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The results of the 17th John Collier Annual Survey on environmental compliance, social responsibility and good governance (ESG) for South African golf courses have been released by John Collier Golf, and the tale of the tape shows Elements Private Golf Reserve as the winner of this year’s top award, with Umhlali Country Club and Olivewood Private Estate receiving honourable mentions.
JCG’s areas of research include Environmental Management Planning; Biodiversity; Landscape and Cultural Heritage; Water Resource Management; Turfgrass Management; Waste Management; Energy Management; Education and Working Environment, Social Responsibility, Communication and Public Awareness; Governance, Risk, and Compliance.
What is ESG?
The short answer is Environmental, Social, and Governance, which are the factors companies should integrate as part of their business strategy. ESG is becoming increasingly important, as it helps golf clubs, golf estates, golf resorts, and all other business types to conduct their business activities in a way that is more consistent and aligned with their values and their stakeholders’ expectations.
For those readers who might be wondering what John Collier Golf (JCG) is, the following is a summary of its activities and services:
JCG is a boutique environmental compliance, social responsibility, and good governance consultancy, which helps its clients to see around the corner, act proactively, and bring the best environmental compliance, social responsibility, and good governance practices to the golf clubs it is involved with.
The John Collier Annual Survey is produced each year by JCG, and it is the benchmarking data destination for the South.
The survey’s results are also used as the basis for various awards, including the Top Club Award, the honourable mentions, the provincial top club awards, the best province award, and the individual club certifications, which are at three levels — gold, silver and bronze.
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Estate Living (EL) asked Alistair Collier (AC) — founder of the John Collier Annual Survey — how the survey’s results were calculated.
AC: The survey’s data, received from golf clubs throughout South Africa, are combined with desktop research and interviews with people knowledgeable about golf courses throughout the region, and then analysed, following which process we then publish the John Collier Annual Survey in March each year.
EL: Does this determine the overall picture from all the participating clubs, which will then be used both to determine the best clubs overall and the gold, silver and bronze certifications?
AC: Yes — after we have published the survey, we then revisit the data to ascertain which golf club has submitted the most comprehensive report. With a 45% participation rate from golf clubs, and a 29% national compliance level, there are always clubs that stand out as being exceptional, and, as expected this year, there were several very strong contenders.
EL: So, which facility took home the big prize?
AC: The Top Club Award has been given to Elements Private Golf Reserve, where, it has to be said, the work being done is truly impressive, and so, given the context of this award, it is fitting that the club was appropriately recognised in June, which is the month of World Environment Day (WED).
AC: World Environment Day (WED) is celebrated annually on 5 June, with key objectives being to increase awareness about the environment, enhance political attention, and encourage public action. Since its inception — World Environment Day was established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1972 — over the past five decades, WED has grown to be one of the largest global platforms for environmental outreach, with tens of millions of people participating online and through in-person activities, events, and actions around the world.
EL: If the overarching theme is the environment, we assume that there is a special focus each year – is this correct?
AC: Yes – and 2024’s focus was on land restoration, desertification, and drought resilience. There is a worrying intensification of what is termed the triple planetary crisis: the crisis of climate change, the crisis of nature and biodiversity loss, and the crisis of pollution and waste. In terms of the triple planetary crisis, land restoration can reverse the creeping tide of land degradation, drought, and desertification.
This type of restoration boosts livelihoods, lowers poverty and builds resilience to extreme weather, while increasing carbon storage and slowing climate change.
Restoring just 15% of land, and halting further conversion, could avoid up to 60% of expected species extinctions.
In this regard, attention to the drivers of land degradation, drought, and desertification — such as climate change — is important. Last year, temperature records were shattered, and much of the world felt the impacts, not just in heat but in storms, floods, and drought. Restoring land without tackling climate change would be like giving with one hand and taking away with the other.
The UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have become the common language of sustainability, and are supported by the three pillars of sustainability, namely environmental, social, and governance (ESG) policies and objectives. Strategic alignment with the goals has become standard practice in sustainable businesses.
For example, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development recently reported that 94% of its members referenced the SDGs in their 2022 sustainability reports. Investors are also using the SDGs framework to mobilise, direct, and steer capital.
EL: How did Elements catch the eye this year?
AC: What Elements did so well in their survey questionnaire was to illustrate their stewardship of the land as linked to the WED focus areas on land restoration, desertification, and drought resilience, and their attention to ESG and SDG, in particular Sustainable Development Goals 15 (Life on Land) and 13 (Climate Action).
In addition, Elements illustrated an understanding of the triple planetary crises of climate change, nature and biodiversity loss, and pollution and waste.
What the board of trustees and management also illustrated in their survey questionnaire is their understanding of the relevance of the ESG and the importance of the SDGs for Elements itself.
It is this understanding that has laid the groundwork by setting a sustainability approach that takes into consideration the positive and negative impacts of their business on the ESG risks and opportunities, and the setting of short- and long-term environmental compliance, social responsibility, and good governance goals, which are aligned with the ESG and SDGs, and then overseeing the progress on them, reporting back, and engaging with stakeholders.
EL: Could other South African clubs and golf estates learn from Elements?
AC: Without a doubt, and Elements’ understanding of and implementation of the three pillars of ESG sets a standard that many clubs in South Africa would want to emulate.
Your mention of other top clubs is important, because notwithstanding Elements’ award, special mention must also be made of the Umhlali Country Club and Olivewood Private Estate, and their efforts towards ESG and environmental sustainability.
EL: How much of a team effort is winning an award such as this?
AC: I think that it is all about teamwork, and winning a Top Club Award can only be achieved with the support of committed and passionate people, who wholly embrace the benefits of environmental compliance, social responsibility, and good governance.
Therefore, special congratulations must go to Elements Private Reserve’s Chairman, Mr Waldo Du Toit, the board of trustees, including Mike Engelbrecht, Johan Smith, and Nico Hager as board portfolio holders and subcommittee members, the residents, the general manager Gerhard Lombard, club manager Charles Smith, and Tshepiso Mabena and the Matkovich team.
