PAARL GOLF CLUB has won the 2015 John Collier Award for Environmental Compliance and Good Governance. The award, which is open to all golf courses and golf estates in South Africa, is made following detailed assessment of a comprehensive questionnaire covering a wide range of environmental considerations including biodiversity, landscape, heritage, water resource management, turfgrass nutrient usage, pest control and energy management.

In taking the award, Paarl Golf Club, which is located on Boschenmeer Golf Estate, finished ahead of 150 other South African golf courses. In presenting the award to the Club on World Environment Day, Mr John Collier praised the quality of environmental management at Paarl, stating that their 75% rating ranked it well ahead of its nearest competitors. The average score recorded the the survey was 21%.

Mr Collier said that he was particularly impressed with the work that is being done at the Club. He praised the environmental planning he had seen at the Club, and remarked that it had scored highly on all the key indicators. He said that Paarl Golf Club’s rating placed it at the forefront of best practice internationally, and ranked it well ahead of most businesses his organisation monitors. Former winners of the awards, which are in their ninth year, include Leopard’s Creek, and last year’s winner Pretoria Country Club.

Marion Stewart, the Club Manager at Boschenmeer, expressed her delight at the recognition: “As the judges pointed out, what we are doing does make a difference to the big picture. We are blessed with a truly beautiful location, and this inspires us. We have been working extremely hard on a wide range of dimensions in order to achieve this”.

John Peach, who is Paarl born and raised, has been Course Superintendent since 2009. Peach, who has been chairman of the Western Province Turf Grass Managers’ Association, and is one of the leading innovators in golf course management, said that he was proud of what the Club has achieved. He said that conservational and environmental issues had been at the forefront of the thinking behind the Boschenmeer concept ever since its inception. As course manager, he monitors a wide range of indicators in order to ensure that global best practice is followed. He said: “This was our first time to enter this survey, and this award provides real endorsement of what we have been trying to achieve. We have further plans for improvement in the environmental, energy management and conservation areas, and we wiill intensify our efforts in order to retain our number one status into the future”.

ENDS

Attached: A photo receiving the Award from Mr Collier is John Peach-Course Superintendent, Jeremy Paulse-Assistant Green keeper, Marion Stewart Club Manager and Johan Prins the 1st Assistant Green keeper.