Golf & Nature is supported by Blühpakt Bayern
The “Golf & Nature” program, supported by the Bavarian Golf Association and the Bloom Pact Bavaria, is gaining momentum: by the end of the year, more than 50 golf courses should have achieved one of the three certification levels bronze, silver or gold. As newcomers, GC Maria Bildhausen, GC Memmingen and GC Sagmühle were able to receive the first award this year. The Achental Resort and the Golfpark Schönbronn have also opted for the program.
LBV provides support with the first measures
The Golf & Nature program in Bavaria is getting a boost from the “Bavarian Bloom Pact”. The reason: Those clubs that take part in the cooperation between the Bavarian Ministry of the Environment and the Bavarian Golf Association receive a free initial consultation from the State Association for Bird Protection and also a recommendation for sensible measures on their golf course. These also fit into the Golf & Nature program. Golf courses that have already participated in the Bavarian Bloom Pact have already completed part of the projects for the first Golf & Nature certification.
Classic examples of such measures are, for example, the optimization of mowing times and the professional removal of clippings, the creation of deadwood areas or cairns for amphibians, the optimization of water areas for insects or a better design of bank edge areas.
Legal certainty for golf courses crucial
While the Bavarian Bloom Pact is a project funded by the Bavarian Ministry of the Environment and free of charge for the clubs, which is about promoting insect diversity in open spaces, Golf & Nature is broader and primarily includes the areas of communication, occupational safety and legal security. “For golf courses, it is extremely important when dealing with the authorities that all approval documents are available and that the correct procedure of the course can be proven at any time, including in the areas of fertilization and plant protection,” explains Gunther Hardt, one of the program supervisors.
Marc Biber, head of the department for environmental and course maintenance at the German Golf Association, points out that no club has to prove all the necessary details immediately when entering the program. “We see the whole thing more as a process, mostly the clubs have to collect the documents first.”
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Golf courses that are already participating in the Bavarian Bloom Pact should be able to present the following documents to register for bronze certification:
- Documentation of the measures from the biodiversity project implemented
- Golf&Nature registration form and declaration of intent for the DGV
- Golf&Natur inventory survey form sub-area 1 (nature and landscape) edited
- Plant protection folder according to DGV checklist
