Singapore’s Sentosa Golf Club named most eco-friendly golf facility

Sentosa Golf Club marked its most recent World’s Best Eco-Friendly Golf Facility award with the premiere a new environmental documentary film to raise awareness of the importance of climate change in golf.

The documentary forms part of the club’s GAME ON campaign, which has received backing from The R&A following its launch at the SMBC Singapore Open earlier this year. It shows viewers some of the key measures already implemented at the club, such as the creation of bee colonies, the installation of reservoir lakes and the banning of single-use plastics.

The club, which became the first golf club in the world to sign the UN’s Sports for Climate Action Agreement back in July, hopes the film will serve as inspiration to golf’s response to climate change, as well as help clubs around the world to understand the importance of reducing their carbon footprint by implementing initiatives for the betterment of the environment.

Sentosa is also planning a free environmental toolkit to further help golf clubs deal with climate change.

The wider GAME ON campaign aims to educate and inspire the global golfing community to create a more socially conscious industry and consumer, who will be better prepared to introduce new modern practices for the betterment of the environment, as well as improving the quality of facilities on offer throughout the world. It is closely aligned with The R&A’s 2030 Golf Course Initiative.

“The unveiling of the GAME ON documentary marks the day golf’s major stakeholders and global community unite to fight climate change,” general manager and director of agronomy Andrew Johnston said. “Sentosa Golf Club are proud to be at the forefront of this campaign and hope to create a legacy with golf’s leading organisations and community that will have a huge bearing on our future.”

Sentosa fought off competition from other leaders in the environmental space to collect their latest eco accolade at the seventh annual World Golf Awards, recognised for the leadership and responsibility it has shown in planning, constructing and managing a resource efficient and ecologically rich golf environment, as well as playing an inspirational role in expanding environmental activity throughout the region.

The club also took home the title of ‘Singapore’s Best Golf Course’ for The Serapong course for the second year in a row. The course plays host to the SMBC Singapore Open every year, welcoming the world’s best players from all around the world.

The eco-friendly award and being recognized as Singapore’s Best Golf Course, Johnston added, “is a tremendous achievement for Sentosa. Being awarded these accolades is down to the hard work that is put in by all our staff and members to maintain the high standards that are set by the club.

“Since 2018, we have worked hard to create a sustainable environment on-site at the club and are grateful for all the support we have received from our partners and stakeholders in our journey so far. Even with this recognition, the club will continue to improve and look to pioneer new sustainable initiatives as we look to lead the industry in tackling this critical issue.”

The newly crowned ‘World’s Best Eco-Friendly Facility’ also boosted its approach to environmental sustainability by forming a partnership with international sustainable golf non-profit, GEO Foundation. The collaboration will see the integration of GEO’s industry-leading OnCourse program and GEO Certified label with Sentosa’s ‘green-culture’ to pioneer new innovative practices, as well as gather, verify, and report credible results to share with other clubs around the world. A recent Golf Sustainability Fund Grant by The R&A made Sentosa the first club in Asia able to grind down food and horticultural waste to reuse as fertiliser on its golf courses.