Over 14,000 golf courses in the United States consist of approximately two million acres of beautiful and diverse landscape. While the varied landscape on each course consists of "playable" combinations of greens and grasses, shrubs and woodlands, and streams and ponds, seventy percent of the remaining, less intensively managed acres constitute out-of-play areas. These "roughs" and water features represent spectacular windows into the rich heritage of our country and serve as habitat resources for countless species of plants and animals. Breathtaking golf course sites all across the country have been adapted to preserve our nation's history and its wildlife habitat. Furthermore, properly designed golf courses buffer ecologically sensitive sites like protected woodlands and wetlands and serve as museums that showcase the achievements of our American ancestry.

History tells us that the earliest golf courses, the Scottish links, were designed entirely by Mother Nature. The original "links" were Scottish courses constructed atop sandy deposits left along the seacoast by the receding ocean. In The Architects of Golf, Geoffrey S. Cornish and Ronald E. Whitter speculate that the earliest golfers made their putting cups out of rabbit holes: "If this [were] the case, perhaps the putting areas were nibbled a little closer by rabbits!" More refined and landscaped than their Scottish ancestors' courses, today's modern golf courses may "link" philosophies and designs of good course play with precious preservations strategies.

The hills of West Virginia, rich in natural resources, once formed the basis of a strong coal mining heritage; the spirit of one family's particular commitment to the environment and its three generations of mining ancestry has been captured in the design of the Pete Dye Golf Course in Bridgeport, West Virginia. Planned by renowned designer Pete Dye, the golf course coalesces memories of the great Appalachian coal beds with what Pete Dye refers to as "eighteen of the most exciting and memorable holes that I have ever built on one course."

On the 235-acre course itself, play is routed directly through the remains of deep-mining activity of Consolidation Coal, the world's largest coal company: instead of sand, black coal cinders fill the bunkers on holes six through ten; from the 5th tee, the red and white twin towers of the coal-fueled Harrison Power Plant are visible; a 140-foot passage through an underground coal mine forms the entrance to the 7th tee; the 10th fairway features a rotary car-dump coal tipple and twenty-two coal-laden mine cars on a track that actually "turn the hole" during the course of a game; and cart paths are surfaced with "red dog," a natural by-product of burnt coal refuse piles. Owner James LaRosa has secured his strong mining heritage within his very private, non-equity membership by invitation only, golf club.

In the early 1920's, the Aberdeen Sand Co. built a successful business shipping sand all across the United States, including to the North Carolina mountains for construction of the Blue Ridge Parkway in the 1930's. Unfortunately when new owners took over the operation of the resulting sand quarry, the project halted and sat virtually unused, except for occasional rides by enthusiastic dirt bikers. As a result, 230 acres of this abandoned sand dune, complemented over the years by the growth of pine trees and other vegetation, eventually inspired a prime location for The Pit Golf Links in Pinehurst, North Carolina. Golf course architects Dan Maples Design preserved historical moments of time by constructing the 8th, 9th,15th, and 18th holes inside the large pit and the 3rd and 4th holes in a smaller pit left over from the late 1920's. One can picture the slow trickle of the sands of time as Dan Maples comments on the unique nature of his course: "If dirt were used to create a similar landscape, three million yards would be required."

Kent Davidson, CGCS, of Satsuma Landscape and Maintenance, describes Industry Hills Resort of the City of Industry, California in Mike Klemme's A View From the Rough: "Probably one of the last places most people would choose for a resort location would be a former landfill site in an industrial area of Southern California. However, that is just what has been created in the City of Industry. Careful planning has transformed a badly scarred dumpsite into a scenic golf and recreation facility." To LASN, Davidson described the "very important natural areas and water conservation techniques" which are used on this course; the extensive use of reclaimed irrigation water, along with landscape plantings of native and drought tolerant plants, make Industry Hills Resort a viable wildlife habitat (and winner of an Outstanding Civil Engineering Achievement in 1981.) One of the most difficult "ongoing maintenance problems" of the resort remains the collection of methane gas from the refuse areas, a challenging process that provides a valuable source of on-site energy.

Like valuable historical preservation techniques on golf courses, the creation of wildlife sanctuaries in secondary roughs and out-of-play areas can easily enhance wildlife habitat on existing courses. Native vegetation, wetlands, forests, and other unique features may still be protected as habitat for native species. United States Golf Association (USGA) experts recommend avoiding the use of non-native vegetation which does not naturally "fit" into the region of the course; survival of "foreign" vegetation may require extra pesticides and fertilizers which may harm native ecosystems. Natural features located away from game play, like dead trees that provide excellent nesting cavities for wildlife, improve the ecological function of the golf course without disturbing the purity of the greens.

In some cases the landscape design of an ecologically "linked" golf course includes provisions for the recapture and reuse of irrigation water, while in other instances the golf course may use outflowing water channeled and filtered from a surrounding housing development or municipality for irrigation. This is a beneficial use of wastewater because turfgrass is an excellent filter that can cleanse wastewater to return clean water to ground reservoirs that foster the wildlife habitat. In addition, appropriate use of fertilizers and pesticides will result in healthy turf with little or no effect on golf course wildlife.

Built in accordance with the natural flow of the land, the fairways of SunRidge Canyon Golf Club in Fountain Hills, AZ begin with a descent into the canyon and conclude with a challenging uphill climb. Billed as "an adventure into the mysteries of golf and the wonders of nature," this unique desert course has a "hole-in-one" design advantage that complements, rather than contrasts with its natural habitat environment. Of the 942 total acres within this development by Keith Foster Golf Course Design, a full third has been left untouched as natural open space. Haymaker Golf Course, another course designed by Keith Foster just south of Steamboat Springs, Co is currently undergoing an increase of its wetlands acreage. The balance of the design will follow nature's own course and remain as natural grassland, without leaving a negative impact on the water quality for the surrounding habitat.

Similar steps are being taken across the country to strengthen the bond between golf courses and the natural environments they inhabit. A plan is currently in the works between Oregon State Parks Department and the Oregon Golf Club to create a nature trail that "links" the golf course with the state park near Lake Oswego. The Oregon Golf Club's John Anderson speaks highly of the course's "400 natural, wooded aces that continuously encourage and promote habitat development." In addition, he is presently working with the Oregon State Parks Department to design the preservation of a 300-foot greenway embankment along the Willamette River. Stan George of Kansas' Prairie Dunes golf course praises the "sand hills that are so unique to Kansas" upon which his course is situated. Native grasses and trees, including the Big and Little Blue Stems, constitute the still pristine 90-100 acres of natural habitat of Prairie Dunes.

A properly "linked" landscape plan for a golf course results in a mixture of shrubs, trees, grasses and water features that nourishes and sustains wildlife and plants; this design balances necessary requirements for erosion control, efficient drainage and wetland habitation. A professional landscape design team of environmental consultants, led by a golf course Landscape Architect, is critical to creating and maintaining the most appropriate ecological strategies to link game play and habitat existence demands. Together, through the power of landscape, planners can simultaneously preserve the heritage of our past while sustaining the life of our future.