Wrong course!
I have just come across the following in my Guardian Weekly of October 26th in an article by George Monbiot saying that the South African ex-golfing champion, Gary Player, should be called to account by environmentalists for the number of golf courses his company is building all over the world.
'Across the world the construction of golf courses is associated with dispossessions and environmental destruction. One study suggests that an 18-hole golf course requires, on average, 22 tonnes of chemical treatments (mostly pesticides) every year: seven times the rate per hectare for industrial farming. Another shows higher rates of some cancers, such as non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (associated with some pesticides), among golf course superintendents. Courses consume staggering amounts of water. (I suggest this would be a very important point to take up with the planners)
Many of them are built on diverse and important habitats. In some countries, people have been violently evicted to make way for them. The problem is particularly acute in south and southeast Asia, where golf is big business, and land rights and the environment are often ignored by governments.
Just thought you would be interested!
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