August 13th, 2025 • By Parker Anderson

Originally published for SCAPE Magazine for the Summer 2017 issue

5 Minute Read

 Reimagining Golf: Dissolving Boundaries and Designing for the 21st Century

Advances in technology and knowledge have opened the door for better understanding of how systems operate. This systems understanding allows designers to use the tools of landscape architecture to intervene in creative ways, making ripples of change throughout an entire system, achieving the greatest potential positive impact. With data and the ability to model alternative future scenarios, it is possible to compare different land uses based on selected metrics. At the University of Minnesota Les Bolsta Golf Course (UMGC), we are examining ways to utilize the golf course to add value to the community through research and outreach while still providing an exceptional golf experience. Equity, community engagement, human and ecological health, and economic sustainability are the metrics, but the Science of the Green Initiative, a research project intended to examine the golf industry’s relationship to the environment, is demonstrating the importance of these metrics by reimagining golf.

The future of the golf industry is in jeopardy. In the last ten years, 5.9% of the approximately 16,000 golf courses in the U.S. have closed and been developed for other uses or in some cases been left abandoned. The industry describes these course closures as “market corrections”, a response to the overdevelopment of golf courses in the construction boom of the 1990s. Additionally, participation has been flat despite significant population growth in the U.S. These industry trends have inspired the USGA to propose a challenge statement to “improve the golfer experience by 20% while reducing critical resource consumption by 25% by 2025”.

Why should we focus so much attention on golf? When looking at the big picture, golf courses make up a substantial portion of urban green space. In the Twin Cities Metro Area (TCMA), 10% of the green space in Hennepin and Ramsey Counties alone are golf courses. In addition to this urban green space value, golf in Minnesota generates $2.4 billion in economic output and provides Minnesotans with almost 35,000 jobs. There are 455 golf courses in the state and 176 in the TCMA. Average golf course size is 150 acres, which equates to 26,400 acres of green space compared with 55,000 acres of parks in the TCMA. These impacts are not insignificant; what the golf industry does should hold your attention.

Critics of the golf industry may be pleased by these course closures and trends, excited to repurpose valuable urban land which they currently;y view to be inaccessible, an inefficient use of resources, and a threat to community health. Rather than courses closing, are there innovative ways that the tools of landscape architecture cna be utilized to still provide golfers with an exceptional experience, still continue to generate substantial economic output, all while adding value to the surrounding community, contributing to its health and the health of its residents? Golf courses cannot be partitioned off and isolated, so the industry must be reimagined to engage and benefit all members of the community.

Golf participants have historically been disproportionately white, wealthy, and male. There are substantial differences in the golfing population compared with the total U.S. population, only 24% of all golfers are women (50.8% of total population), and only 19% of all golfers are non-white (28% of the total population). In the TCMA (Figure 1), it is predicted that white population will not grow in the next 30 years while other demographic categories will grow substantially. If the golf industry wants to be sustainable long-term, it needs to engage these demographics. Currently, non-white demographics are not as exposed to golf as the white population (Figure 2). Developing alternative programming and multiple uses of the golf course will increase the reach of the golf course and engage populations that may not have the opportunity to experience golf otherwise.

Figure 1: Demographic population projections for the Twin Cities

Source: Metropolitan Council

This white male dominance needs to change. Participation in golf should be community-wide because participation in the sport adds value to the community. Research shows that participation in the First Tee program, a junior golf program that focuses on teaching life skills through golf, not only develops participants to become better citizens but also shows that participants of in the program graduate at a higher rate than participants of other youth programs. Additionally, according to a sports medicine journal, “results showed golf has beneficial health effects far beyond what we might think. According to the data, the death rate among golfers is 40% lower than the rest of the population, which equates to an increased life expectancy of five years.”

Whether it is through junior golf programs, educational outreach projects, beekeeping, or urban agriculture, there are many ways to engage new users in golf. Engaging people who are traditionally non-golfers in a golf course will benefit the golf facility as well as the community. Designing the programming of a golf course and the invisible systems that are impacted by a golf facility are critical for the success of the golf industry in the future. 

