Zero Waste Workshop added to Sustainability in Golf event

Experience Green, in partnership with the Sea Pines Resort, will host Sustainability in Golf… the Business of Green Sept. 25-27, 2014, at Plantation Golf Club (S.C.) in The Sea Pines Resort. The three-day offering includes a Symposium, Zero Waste Workshop and Community Walk. The event will welcome leading experts from the golf industry from the United States and Canada, including Pinehurst, the Toro Company, Dairy Creek Zero Waste Park (the first golf facility in the world to achieve the Zero Waste status) and more. The effort seeks to educate and inspire current and future generations of leaders for a shared sense of strategic stewardship to generate profit with purpose, and will focus on the business case for sustainability.

The Symposium, on Sept. 25, will include panel sessions that address measurement to support the return on investment for sustainability. It will highlight case studies, such as the Pinehurst No. 2 restoration, with special guest Robert Farren, CGCS, director of golf and maintenance at Pinehurst Resort, Pinehurst, N.C., as well as Golfdom Environmental Editor Anthony Williams, CGCS, CGM, director of grounds at Stone Mountain (Ga.) Golf Club. A session will focus on golf as a solution to build community and positively impact the environment and economy. A series of seven-minute presentations, “Seven for Sustainability,” will discuss specific initiatives such as Golf Facility Farming, Guest Preferences for Green and Equipment Goes Electric. It will also feature the RBC Next Steps survey to assess the current state of sustainability in the golf organizations represented.

Continuing education credits will be available for members of the GCSAA, CMAA, LPGA and PGA. The two-day registration for the Symposium and Zero Waste workshop is $299 per attendee, and is open through Sept. 22. Options for one-day attendance are also available.

“It is clear that ‘the way it has always been done’ may not address current challenges for the golf industry, such as limited resources, changing demographics, preferences of multi-generational golfers and club members. Sustainable practices can reduce costs, enhance image, engage the community and be a contributor to societal change,” says Teresa Wade, founder and executive director of Experience Green.