Golf under attack

THE ANTI-GOLF movement is gaining momentum almost in tandem with the game's popularity. Anti-golf activists see the sport as "the most serious environmental problem in the world". Tricia Barnett, a British conservationist and supporter of the Global Anti-Golf Movement (GAGM) (Down To Earth, August 15, 1993), thinks the campaign has struck a raw nerve because of "the horror of thinking that something that's for leisure and pleasure is really destructive".

Environmentalists say the rapid growth of the sport is harmful to nature because golf courses take up farm and forest land, destroy natural landscapes, cause erosion, disrupt drainage patterns, consume and pollute scarce water supplies and kill wildlife through excessive chemical use.

Japan -- a nation of avid golfers -- has led to very high club membership fees and long waiting lists. To solve the crisis, Japanese course developers and golfers have headed abroad. Japanese money has helped build many golf courses in Queensland, Australia.

Activists claim to have halted the construction of approximately 300 courses in Japan since 1988. They accuse Japanese developers of uprooting entire villages to make room for fairways. Several courses have been built in forests and national parks in Thailand, where golf courses are mushrooming to cater for Japanese golfers who cannot afford to play at home, they contend.

Taiwan has even handed over a protected rainforest to an entrepreneur as part of a drive to attract tourists. And in Malaysia, a golf resort on Redang Island is damaging coral reefs and mangrove forests, contends Chee Yok Ling, head of Friends of the Earth in Malaysia.

Irrigation of golf courses is a serious issue around the Mediterranean as well. In Malta, where the water supply system is struggling to meet demands, the government is considering applications for seven golf courses as part of its campaign to boost tourism.

In the US, golf courses drain scarce water supplies in states such as Arizona. In the desert city of Phoenix, anticipated shortages are forcing the government to spend $4 billion on an aqueduct. Yet, sprinklers operate almost continually in the city's 70 public golf courses.

In the British Isles, which has an equitable climate and less virulent weeds, a combination of the Augusta dream and plain bad management is a constant threat to wildlife. In Ireland, new courses are obliterating pristine sand dunes.

However, golf course designer Robert Trent Jones Jr dismisses GAGM's charges, insisting golfers "were probably the first environmentalists. They clean up after themselves." Jones has been called the father of environmental golf -- a concept that was introduced in Japan three years ago and is fast gaining popularity. The Ryokuei group runs 15 "chemical-free" courses in Japan and asks members to help weed the greens. Besides, the New York State Audubon Society rejects the "bomb-throwing, anti-everything attitude" and is working with the management of 800 golf courses in the US.