Strong support for German Bee Week: 146 clubs took part in German Bee Week around World Bee Day and sent out a strong signal during the project week for more biodiversity on German golf courses. “The club engagement was fantastic, I’m very pleased with how the Bee Week went,” summarises Bianca Bertsch, Head of Marketing at the Bavarian Golf Association, which initiated the Bee Week and continues to be responsible for overall coordination. “Above all, however, there was a lot of momentum in the registration process shortly before the end because golf clubs from Rhineland-Palatinate, Hamburg and Lower Saxony also wanted to take part.” With Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg, Hesse, Schleswig-Holstein and North Rhine-Westphalia, a total of eight regional associations of the German Golf Association have now joined the initiative.
With 38 participating golf courses each, the golf associations of Hesse and Baden-Württemberg were particularly well represented. “It’s great how many of our golf courses took part in this campaign. This shows how important environmental and species protection is to golfers in Hesse,” says Christofer Hattemer, President of the Hessian Golf Association, enthusiastically.
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There were no limits to the creativity of the golf courses. Various activities were organized around World Bee Day. At GC Neuhof, for example, beekeeper Hermann Grennerth was on site with his Honey-Mobile and a beehive showcase. The youth training on this day was also used in part to learn everything important about beekeeping and the habitat of bees. Honey varieties were available for testing. At the senior golf tournament taking place at the same time, bee sting was served to get in the mood, the additional “Nearest to he bee” competition was offered during the round and the best “bee outfit” was chosen.
Most golf clubs used the classic match days for bee tournaments. For example, a bee tournament was held three times at GC Hof Hausen vor der Sonne. All age groups were involved. The older ones at the senior golf, the kids at the after-school tournament and all golfers at the classic after-work tournament.
The German Bee Week, originally known as the Bavarian Bee Week, has evolved into a successful model over the years, as it is easy for golf courses to implement with minimal effort and is also highly popular among golfers. Additionally, projects focused on nature and biodiversity enhance the image of golf clubs in society and underscore their significance in the context of nature conservation.
