La Réserve Golf Links is playing its part in golf’s ongoing commitment to sustainability as it hosts this week’s AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open.
Opened in November, the stunning layout at Heritage Golf Club has been awarded GEO (Golf Environment Organisation) Certified Development status, the global standard for sustainable course design and construction.
Situated on Mauritius’ south-west corner in the Bel Ombre region, La Réserve Golf Links is the first course in Africa to receive the accolade and makes its international championship debut as it opens its fairways to leading players from both the DP World Tour and the Sunshine Tour.
Commenting on La Réserve Golf Links receiving GEO Certified Development status, Sustainable.golf Director of Golf Development, Sam Thomas said: “It signifies those golf courses that have really integrated the best sustainable practices in their design and construction processes and that is internationally speaking.
“That really translates into trying to build in how we can reduce the impact during that construction process but also make positive contributions and changes for the people, nature and environment that the course is going into.”
Co-designed by course architect Peter Matkovich and Major champion Louis Oosthuizen, the venue is adjacent to a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve.
Former sugar cane fields have been planted with native island grasses to create rich rolling grasslands, encouraging ecological diversity and carbon sequestration.
“When you come to Mauritius and play the golf course you are experiencing the Mauritian landscape,” Thomas added.
“In this case we had quite a steeply sloped site so that was quite a constraint but we used that to our advantage to try to use the gravity to feed the irrigation system, so all the rain water harvesting goes into making sure we can irrigate the golf course.”
Heritage Golf Club’s commitment to sustainability goes beyond the natural environment, implementing a ban on single use plastic water battles as part of a resort wide sustainable strategy.
