Licensed professionals using approved chemicals maintain today?s golf courses ? but that wasn?t always the case.
“It has definitely changed over the last 15 or 20 years,” said Rick Robbins, head of golf course design at ETd/Robbins and Associates International, a golf course design company in North Carolina.
Many banned chemicals such as chlordane and DDT were once in herbicides and pesticides used on golf courses. But some community groups and environmental activists say traces may remain in the soil.
State lawmakers are considering a measure that would require developers to conduct environmental testing on land once used as a golf course before building.
“Most developers will certainly get someone in the environmental community to do an assessment,” Robbins said.
On modern golf courses, there isn?t much to worry about, he said.
“Most chemicals have a very short life span, so that they are not residual things that hang out in the soil for the next 40 years,” he said, adding that course managers apply only the amount soaked up by the soil.
Strict controls weren?t in place decades ago, Robbins said. Many golf course managers came from a farming background, where few restrictions were placed on herbicide and pesticide use.
As of last April, all golf courses are required to be certified with the state Department of Agriculture, said Dennis Howard, the department?s chief of pesticide regulation.
This certification involves having experience with pesticides and taking multiple exams, he said.
The chemicals that often cause alarm weren?t limited to golf courses, Howard said.
“We have only had one or two complaints on pesticides applications concerning golf courses,” said Howard, who has been with the department for 30 years. “All pesticides are toxins. If they are not used properly, they have the potential to be harmful.”