Sustainable golf integrates the value-added of multiple uses of the standard golf course space as well as dissolves the boundaries of a golf course within a community to encourage the inclusion of all community members and species, and the utilization of ecosystem services and resource flows into its management practices. On the average golf course, approximately 60% of lange is managed for golf (irrigated turfgrass for tees, greens, fairways, and rough areas). The other 40% is often unmanaged and not designed for any other use. Because of this, and without dramatically changing golf courses, there are about 10,000 acres of land in the TCMA that could be designed to benefit the public without compromising the footprint of the golf course or the quality of playing conditions. Using GPS technology, we are able to track golfer behavior and identify which areas of the golf course and underutilized (Figure 3). This data allows managers to identify areas that could be repurposed and used for other functions like pollinator habitat, rain gardens, or agricultural fields. 

The way golf courses are operated has substantial social, environmental, and economic consequences. Great potential exists to showcase golf courses as necessary components of the human-created urban landscape because of their ability to serve as green spaces that mitigate stormwater concerns and pollution factors, provide habitat to beneficial species, grow food for local communities, demonstrate responsible use of natural resources, and encourage the growth and development of the community through youth programs and community engagement opportunities. 

Golf Courses as Rain Gardens

Golf courses are often an area’s largest rain garden and urban filter, acting as an urban kidney, capturing and filtering stormwater and retaining and absorbing nutrients before they enter our aquifers and drinking water. Increasing urbanization and development (Figure 4) increased the percentage of land covered by impervious surface, therefore increasing strain on the urban infrastructure. Also, golf courses, as urban green spaces, mitigate impacts of the urban heat island effect and contribute to human health by offering a natural setting for people living in urban areas. For these reasons, golf courses are valuable as urban filters of stormwater, and assets for water quality and human health in urban areas. 

Golf Courses as Wildlife Sanctuaries

Golf courses are also valuable sanctuaries for wildlife, providing critical habitat and migration stepping stones through urban environments for a wide variety of species. Smart golf course design can have a significant impact on the quality of habitat for pollinators. In Figure 5, three scenarios are presented for the UMGC. The impacts on the quality of pollinator habitat are shown in the heat maps on the right. The “Baseline” scenario is the pollinator habitat quality with no changes made to the property. The “Resource Conservation” scenario is a carefully designed, reduced footprint golf course, devoting more area to pollinator habitat. The “Suburb” scenario examines potentially redeveloping the property into housing. The comparison of these three scenarios with regards to pollinator habitat quality is shown in the graph. Raising honeybees on golf courses also benefits the ecosystem as a whole by providing pollination services to the surrounding area, benefiting local gardens and farms, and further serving as an indicator species of ecosystem health. In addition to these benefits, honeybees are a species of great interest (and importance) to the public; simply having honeybees on site peaks people’s curiosity regarding environmental issues. When the members and users of a golf course express their interest in protecting honeybees on site, the superintendent will adjust their management strategy to ensure the protection of that species. Hosting honeybees at a golf course is often a gateway to more robust environmental stewardship.

Golf Courses as Agriculture

Golf courses are ideal locations for agriculture. There is no denying the strength of the urban agriculture movement. Many golf courses are converting small areas of their golf courses to agriculture in order to subsidize the needs of their clubhouse kitchens. These gardens are food sources, educational opportunities, and means of engaging the urban agriculture movement into the golf facility.

Golf Courses as Classrooms

Golf courses are valuable educational tools, laboratories for innovation in precision irrigation technology, best practices for energy consumption, greenhouse gas sequestration, urban agriculture, and many more research opportunities. Additionally, youth education programs like the First Green use golf courses as classrooms for teaching science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). Active learning opportunities, like those of the First Green (Figure 6), have been shown to increase student performance in understanding subject material. Because of the complexities of golf courses and their relationships to the ecology, economy, and community, the educational opportunities are endless. Also, by opening a golf facility to research opportunities, the golf course managers are exposing a range of new demographics to the golf facility, thereby simultaneously growing their potential customer base as well as gaining insight into their facility through research. 

Imagine the impact if all these additional values were adopted at every golf course.

Golf is considered an ancient game entrenched in tradition, one of the oldest games in the world, but with great potential for positive impacts through 21st century design considerations. Because of this long history and the tradition of the game, change is a challenge. The phrase “reimagining golf” results in many golfers getting defensive. They feel their golfing experience will be compromised in order to adopt additional environmental or social programs at a golf facility. In the golf industry, talks of implementing sustainable operations are often thought of as austerity measures that will compromise the product, but that is often far from the truth; great golf and sustainable management can be achieved simultaneously. In fact, the future prosperity of the golf industry to adapt to the challenges the earth is facing with growing population and increasing demand for natural resources. 

