July 29th, 2025 • By Cade Schafer

Golf Courses as Living Laboratories For Education 

One of Greener Golf’s core missions is to help golf facilities become more multifunctional. With the average golf course spanning roughly 150 acres, that is a substantial amount of land dedicated primarily to a single recreational activity and user group. While golf remains the primary draw, these expansive landscapes hold enormous potential for broader community value beyond just the game itself. Whether through additional recreational uses like hiking or disc golf, hosting events such as weddings and guided nature tours, golf courses are uniquely positioned to become shared spaces that serve a much broader audience.

One of the most powerful and underutilized ways golf courses can expand their value is by serving as platforms for education. Few landscapes are better suited than golf courses to function as living laboratories for learning, exploration, and environmental education. With their mix of managed turf, naturalized areas, water features, and wildlife habitat, golf courses offer a unique and immersive setting for hands-on learning. From elementary school field trips to university research projects, these landscapes present opportunities to engage learners of all ages in meaningful, place-based education.

Education in Action

Across the country, golf courses are beginning to embrace their role as educational spaces. From environmental science programs and wildlife monitoring to interpretive signage and student internships, these landscapes are becoming dynamic learning environments for people of all ages.

A visual progression of water purification through a golf course, part of a water quality research study conducted by Parker Anderson at Woodhill Country Club, MN.

Community Education and Engagement

Beyond formal partnerships with schools and universities, many golf courses are taking education directly to their communities. Through volunteer events, citizen science initiatives, and public outreach programs, courses are becoming spaces where environmental learning and land stewardship are made accessible to all.

One standout example is the Audubon International BioBlitz, an annual event that invites community members, students, and local naturalists to identify as many species as possible on a golf course over a set period of time. These events highlight the biodiversity present on the property, promote citizen science, and foster a greater appreciation for the ecological value of golf landscapes. 

Other courses have hosted habitat restoration projects, where members of the public are invited to help plant native species, remove invasive plants, or restore degraded areas of the course. Some of the most inspiring efforts come the National Links Trust (NLT) in Washington, D.C., whose Nation’s Capital Project is focused on revitalizing the city’s three historic municipal golf courses, Rock Creek Park, Langston, and East Potomac. As part of this broader effort, NLT regularly hosts community events centered on environmental restoration, including trash cleanups, invasive species removal, and wildlife audits. These events provide hands-on education about local ecosystems while directly improving habitat quality on site. In addition, NLT offers a public webinar series featuring superintendents who share the sustainable land management practices they use on their courses, expanding environmental awareness and knowledge across the wider golf community.

In addition to organized events, some golf courses use interpretive signage to share information about native plants, pollinator zones, or water conservation practices. While simple, these signs create touchpoints for informal learning, encouraging golfers and visitors to better understand the land they are walking through.

Academic Partnerships

One of the most direct ways golf courses support learning is by partnering with educational institutions. These collaborations bring students onto the course for hands-on lessons that bridge classroom learning with real-world experience.

A leading example is First Green, an environmental education outreach program run by the GCSAA Foundation that transforms golf courses into outdoor learning labs for K-12 students. First Green supports environmental education, STEM learning, and land stewardship, while also highlighting the environmental and community benefits of golf courses. It even introduces students to the game of golf itself in the process. During First Green field trips, K–12 students engage in hands-on activities tied directly to their school’s environmental science and horticulture curricula. Students may test water quality in a pond, measure the area of a putting green, identify native plants, analyze soil samples, or even work on local conservation issues like stream restoration or owl nest monitoring. To date, more than 15,000 students have participated in First Green events across the United States.

Beyond K–12 education, many golf courses, particularly those affiliated with or located near universities, have partnered with academic researchers to support hands-on, field-based learning. These collaborations turn golf courses into living laboratories for a wide range of research topics such as soil health, water quality, biodiversity, pollinator protection, and ecosystem services. Students and faculty gain access to real-world research sites, while course staff benefit from scientific insight that can inform day-to-day management.

Educational programming on golf courses is not just a bonus feature, it is a key strategy for building a more inclusive, resilient, and socially valuable future for the game. By expanding their role beyond recreation, golf courses can better serve the communities they occupy and become essential platforms for learning, connection, and care.

Education opens up the course to broader audiences. Hosting school field trips, community science events, and restoration days brings new people, especially non-golfers, into these spaces, reshaping how golf courses are seen and who they are for. These experiences break down barriers and create new access points to nature, learning, and even the game itself.

When young people learn about ecosystems, land stewardship, or pollinators while standing on a green or walking a fairway, they are forming connections that go far beyond the classroom. Getting kids out into nature and helping them see it as something worth understanding and protecting lays the foundation for environmental stewardship. Early exposure to these ideas is crucial for building the next generation of leaders who will be tasked with solving complex challenges like climate change and biodiversity loss. By embracing education as part of their identity, golf courses can evolve into living laboratories that serve as vital tools in fostering a deeper public connection to the environment and help grow the environmental awareness needed to face the challenges of our time.

Rethinking the Role of Golf Course