18 February, 2025

Martha Henriques The open expanse of a golf course might seem like a green haven, but in fact these open spaces could often be a lot more biodiverse. A lot of fertiliser, pesticides and water go into keeping that grass pristine. The US has by far the most golf courses of any country, but that land area is declining – opening up an opportunity for rewilding. To see what that might look like, my colleague Jocelyn Timperley visited a former golf course in Scotland that has already gone wild. Also in this edition: why natural doesn't always mean better.

THE BIG PICTURE The remarkable social lives of solitary animals Even famously solitary animals like octopuses are sometimes found living in groups. Credit: Peter Godfrey-Smith Octopuses are famously solitary animals, but some do like to congregate. Members of the gloomy octopus species are drawn together by the availability of shelter, forming their own commune and exhibiting curious social interactions. Read more about the solitary animals with complex social lives in Katya Zimmer's story. As she writes, these animals remind us of the many benefits of solitude and that living alone does not equal loneliness.

CLIMATE CONVERSATION  The old golf courses teeming with life  You can find a whole nature microcosm of Scotland at The Plock, a former golf course. Credit: Jocelyn Timperley Jocelyn Timperley, Scotland In a little peninsula jutting out towards the Isle of Skye on the west coast of Scotland, you can find a whole nature microcosm of Scotland, from a wildflower meadow and woodland to scrub habitat and even an area of peat bog. But while you might never guess it, the whole area used to be a golf course. ‌ Historically used as croft land for crops and livestock, The Plock of Kyle was a golf course for almost 100 years but closed in the early 21st Century due to a lack of upkeep. ‌ A few years later, this 60-acre (24-hectare) plot passed into community ownership and became a parkland featuring a host of Scotland's ecosystems in miniature. ‌ At The Plock I meet William Roe, a local who comes here to walk his two Hungarian vizsla dogs almost every day. I ask him whether it's a shame to have lost the golf course, but he shakes his head. "You can make a golf course in lots of places… but you can't make something like this," he says. ‌ It's just one example of a move across the world to restore the ecosystems of land previously used for golf. Another can be found over in California, where, in 2018, US non-profit The Trust for Public Land (TPL) bought the 157-acre (64-hectare) San Geronimo Golf Course and set about creating a new commons and restoring its wildlife and streams. ‌ The restoration work appears to have paid off: last year saw record numbers of salmon spawning in the San Geronimo Valley watershed, says Erica Williams, who led the TPL's work on the park. Hundreds of other species have been spotted in the park, from deer, coyote and bobcats to native egrets, ducks and hawks.

At the San Geronimo Golf Course in California, wildlife and streams have been restored. Credit: Trust for Public Land A nature microcosm  The US has the most golf courses of any country by far: its 16,300 golf courses occupy an estimated 8,000 sq km (two million acres), an area around a third of the size of Vermont. It's one reason they have become targets for environmentalists, who also worry about their often-high fertiliser, pesticide and water use. ‌ With the land covered by golf courses in the US decreasing in recent years, "there's a good case to use this to address problems such as biodiversity loss", says Brad Millington, associate professor of sport management at Brock University in Ontario, Canada. ‌ Of course, golf courses still in use can also be made more nature-friendly. In recent years many golf courses in the US are increasing their acreage of "naturalised areas" – a way of doing a type of smaller-scale rewilding while still allowing for golf, says Millington. ‌ At the new San Geronimo Commons in California, visitors can no longer tee off, but multiple generations do use the land for everything from hiking and horse riding to socialising with neighbours, says Williams. ‌ And projects like this "do more than just create habitat and connect people to nature", she adds. "They create a sense of hope that we can redevelop our needs to meet the climate challenges of tomorrow."