate changes and demands on water increase particularly in Western states, will it all be enough to save the sport? Thompson points out that golf’s water usage is, no pun intended, just a drop in the bucket of total public consumption. But as demands increase, he anticipates research helping to keep golf afloat as a whole.
Mike Whan, who became CEO of the USGA in 2021, has pledged to continue the organization’s investments in research to find ways to address water concerns and other environmental challenges.
“A core focus of the USGA is to ensure golf is not only thriving today, but it is growing in the next 20, 30 and 50 years,” Whan said in a media release announcing this year’s grant recipients. “To ensure future success, we need to continually invest in efforts that can address challenges that our game will face long-term – like water scarcity, the cost of labor/resources and the availability of land.
“We are making significant investments in research projects that will create an even more resource-friendly game. These advances are critically important steps to ensure that golf remains nimble and innovative in its approach to long-term sustainability.”
“Rory’s authenticity really matters. Golf binds us and we’re all in this together.”
When it comes to environmentally friendly golf, those of us who are enthusiastically incompetent at this grand game are well ahead of the curve. Let’s face it, we tend to recycle the same old rubbish every time we step on to the course.
Talk to some players and they’ll think golf’s green issues revolve around pitch marks, dodgy pin positions and stimp readings. The wider, more pressing debates, of course, cannot be ignored.
The term ‘sustainability’ may crop up everywhere these days but it’s far from a buzzword. Rather, it’s the bedrock upon which golf is trying to build, well, a sustainable future.
The game’s green credentials have come under significant scrutiny in recent years. Major developments on sensitive land – I’m not mentioning any Trumps here – have brought the kind of grim coverage you’d get if you hosted a soiree in a Downing Street garden.
Meanwhile, mighty expansions to existing championship courses to combat the modern game’s big-hitters, the slurping of vast reserves of water, chemicals sprayed here and there and the general jet-setting demanded by the global tours, gives golf a carbon footprint that would have Extinction Rebellion activists blockading the R&A’s Spring Meeting.
“The public conversation about golf and sustainability over the last 20 years has been much more on the negative side,” admitted Jonathan Smith, the founder of the GEO Foundation for Sustainable Golf, which sits less than an hour from the Scottish capital of Edinburgh. “But it’s golf’s job to let people outside the game know what action the industry is taking and what results and value it is generating.”
There is plenty of good work being done. Smith, who took on a role as the Scottish Golf Union’s environment adviser back in 1996 in a groundbreaking appointment, has spent 25 years helping golf protect nature, benefit communities and conserve resources.
His non-profit organization is a come all ye center of knowledge and guidance which everybody – from the game’s governing bodies to the professional tours through to local clubs – continue to embrace. As environmental issues intensify, that expertise is proving to be a vital club in the bag.
“In many ways, it can be a simple journey,” Smith said of some of these steps towards sustainability which can include anything from zero-emission buggies to birdhouses and beehives.
“A club could, for example, identify 10 patches of semi-rough that could become rough. The course then becomes more naturalized. That, in turn, cuts back on man-hours and fuel for maintenance and that could be a saving of, say, 4,000 pounds a year (about $5,500).
“It’s about creative thinking. Last year, we got a lot of people coming to us saying ‘we get it now, we need to do something, how can we do it?’. We are seeing a lot of interest in naturalization, water resilience and new generations of energy. If you’re not looking at these things now as a land-based sport then the world is working against you. You are wasting money, you have heightened costs, you have people heckling you about turning your land into housing estates. Sustainability will define most sectors, not just golf, for decades to come, if not forever. This is about golf being on the front foot.”
There’s plenty of food for thought. Rory McIlroy recently confessed to the “guilt” he felt about his carbon footprint and revealed the costly offsetting measures he was employing in consultation with the GEO Foundation. It was music to Smith’s ears.
“Rory’s authenticity really matters,” he said. “When he is trying to play his part then club managers, greenkeepers, everybody sees that and it filters down. Golf binds us and we’re all in this together.”
Go to big professional or amateur events these days and there are concerted, high-profile efforts being made to promote the sustainable message, whether cuts in single-use plastic, recycled caddie bibs or paper-free media centers.
“We have to be open about the challenges,” said Smith. “How can golf become a net-zero sector? That’s not easy. But it’s better to say it’s not easy and explain why we are trying to find ways to make it better. There are going to be some quite significant pressures long term. Imagine, for instance, if in some parts of the world golf didn’t have access to irrigation water? What would courses look like and what would players think of that? I’m not scaremongering; there are solutions to these things. But golf needs to find those solutions and to making the future it wants to happen.”
Retired Seahawks Garry Gilliam and Jordan Hill are top executives at The Bridge, which aims to build sustainable eco-villages across the U.S.
Even after retiring from the NFL, Seattle Seahawks players keep finding ways to give back to their community. Former offensive tackle Garry Gilliam and defensive tackle Jordan Hill, who have played football together for most of their lives, are uniting once again to create change in their hometown of Harrisburg, PA.
In lieu of coaching youth football camps after retirement, Gilliam founded The Bridge, an organization that aims to acquire “old properties like schools, malls, and warehouses” and turn them into sustainable and self-contained “eco-villages,” which include housing, commercial/retail, agriculture, education, and entertainment spaces. His old friend Hill, who was himself disillusioned with coaching youth football, quickly joined Gilliam at The Bridge and currently acts as its chief community officer.
The first of the company’s eco-villages, which broke ground in Nov. 2020 and is expected to open to the public by the summer of 2022, will be located at the site of the former Bishop McDevitt High School. It will also serve as the official headquarters for The Bridge, which operates under five core tenets: work, eat, learn, live, and play.
“We like to say we’re doing one of those five things throughout the day, so we need to do them in one place,” said Gilliam. “That’s the most sustainable thing.”
The new eco-village will utilize no-soil agricultural techniques such as aeroponics (using a mist environment to grow plants) and hydroponics (using mineral nutrient solutions), which takes up much less space than traditional methods and allows for year-round food production. Spaces will be provided for entrepreneurs to develop their own businesses, for specialized learning and trade programs, for entertainment activities such as zip lining and batting cages, and for affordable housing.
It may seem like a daunting project, but Gilliam and Hill strongly believe in their vision.
“It’s so much bigger than anybody would expect from a professional athlete,” Hill said. “Everybody assumes that it’s going to be some kind of sporting center . . . it’s far from it. It’s a generational change, and that’s the impact that we want to have.”
Can we change up the old adage to say, “Get your chips on. . .Route 11”?
Here’s the story: Sarah Cohen (pictured above) and a partner started producing small batch potato chips in 1992. They went with the old-fashioned way of cooking them, and built their way up to a 25,000 sq. ft. state-of-the-art facility located on—what else—Route 11 in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. While they still work in small batches, they now cook up between 15,000-30,000 pounds of potatoes a day. 
Cohen is understandably proud of their 31st anniversary this year. “It started with me and one other person,” she says. “Now we have 50 employees.”
Of course, it all starts with selecting quality potatoes, sourcing locally when they can. In fact, they buy a million pounds of potatoes from one local farmer alone per season. Then it’s a matter of patiently working through the process. It takes two full days to cook 50,000 pounds of potatoes.
Those steps are:
“We were the first ones ever to invent the dill pickle flavor on chips,” says Cohen, who is wearing a green t-shirt with the saying, “Dill Pickles Are a Big Dill.”
Then, if you still want to carry some Route 11 with you, check out the earrings made from recycled chip bags. It’s a sign of the commitment to local, to sustainability, and, yes, to a little bit of quirky. So, if you find yourself on Route 11, be sure to stop. For a real kick, try the Dill Pickle.
