LUXURY GOLF RESORTS

Luxury golf resorts are an environmental disaster. Fact or fiction?

Every golfer should know the water and chemical usage of their local course.

“A Dangerous Game,” Trump National club in Bedminster, New Jersey, sucks up 50 million gallons of public drinking water a year, in a drought-prone and densely populated watershed. Yet the course pays only a fraction of the cost per gallon that homeowners pay. All so a couple of hundred fabulously rich members (the joining fee is $150,000) have intensely lush and manicured fairways year round. It’s one rule for the super-rich, and it’s one rule for everybody else.

In the case of the Las Vegas resort, they have a lake there that’s filled twice a year with 2 billion gallons of drinking water, just as a water feature for the golf course. I think there should be a ban on golf courses on that part of the world. Unless there’s a way of using artificial turf to create them, I think they are no longer sustainable and they should be shut down.

The bottom line is that these golf courses in the desert just shouldn't be built in the first place. They are completely unsustainable, they soak up billions of gallons of water, and the planet can’t afford them.
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THE DEATH OF GOLF

According to the NGF, a golf course in America closes roughly every two days, while just 11 courses were opened in 2014.

It takes 135,000 gallons of water daily to maintain an average 18 hole golf course. How sustainable are green fairways in light of climate change?

What are the governing bodies of golf, major tours and brands doing to meet these climatic challenges?
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SOLHEIN CUP

The Unofficial European Team Solhein Cup 'willy' t-shirt by Golf Refugees. Available in small (really), medium, large and extra large.
#golfrefugees #eurowillytee 
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SUNFLOWER

Heatwave forecast for parts of the UK next week. Ideal timing for our mono-printed sunflower polo.
‪#‎sunflowerpolo‬ ‪#‎golfrefugees‬

 — with Golf Refugees.
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STORM TROOPER

Nike don't seem to be able to help Tiger with his current woes, so we thought we'd step in and offer him our 'storm-trooper black ball'. Use the force Tiger. Hopefully George Lucas won't mind too much.
‪#‎stormtrooperblackball‬ ‪#‎golfrefugees‬

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CHAMBERS BAY

Golf Refugees sun lovin black ball takes a trip across the pond, courtesy of Reid Wegley, for a sunshine break at the new Chambers Bay golf course.

There's been plenty of hype about this new 'Scottish link-style course' in the mainstream golf media. Chambers Bay will host the 2015 US Open this week,
A great opportunity for our black ball to absorb some sunshine and have a blast around the course. At 7,109 yards, though playin and feelin more like 7,400 our black ball just eats courses of this length, as long as the sun shines.
‪#‎chambersbay‬ ‪#‎usopen‬ ‪#‎blackball‬ ‪#‎golfrefugees‬
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THE SEA

This time of year I can't help thinking about the sea.
#seapolo #golfrefugees
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TWO MORE

Congratulations to Inbee Park for winning her sixth major. That's two more than McIlroy.
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OCEAN POLLUTION LABEL

Isn't it time for plastic products from tiny micro-beads found in cosmetics and micro-fibres from polyester clothing to bottles and plastic wrap to carry an 'ocean pollution warning' label?

For example when you wear and wash polyester sportswear the result is contributing to plastic oceans

About 80 percent of human-made debris found in the Great Lakes is plastic, while the big pieces can be ugly, the smaller pieces can attract dangerous chemicals, such as pesticides or herbicides, which can then be eaten by plankton, mussels, fish or birds,

The concern is ... these plastics act as a means to move ... toxic compounds into the food web and into us.
#oceanpollutionlabel #golfrefugees
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SWEAT WITH ME

As far as we can see sportswear brands and the chemical industry are in cahoots to use toxic chemicals to prevent your shirts from showing any signs of sweat.

It is not unusual for Golf Refugees to tread a different, greener, less commercial path. So here is our 'sweat with me' shirt. We just love open displays of sweating when playing sport.
#sweatwithme #golfrefugees 
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THE TRAGEDY OF PFC'S

“It is incomprehensible that any corporation / fashion brand would go ahead … and begin selling tons of fluorinated compounds (PFC's) that persist over geological time — just to make fabrics water-proof and soil / stain resistant." - Dr Theo Colborn

Unfortunately that's what happened with PFC's. It was more important to make a quick buck than for these chemicals to be inside our bodies and the environment beyond humanity.The chemical industry and the fashion brands they supplied were complicit in denying consumers the whole story regarding PFC's. Yes, they are the most effective water-proofing. stain resistant, non-stick chemical you can use. On the other side they are carcinogenic in animals and once used they do not breakdown and will remain in our bodies and the environment. The long term consequences of using PFC's are unknown. Would consumers, knowing the full facts alter their purchasing decisions?

Is effective textile water-proofing worth letting the jeannie out of the bottle?
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HYDROCARBONS

Many people just don't believe us when we say Nike, Adidas and Puma are all hydrocarbon apparel brands. So here's a list of hydrocarbons used, from an internal Nike 2014 document.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)
Naphthalene (91-20-3)
Acenaphthylene (208-96-8)
Acenaphthene (83-32-9)
Fluorene (86-73-7)
Phenanthrene (85-01-8)
Anthracene (120-12-7)
Fluoranthene (206-44-0)
Pyrene (129-00-0)
Benzo(a)anthracene (56-55-3)
Chrysene (218-01-9)
Indeno(1,2,3-cd)pyrene (193-39-5)
Benzo(b)fluoranthene (205-99-2)
Benzo(k)fluoranthene (207-08-9)
Benzo(a)pyrene (50-32-8)
Dibenzo(a,h)anthracene (53-70-3)
Benzo(g,h,i)perylene (191-24-2)
Benzo(e)pyrene (192-97-2)
Benzo(j)fluoranthene (205-82-3)

To find out more about these hydrocarbons you can use on-line public chemical database(s) ( SIN List by Chemsec.org ) and enter either the individual hydrocarbon name or substance CAS number here in brackets.

The above represents just a small number of the total chemicals you are wearing next to and interacting with your sweating skin.
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SWEAT IT OUT

Golf Refugees approached award winning journalist Amy Westervelt to investigate the toxic chemicals used in modern synthetic sportswear.

Here's what she found out. Sweat it out: could your sportswear be toxic?
http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/jun/02/toxics-apparel-nike-adidas-reach?CMP=share_btn_fb
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DOPE

Looking forward to a summer of sport.

Expecting to sell zillions of these to athletes and non-athletes all over the world.
#justdopeit #golfrefugees
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JUST 40 CLUBS

We'd like to see more variety on tour, so how about the following format?

Players are restricted to 40 clubs per event, based upon four rounds of golf.

Usually golfers carry 14 clubs each round, giving a total of 56. Different strategies could be used with the new restriction; carry 10 clubs per round, or carry more to give yourself a better chance of making the cut, but then have fewer clubs for the last two rounds. Or gamble with using fewer clubs in the opening two rounds leaving you with more for the final.

What would your strategy be?
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