Sean McDonough hopes the bad reputation golf courses have had with environmentalists during the past 25 years are on their way out the door.

McDonough, grounds superintendent for Useless Bay Golf and Country Club, uses his free time to make sure that nature has top priority at the golf course. Well, behind the golfers, of course.

“In the ’70s and ’80s, golf courses were perceived to be toxic wastelands,” McDonough said. “It’s never been like that.”

To buck the image — based on the heavy use of herbicides and fertilizers by most courses over the past half century — McDonough is using his training in agronomy to prove the club is committed to being environmentally friendly.

Recently, the grounds crew at Useless Bay has been working to qualify the course as a certified member of the Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Program. To earn that designation, McDonough has had to walk the course through a six-step, two-year program.

ACSP is not affiliated with the Audubon Society.

ACSP’s provides education about environmental stewardship. The organization’s program for golf courses tailors information to the unique settings and needs of each course.

At Useless Bay, McDonough regularly gives attention to environmental planning, wildlife and habitat management, water conservation and water quality management, resource conservation, waste reduction and outreach and education. He has long known the course is in a sensitive natural area, perched just above vast wetlands that border Useless Bay.

He hopes to teach the golf and country club members more about the valuable resource they are playing on every day.

“I don’t think they realize what they have,” he said.

The 133-acre course, some of which used to be tide flats before a dike was build to turned the land into a farm, is still pretty wet. Until this month, the fairway under the first tee was so squishy that the ground swallowed up any ball hit to the right.

Ten of the course’s acres are ponds, while 19 are native areas that are not maintained. The grass grows high in these places, making a home for many species of birds living in the Useless Bay area.

McDonough’s ultimate goal is to keep the club members happy with a well-maintained golf course, and to preserve some habitat for wildlife.

In the golf course community, two of the most common concerns are water consumption and the use of pesticides and other chemicals, according to the ACSP.

McDonough said during six months of the year the course receives no watering, utilizing the Pacific Northwest’s natural ability to keep the grass green. But May through September, the peak season for water usage, sprinklers on the course pump out up to 200,000 gallons or water a day to keep the grass green. And that’s down from just a few years ago.

“We’ve reduced water usage since I’ve been here,” McDonough said.

During last summer’s drought, McDonough resisted the urge to use more water. He turned off sprinkler heads out-of-play areas, allowing parts of the course to go dry. Doing so kept summer water usage close to average.

Fertilizer and fungicide are items McDonough said he uses rarely. On the Useless Bay putting greens, where the grass is one-tenth of an inch tall, fungicide remains necessary. But that’s about the only place.

As for the rest of the course, McDonough said a light liquid application of fertilizer is applied sparingly. He said groundkeepers do a “daily scouting” of every green to insure there are no problems on the course, instead of blanketing the area with pesticides or fertilizers.

Other courses strive to be green

Karen Anderson, who with husband Dave owns Island Greens golf course in Clinton, keeps her course green even though she’s never heard of ACSP.

She said it is also their philosophy to maintain the course with as few chemicals as possible. Anderson said they use natural and organic fertilizers when they are needed. Since the 9-hole course opened, it has provided natural habitat for animals in non-play areas.

At the Holmes Harbor Golf Course, grounds superintendent Bryan Shoper was also unaware of the ACSP. Shoper said while crews work to ensure safety for staff and golfers on the 50-acres, executive-length course, no special consideration is made for wildlife on the course.

Back at Useless Bay, McDonough is still trying to improve course care. In his drive for ACSP certification, he plans to widen non-play areas for wildlife, to introduce bird and bat boxes, and to purchase more native trees and plants. McDonough said he will also widen buffer areas around the water features to increase the habitat size for ducks and geese.

The course is also home to blacktail deer, beavers, coyotes, river otters, muskrats, herons, owls, hawks, wrens, sparrows, swallows and quail, and an active bald eagle nest

For those who remain skeptical about his efforts, McDonough noted that many alternative uses for the course’s land — like houses and shopping malls — are unthinkable.

“How can pavement and concrete be better than a golf course?” he said.

BOX INFO

For more information on the Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Program visit their Web site at www.audubonintl.org.

Jennifer Conway / staff photo

Sean McDonough, ground superintendent at the Useless Bay Golf and Country Club, attaches a bird house on the course. The bird house is just one of many steps McDonough will take to get Useless Bay a certified member of the Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Program for golf courses.