The other day, I was reading a story about a handful of turtles that turned up dead on a golf course in north-central Florida. My first reaction was probably similar to the one you had just now: however unfortunate, the incident likely can be attributed to something totally disassociated from the golf course, however, the golf course probably will shoulder the blame, at least in the short term. If reader comments at the end of the story are any gauge of public opinion, then we probably are right.
I was trying to figure a way to parlay this into something useful here. You know the story, how to defend the reputation and actions of the golf course against not what you do, but what some believe you do. After all, perception is reality. But it doesn't always have to be that way.
It was while listening to a recent TurfNet University Webinar by Bryan Unruh, Ph.D., of the University of Florida on "Water quality monitoring on the golf course" that it hit me: combine the incident on the golf course with content from the webinar and voila!
I enjoy history, and believe it is one of our greatest teachers, so hang in there.
Sun Tzu was a sixth century Chinese general and philosopher who authored The Art of War, a treatise on the strategy of armed conflict that is still a must-read for military leaders today. Victory, he believed, was as much about recognizing your own strengths and weaknesses as it was knowing those of your foe.
He famously wrote: "If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle."
We're not advocating you vanquish those who criticize what you do on the golf course, and you don't have to be staring at dead turtles to learn from Unruh's webinar, but in the ongoing struggle to convince those outside the ropes of the positive environmental impact golf courses represent, it is important to know who you are facing and equally important to know what really is happening on the golf course - and be able to prove it.
Water-quality management, it is the foundation for determining if your management program is effective or not. Are you having an impact? In the absence of data you can't answer that question.
When a woman discovered the carcasses of four freshwater turtles in early December at Chula Vista Golf Course in The Villages in north-central Florida, she notified someone on the greens staff who notified the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission. In CSI-speak, the cause of death is under investigation.
In the news story, the FWC said it has been researching the deaths of freshwater turtles across north Florida for about a year-and-a-half. Although the FWC said it might never know what is killing turtles in the St. John's River watershed, it suspects a virus, perhaps attributed to algal blooms, specific to turtles could be responsible. There is nothing in the FWC's findings to date to indicate that the deaths are the result of any actions on golf courses, including the 50 championship and executive courses at The Villages, the mega-community for the 55-and-older set located between Orlando and Ocala.
As we've come to expect, the facts do not prevent the uninformed from voicing their opinions, and in this case reader comments include blaming the golf courses at The Villages, the golf business in general, a general reliance on chemical pesticides, construction and loss of habitat.
For superintendents struggling to swim upstream against the current of negative public relations waged against the golf industry, Unruh's webinar - "Water quality monitoring on the golf course" - could not have come at a better time. (Hint, the recording of Unruh's presentation and many others - all sponsored by Brandt and BASF - can be found here.)
Many golf courses claim that water is cleaner when exiting the golf course than it is when it enters. That's all well and good - if it is true. To ensure it is, it is critical to regularly test water at entry points and exit points on the golf course, Unruh said. Anecdotal evidence that golf courses are efficient natural filtration systems is one thing, being armed with scientific proof that your golf course is actually accomplishing this is another. Especially if someone starts slinging accusations that the closest golf course must be responsible for the next environmental hiccup just because.
"Water-quality management, it is the foundation for determining if your management program is effective or not," Unruh said. "Are you having an impact? In the absence of data you can't answer that question."
Unruh gives examples of a golf course he is working with to develop strategies moving forward after it was blamed for causing water quality issues when in fact the property takes on untreated overflow water from a treatment plant on one end and untreated runoff water from an adjacent residential area on the other.
We tend to tout those statements that water is cleaner when it exited the golf course than when it entered the golf course. Well, if you don't have data from your specific facility, I would caution you in how you use those canned statements that we so often times use.
Water at both ends has test high in nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus, but without data on water quality at both entry sites the source of the problem has yet to be identified and the golf course is defenseless against accusations until it has the data it needs.
"We tend to tout those statements that water is cleaner when it exited the golf course than when it entered the golf course," he said. "Well, if you don't have data from your specific facility, I would caution you in how you use those canned statements that we so often times use.
"Are there problems? In short of taking data, you can't answer that question. Are you maintaining water quality standards. Short of having data, you don't know.
"If you don't have data, you don't know what needs to change."
Such issues are near and dear to Unruh, who was a key figure in developing content for the GCSAA BMP Planning Guide and Template that was launched at the 2017 Golf Industry Show in Orlando.
Consider the case of the Gordon River Greenway, a popular park and wetlands area in Naples, Florida that is adjacent to more than a half-dozen golf courses, thousands of residential and commercial real estate units and an airport. When test revealed the water in the wetlands is impaired, Unruh said many predictably pointed at the golf courses. The golf courses around the park and wetlands have come together to develop a water-monitoring program, testing water at entry and exit points and build a database so they have concrete results of water entering and leaving each property.
"Without this information, the folks can point their fingers and say 'it's the golf course causing the problem,' " he said. "Without the data nobody can refute those claims."
Water quality tests are expensive and are chemistry specific. Unruh suggests starting a water quality monitoring program by testing for just a couple of products each year.
"It's an interesting dynamic. People fail to realize the impact that golf brings. Not economic but even environmental and the green space that is provided and they completely fail to grasp any of that, so when it comes time to point fingers then they point and then again without data we can't argue."
