The Evils of Golf

Golf is undoubtedly one of the most popular games in the planet. There are more than 100 million golfers worldwide, not to mention the fans. For some people golf is a hobby, a sport or just a simple past time or leisure time. While for some people golf may be an obsession, a passion or even a god.

Yet with all the good the golf has to offer to the world, some consider golf as an evil sport. Not in a sense that it is inherently evil, but evil for some because it purportedly destroys the environment.

It cannot be denied that there is an increase in the construction of golf courses. For example in Asia alone, there are already more than 500 golf courses compared to merely 70 in the 1970s. The rapid increase in the number of golf courses has become a nightmare for environmentalist as according to them this could lead to serious ecological problems.

For the past 50 years environmentalist has echoed a voice of concern with the use of land for golf courses. In order to play golf, a large tract of land is required. The greenery for such land must be maintained and in order to maintain it, pesticide and chemicals have to be used. Not to mention that other environmentally important areas, several wet lands and virgin forest are damaged due to the construction of a golf course.

Environmentalist contends that the use of chemical and pesticide to maintain golf grasses is hazardous to animals and plant life indigenous to the area surrounding the golf course. The use of too much water in golf courses in order to maintain the grass has also been raised as an environmental concern, to think that the average 18 hole golf course occupies 150 acres of land and the scarcity of water is already becoming much of an issue in most industrialized nations. Most players today can hit the ball much further today compared to 50 years ago. This has largely been due to the use of modern technology in the game. As a result golf course designers have to lengthen and widen the design of golf courses. It is said that today's golf courses are larger by 10 % compared to golf courses 50 years ago. Golf proponents defend the construction of golf courses and say that it is a sanctuary for birds and other wildlife. Not true, according to the environmentalist since in most golf courses, wildlife is discouraged because it might damage the course.

Most golf opponents also find that the construction of golf courses is an irrational waste of land and that scarce land resources have been occupied by building golf courses. Construction of golf courses often requires to the clearing of a number of trees or a forest area which could lead to land erosion and the blocking of the soils ability to retain water.

On the social side the ill effects of golf are said to be that it has given rise to the cost of property taxes and has destroyed culturally intact communities.

Whatever the issues are and who is right or wrong may be determined 50 years from now as to what happens to the environment. The question is who will take the blame?