Singapore: Sentosa Golf Club is set to further its sustainability credentials by announcing a new collaboration with the international sustainable golf non-profit, GEO Foundation.

The partnership will see the integration of GEO’s industry-leading OnCourse programme and GEO Certified label with Sentosa’s ‘green-culture’ that has seen the club establish itself as a regional and international leader in best-practice.

At the heart of the partnership lie the joint goals of pioneering innovative practices – gathering, verifying and reporting credible results, advocating to inspire and influence others, and elevating Sentosa’s commitment to serve as a centre of excellence.

“This is an important partnership for Sentosa Golf Club,” said Andrew Johnston, General Manager and Director of Agronomy at Sentosa Golf Club, a Facility Member of the Asian Golf Industry Federation.

“Working closely with GEO Foundation is a natural next step on our on-going journey, which will help us elevate the impact of our sustainability practice, creating new opportunities through education and responsible leadership, providing widespread benefits to a broad spectrum of stakeholders and championing innovation to set new benchmarks in such a crucial sector,” he added.

Jonathan Smith, Founder and Executive Director of GEO Foundation, said: “We are delighted to work more closely with Sentosa Golf Club as it looks to further enhance its reputation for sustainability. This collaboration will help us work together to identify new projects and practices, track performance using the in-build sustainability indicators in OnCourse, and achieve new levels of measuring, reporting and communicating.

“We’re particularly excited about doing this in a way that aligns directly with leading approaches in other sectors, businesses and governments. We commend their strong ambition towards positive social and environmental impact, at a time when, as we all know, it is very much needed.”

The partnership builds on Sentosa’s sustainability track record to date, which include continual efforts to highlight the subject’s growing significance. Campaigns such as ‘#KeepItGreen’, introduced at the SMBC Singapore Open in January, 2018, highlighted key green features to educate spectators, viewers, players and stakeholders as to the importance of ecological stewardship.

In January of this year, the club intensified its focus via its GAME ON campaign, designed to table climate change concerns to help educate, build awareness and illustrate how modernised practice can reduce individual clubs’ environmental footprints.

Working with GEO’s widely endorsed framework for sustainable golf, Sentosa will now undertake detailed analysis of practices, key performance data and highlights across a raft of priority environmental and social topics, including: eco-systems and bio-diversity, turfgrass maintenance, water resources, energy and materials, pollution prevention, partnerships and outreach, and education and communications. 

Carbon emissions will also be tracked and analysed using the OnCourse Carbon Calculator. New ideas and opportunities arising will be directly integrated into the club’s forward plans.

The partnership is already under way as the team at Sentosa makes positive progress with the renovation of its famed Serapong Course, a regular in the World 100 Greatest Golf Course rankings.