Yesterday was held at the Rafa Nadal Sports Centre the 46th National Congress of Autonomous Golf Federations, which brings together until Thursday on the island the presidents of the federations of all the Spanish autonomous communities, members of their boards of directors and the Royal Spanish Golf Federation, committees and representatives of courses, and entities related to golf. It is the first time that this meeting is held in the Balearic Islands, after it had to be postponed in 2019 due to the pandemic.

The presentation was attended by, among others, the island director of Tourism of the Consell de Mallorca, Lucía Escribano; the director of the Tourism Strategy Agency of the Balearic Islands, Xisco Mateu; the president of the Royal Spanish Golf Federation, Gonzaga Escauriaza; and the president of the Balearic Golf Federation, Bernardino Jaume. In addition, Joan Mateos, managing partner of the environmental consultancy Sinergies has intervened with a speech entitled ”Golf and sustainability; Balearic Islands, a reference.”

Bernardino Jaume praised the importance of the congress “to give visibility to Mallorca as a golf destination and to show the great work being done in the island’s golf courses”. Lucía Escribano, for her part, highlighted ”the great economic impact of golf in Mallorca, and also in the creation of quality jobs, and also outside the high season. It is a very important segment for the destination”. Finally, Xisco Mateu commented that ”this type of events are always very interesting, and in this case in a segment such as sports, which has a very important role in the objective of deseasonalizing and betting on quality.”

“Golf and sustainability; the Balearic Islands, a reference.”
According to Joan Mateos, ”Balearic golf courses are pioneers in environmental sustainability. They have been implementing measures related to the environment and quality for years. In 2004 they obtained the first ISO 14001 and EMAS environmental certification in Europe and in 2009 the first quality certification, which also incorporates the implementation of environmental measures. All these certificates require, year after year, the implementation of measures to improve. Therefore, we can say that for about 20 years the golf courses of the Balearic Islands have been implementing environmental improvements, whether they refer to energy or water saving, or waste management.”

Purified water for irrigation
Mateos explained in his speech, regarding the measures implemented by the golf courses of the islands, some of those that are being carried out, ”for example, regarding energy saving: installation of solar panels, change to LED lights, replacement of machinery by hybrid or electric equipment. Regarding water saving, flow reducers, more efficient pumps, intelligent and sectorized irrigation systems are being installed. Regarding waste management: selective waste separation and complete separation of hazardous waste, elimination of plastics. And I would like to point out that some fields in the islands have been years ahead of the regional and state regulations on these issues”. Finally he has underlined that ”100% of the golf courses of the Balearic Islands use treated water for irrigation. In this way a second use is given to a resource, wastewater, which otherwise would end up in the sea as waste.”