Swedish Golf Clubs Lead GEO Certification Charge
The Golf Environment Organisation (GEO) is delighted to recognise Forsgårdens Golfklubb and Ljunghusens Golfklubb, both of Sweden, as the first two golf facilities anywhere in the world to achieve GEO Certified status.
Since its debut at the BMW PGA Championship in May – the flagship event of The European Tour – GEO Certification has generated huge interest and gained the endorsement of major golf organisations worldwide. Jonathan Smith, GEO Chief Executive is delighted to extend his congratulations to these front-running clubs, and his gratitude to the many individuals that have played a role in making GEO Certification a reality:
“The launch of the programme at Wentworth was many years in the making; the culmination of a collaborative process taking input from literally hundreds of individuals across golf and environmental stakeholder organisations.
“This is a moment in history; one of the defining events in golf’s drive for environmental recognition. Never before has the industry been so close to uniting behind a single programme that does so much to dispel criticism and boost the reputation of the game.
“Ljunghusens and Forsgården are effectively the founding members of a prestigious but welcoming global club. Just envisage what it will do for the image of golf to have thousands of registered facilities and hundreds more certified. GEO has responded to the demand for a credible and transparent programme recognising environmental excellence in golf. The industry now has the opportunity to drive the uptake of the system and reap the rewards.
Having worked with the website during its preview stage, Stig Persson – General Manager of Ljunghusens Golfklubb and Chairman of FEGGA (The Federation of European Golf Greenkeepers’ Associations) – has seen the system mature into a polished product:
“Representing Ljunghusens’ environmental work through GEO’s website was remarkably efficient. It enabled our management team to constructively collaborate and integrated into our workflow with ease.
“Our evaluation day with Mårten Wallberg, GEO Accredited Verifier, was extremely constructive. During the course of his visit we received valuable insight and have established achievable targets for our re-certification in 2012.
“No matter the sophistication of any existing environmental programmes, working through GEO’s free registration process can help all greenkeepers and club managers structure and prioritise their work - a significant benefit in difficult economic times.
Jan Stromblad, certification co-ordinator at Forsgårdens Golfklubb, spent a long period of his career implementing ISO and EMAS management systems for an international industrial group. He is well placed to critique GEO’s custom built programme:
“A bespoke certification like GEO’s, designed by people who fully understand the realities of golf course and club management, is a valuable tool for facilities everywhere. I believe GEO Certification will come to play the same important role in the golf sector that FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) accreditation has done for forestry, and the generic ISO standards have for industry. GEO certification strikes the perfect balance between practical performance and providing a systems framework.
“This award is about much more than simply branding our scorecards and website with a certification mark, it’s about getting the stories behind our recognition into the public domain. The fact that the simple process of applying for certification also generated our comprehensive report on GEO’s website is a superb efficiency. When a traditional environmental certification is awarded you have only reached the start line in terms of communication. With GEO Certification our environmental commitment was in the public domain from day one.
“One of the most rewarding aspects of the process was our verification visit from Ole Riger-Kusk, a GEO Accredited Verifier based a short ferry ride away in Denmark. Ole is an experienced environmental professional and gave welcome perspective on our challenges and solutions, in turn influencing our management plan as we drive forwards. Every golf club that applies for GEO Certified status will find great reward in this cross fertilisation of ideas.
GEO’s Jonathan Smith anticipates a major shift in the public perception of golf over the coming decade:
“With the ongoing endorsement and promotion of golf organisations, and the active participation of individual golf facilities, GEO Certification can become golf’s trusted and respected environmental standard. It can change the global opinion of the industry once and for all.
