Golf Environment Europe Accreditation

Luttrellstown Castle Golf & Country Club Receive Prestigious GEE Award

Luttrellstown Castle Golf & Country Club, Castleknock, Dublin 15, has recently achieved the Golf Environment Europe award for their environmental stewardship of the Luttrellstown Golf Course and Clubhouse. Luttrellstown are now the second Golf Course in Ireland to receive this award and the first for both the Golf Course and Clubhouse.

In order to achieve this award, the Golf Course Superintendent, Mr Diarmuid Saunders and his team have focused their efforts in six key areas:

  • Environmentally responsible turf grass management
  • Pollution Prevention
  • Energy Efficiency
  • Waste Management
  • Efficient Water Usage
  • Protection and enhancement of landscape, cultural heritage and biodiversity.

In this work Luttrellstown commissioned environmental consultants Patel Tonra to assist with key issues of legal compliance, management planning and individual project development. In order to receive the award Luttrellstown were then independently audited by Certification Europe in order to verify that they had in fact met the requirements of Golf Environment Europe.

Commenting on the award, Mr Diarmuid Saunders, Golf Course Superintendent stated that “it was a tremendous award for all the team members as they had dedicated the last 18 months towards environmental improvement and sound environmental management practices.”

Luttrellstown entered into the Golf Environment Europe scheme in mid 2007. The facility had to demonstrate their work against a challenging set of environment criteria.

Mr Colm Hannon, Chief Executive of Luttrellstown stated that he was delighted with the award achieved as it represents Luttrellstown commitment to environmental sustainability and continual improvement. The GEE award brings three key benefits to our operation:

  • The correct environmental management processes to ensure the sustainability of our facility.
  • Cost savings on waste management and energy conservation.
  • In marketing and presenting our facilities to the public, this accreditation can set us apart from others, as we are living in a time where the general public’s environmental consciousness now influences their decision making.

Luttrellstown are dedicated to continuing their efforts and have a range of short term objectives for 2008 in terms of energy usage, carbon foot printing and a long term target to extend the system to include the whole Luttrellstown Estate.

The award was presented on Wednesday 25th June 2008 by Mr Benjamin Warren, Communications Director for Golf Environment Europe.

Speaking at the event Mr Warren said: “We congratulate all those involved. Golf needs pioneering facilities such as Luttrellstown. In the future golf facilities will need to be able to demonstrate their environmental responsibility – to government, to environmental organisations, to the local community, and even to golfers – all of whom expect more from land managers and businesses.”

“GEE is delighted at the way Luttrellstown have embraced a long term approach to environmental improvement, across a wide range of operations and issues. Their work has also assisted us in further enhancing the way the award scheme works, which will culminate in the launch of an improved, web based and independently verified certification programme at the end of the year. We do hope many other Irish golf facilities will follow this lead and proceed to register in the scheme and then go for certification”.

The Golf Environment Europe organisation works to promote environmental sustainability in golf and is supported by a wide range of golfing organisations, including the European Tour, European Golf Association, Federation of European Golf Greenkeepers Associations, European Institute of Golf Course Architects, Sports Turf Research Institute, the PGA’s of Europe, European Golf Course Owners Association and a number of golf federations.