Page 10 - GBC ENGLISH spring 2024

Message From The CEO, NGCOA Canada • Jeff Calderwood
The First Tee
Introducing the Sustainable Golf Program
In November, the NGCOA Canada, CGSA, and GEO Foundation announced a new partnership, Sustainable Golf, providing a very important initiative to the Canadian golf industry.
For those of you who attended the Golf Business Canada Conference & Trade Show in Montreal, you received some advance insights into the value of Sustainable Golf directly from GEO Foundation executive director, Kelli Jerome. Her keynote speech was highly rated by delegates, and the program attracted many golf courses to register right away.
This issue of Golf Business Canada magazine profiles the benefits of this new initiative to your golf business and to our industry overall.
As you will read, members of both the NGCOA Canada and CGSA can now take advantage of this opportunity. Participation begins with several free member benefits, which both the NGCOA Canada and CGSA have invested into on your behalf. These include your compli- mentary access to the Sustainability Golf Pledge, OnCourse Canada Program, and Sustainable Golf Leaderboard.
You can also choose to further enhance your sustainability journey with very affordable options such as an Annual Sustainable Golf Scorecard, Carbon Footprint Recommendations, and full Sustainable Golf Certification. These, and more supporting services, are delivered by the GEO Foundation, which is the internationally recognized, accredited, golf-specific, not-for-profit, sustainability organization based in Scotland. It effectively supports the golf industries in dozens of countries around the world, and now introduced into Canada.
In addition to the best practices and other benefits to your own golf business, this Sustainable Golf initiative provides our industry with improved messaging about our environmental stewardship. Many golf courses have already implemented a lot of the best practices in this program, but we often have not told our story effectively to the rest of society. One key element of this program is the improvement of that messaging to the public and government at all levels.
National Golf Day, for example, can now have more focus on communicating the leadership of golf course operators in the sustainability space, backed up by better data and proven communication
strategies. Government legislators are craving such solutions to the public’s concerns over climate change and environmental risks.
Golf courses have a great story to tell about their preservation of greenspace, biodiversity, carbon sequestration, and so much more. Improved messaging, supported by the GEO Foundation, can influence future legislation in our favour. We can also improve golf’s “brand” by leveraging such messaging through all available media channels. Ultimately, that enhanced brand leads to growing the game, as society increasingly wants to engage in activities that demonstrate sustainability. Similarly, golf’s brand can influence employment, which is a high priority for our industry. People now prefer occupations and employers who lead with effective sustainability.
Welcome to Canada, Sustainable Golf.
Jeff Calderwood, CEO NGCOA Canada jcalderwood@ngcoa.ca
10Golf Business Canada