Golf is considered an ancient game entrenched in tradition, one of the oldest games in the world, but with great potential for positive impacts through 21st century design considerations. Because of this long history and the tradition of the game, change is a challenge. The phrase “reimagining golf” results in many golfers getting defensive. They feel their golfing experience will be compromised in order to adopt additional environmental or social programs at a golf facility. In the golf industry, talks of implementing sustainable operations are often thought of as austerity measures that will compromise the product, but that is often far from the truth; great golf and sustainable management can be achieved simultaneously. In fact, the future prosperity of the golf industry to adapt to the challenges the earth is facing with growing population and increasing demand for natural resources. 

There are several local examples of golf course adaptations. Communities or golf course owners have either found added value or found greater community benefit in redevelopment. Parkview Golf Course (Eagan) was closed and developed into a housing subdivision due to high demand for housing. An assumption can be made that the ecosystem services of that site were reduced when converted into housing, but that the demand for housing was significant enough to disregard that reduction in the ecosystem value. Prestwick Golf Club (Woodbury) has increased their water capacity on site in order to capture the runoff from adjacent roads, decreasing the amount of water pumped from the municipal water utility. There may be challenges with water quality but this effort demonstrates the potential for capturing stormwater on a golf course rather than flushing it into the watershed. According to Richard Forman in Urban Ecology, “phosphorus and nitrogen in stormwater, or in effluent from secondary sewage treatment, can effectively replace the fertilizers and irrigation water added to golf courses. ‘Constructed wetlands’ on a golf course can reduce stormwater runoff and treat (i.e., clean) stormwater pollutants.” Braemar Golf Course (Edina) is currently under renovation converting its 27-hole facility to an 18-hole facility. The reduction in the footprint of the golf course has allowed for a substantial increase in the water capacity of the site and the creation of wetlands and native areas, significantly increasing the ecosystem service potential of that property. Hiawatha Golf Course (Minneapolis) has experienced challenges with flooding and the resulting negative impacts on turf quality. Many proposals have been made for improvements to the site. One proposal suggests converting the golf course into a wetland and community food forest, providing green space and a food source to the local community.

The University of Minnesota is leading the way in the realm of sustainable golf course design, research, and management. As a significant educational resource to the university, the UMGC has become the first Golf Lab in the country. The Science of the Green Initiative has begun utilizing this historic golf facility to demonstrate how a golf course can become a laboratory for sustainability; focusing on engaging the community, achieving profitable finances, and producing a net positive environmental impact. The focus of Golf Lab is built around responsible business practices and facility management, environmental stewardship, and education. There appears to be significant opportunity for the creation of shared value amongst these practices. Innovation and technology are utilized to develop a variety of options to engage in the golf course, all while maintaining the high-quality conditions expected from traditional golfers. This golf course laboratory will be operated as a daily-fee golf course, but also as a research facility, exploring the possibilities of what it means for a golf course to truly be sustainable. 

Recently, the University of Minnesota and the USGA embarked on the Natural Capital of Golf Courses project. This project is intended to identify and measure the ecosystem service attributes that a golf course contributes to a community. As the first step in this project, stakeholders of all interests and perspectives gathered to discuss the project and the potential for the future of golf. Pollinator advocates, golf course superintendents and managers, conservationists, local officials, engineers, hydrologists, urban agriculture advocates, and representatives from a wide variety of organizations engaged in open discussion regarding their interests and concerns as well as the ecosystem attributes of golf courses. This meeting was a huge success in engaging community organizations in reimagining what a golf course is to a community. The next step of the project is to use data modeling tools to develop a standard approach for evaluating the importance of golf courses in urban settings using the UMGC as a pilot and the TCMA as a case study (to follow the progress of this project, visit scienceofthegreen.umn.edu/natcap-golfproject). 

The practice of landscape architecture can address and solve many social, environmental, and economic issues by integrating and embracing the systems involved in a golf course through innovation and design. Innovation refers not only to adopting technological advancements but also thinking in unorthodox ways to address complex issues. The golf industry is positioned to adopt both of these strategies, that will ensure the long-term sustainability of the golf industry.