How you feel about the impact of golf on the environment/ecology

[legitimatebeef]

Just feel like opening a loose discussion here. My own position is changing these days. At the very least I no longer view a golf course as nature. Golf courses are often adjacent to nature for sure. They contain some natural materials and objects. They sometimes, incidentally, can act as sanctuaries for certain wildlife. But increasingly I am seeing them as artificial, or even perverse. It is more obvious to me here on the dry west coast. In the northeast, courses don't stick out from the environment as much. They resemble ordinary parks, which are also full of green grass. Whereas over here, lawns are going extinct. People don't like to be seen washing their car in the driveway. So of course the amount of water used by a golf course would seem extra obscene.

If it turns out that we are doomed to an apocalyptic Mad Max kind of future, at least we can have simulated golf.

[bkuehn1952.2]

There are many other recreational facilities that use natural resources while appearing natural, like ski areas and man-made lakes. Building golf courses in arid or desert areas seems obscene but if a community permits the construction, they have no one to blame than themselves when the water runs out.

[GBOGEY]

I have to agree with BK. There are many if not most leisure pursuits which are not environmentally friendly in some way. That said, golf courses need to keep improving their practices, especially when it comes to water usage and the thought of a golf course in an area where water is scarce does concern me. Which leads to another question- why do people want to live in the desert anyway and what are you supposed to do for fun in desert once you live there.