THE FUTURE

All brands, big and small, have to ask themselves how their products are made, what materials they use and what happens at the end of their product's life?

It is no longer good enough to ignore these questions, leaving a pollution legacy for others to bury in landfill sites, whether they are in your own backyard or in many cases transported to someone else's back yard.

Future products designed without such consideration are just rubbish and offer us no future.

For us golfers, golf balls need to be biodegradable. It is not sustainable to leave 350 million golf balls a year in the USA alone, to rot over a period between 100–1,000 years.

Golf apparel needs to made from materials which are recycled and or compostable.

All golf courses need to have compost toilets and minimal water, pesticide and fertiliser usage. Personally I cannot understand any refurbishment or new golf course development which does not embrace these practical measures.

Praise should not be heaped upon new courses which offer no sustainable solutions. No matter which ex-professional golfer or billionaire businessman is behind them. They are just a pollution eyesore.

Governing bodies need to show some backbone and insist upon sustainable measures for future golf equipment and natural golf courses.

Why did the R&A set up a separate, poorly funded body called the Golf Environment Organisation? To keep green issues at arms length? They should be fully integrated into the R&A’s mentality.

I am confident that some brands already believe, and will deliver by producing their future products with a ‘cradle to cradle’ design philosophy.

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