Recycled Water
Pebble Beach in California is home to some of our country’s most beautiful coastlines and native forests, so it should come as no surprise that their resort is particularly committed to the protection of its breathtaking natural environment. Pebble Beach Golf Links features greens and fairways with high-quality recycled water. They also utilize slow release, organic fertilizers, pull the majority of their weeds by hand, and employ integrated pest management techniques to better reduce their need for chemical applications.
Pebble Beach Golf Links recycles over 6.5 million pounds of cardboard, glass and plastic each year. The Pebble Beach Company also maintains over 1,000 acres of natural open space, which includes planting thousands of drought-resistant and native plants and trees annually.
Choose Playability over Perfection
While the Bandon Dunes Golf Resort in Oregon benefits from a beautiful mix of climate and grass types, the resort also carries a commitment to the links style of golf, which values playability over aesthetic perfection.
Their strict walking-only policy further helps to reduce the resort’s carbon footprint. The Bandon Dunes Golf Resort has also made significant efforts to protect natural wildlife and vegetation throughout its development stages, choosing to work with the natural beauty of the rugged coast rather than against it. As a result, the resort provides maintenance with a “less is better” policy in regards to fertilizing, mowing and watering.
New Trees and Drainage for Dry Creek Beds
Much of the original oak woodlands around the Barona Creek Golf Club in California were depleted when cattle grazed on the 250-acre grounds for almost 100 years. The club employed a large-scale oak tree restoration project. This resulted in the transplanting of well over 170 mature and native oaks.
In order to increase the area’s biodiversity, architects Baird and Eckenrode worked together to craft natural-looking drainage areas into nearly dry creek beds. These beds produced new habitats while allowing the open land in between holes to serve as wildlife corridors.
The club also created 12 acres of streams and lakes for irrigation to provide vegetated shorelines for wildlife cover. Today, these shorelines serve as havens for migratory birds. In just a few short years, the number of bird species has more than doubled from 62 to 134.
