STRI (Sports Turf Research Institute) is pleased to announce the finalists for the Golf Environment Awards 2013. These have been selected as the top golf clubs in the UK that have made significant improvements to their local environment. The winners will be announced at the Golf Environment Awards Dinner at the Hotel du Vin on 22nd January 2014, during BTME week.

The awards attracted more entries from previous years and included a diverse range of environmental projects, ranging from building ‘insect hotels’ through to developing ground source heat pumps.

The 2012 STRI Environment Award winner – North Foreland Golf Club.

And according to the judges at STRI the standard of entries was much higher as well, with a number of golf courses undertaking new environmental and nature conservation projects this year, with others maintaining and building on the work done in previous years.

Bob Taylor, Head of Ecology & Environment at STRI, commented: “All entrants to the Golf Environment Awards deserve recognition for their efforts and enthusiasm and it is particularly encouraging to find that many course managers are now using their natural resources for educational purposes. The message is gradually spreading that golf courses can and do provide an important resource for nature conservation.”

The coveted awards are supported by a group of sponsors committed to supporting and promoting proven sustainable projects within golf clubs – Syngenta, County Turf, Ransomes Jacobsen, Farmura, Greenkeeping, Golf Monthly, Operation Pollinator and BIGGA.

Also supporting the awards is US Open Champion 2013, Justin Rose, who continues as the official ambassador of the awards for the fourth consecutive year.