Olympic Club First Golf Club redefines what it means to be a Top 100 Club

The Olympic Club, host of five U.S. Opens and this year’s California State Amateur Championship, recently released its 2016 Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) report, sharing its progress toward environmental, social, and economic sustainability.

The report, developed in collaboration with IMPACT360 Sports, a women-owned independent third party, marks the first comprehensive CSR report in North America within the golf industry, redefining what it means to be a top 100 course and athletic club.

The Olympic Club ranked 31st on Golf Digest’s “America’s 100 Greatest Courses” list for 2017-2018 and has attained ranking every year since 1966. With the announcement, The Club elevates its status as the first U.S. course to publish a CSR report showing transparency in operations related to the environment, community, and economy – while exhibiting the aesthetics, performance, and playability of a top 100 course.

“We hope to display leadership in the sports industry, and golf industry in particular, to be good stewards of the environment, while promoting community engagement, and making a positive economic impact,” said The Olympic Club General Manager Pat Finlen. “We want to grow the game of golf and our 17 other sports within the Club; and we are committed to doing it in a sustainable manner.”

According to the Golf Course Superintendents Association, recycled water accounts for 25 percent of all water used on golf courses in the United States. The Olympic Club reports that recycled water accounts for 89 percent of water used at its athletic club and golf courses combined, with recycled water accounting for 97 percent of water used at its golf course alone.

“Our Board is proud of the connected culture we have at The Olympic Club, which includes our 10,440 members, 450 employees, and partners,” said The Olympic Club Board President John A. Espiritu. “It takes all of us working together to achieve 89 percent recycled water use and a 76 percent waste diversion rate, while helping more than 100,000 children in our communities.”

IMPACT360 Sports integrated the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) G4 and United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) frameworks within the report to gauge and measure activities using a whole-value sustainability approach. GRI provides the world’s most widely used standards on sustainability reporting encompassing ethical procurement, natural resource use, diversity, inclusion, and governance. The SDGs were adopted by world leaders at the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit in 2015 to tackle inequality, injustice, and climate change.

“We are showing local and global sustainability impacts through alignment with the GRI G4 framework and SDGs,” said IMPACT360 Sports Co-Founder Gina Rizzi. “More than 92 percent of the world’s largest 250 corporations report on sustainability using the GRI framework. These companies recognize that sustainability is important to customers and integral to operations; this CSR report positions The Olympic Club alongside these leading organizations.”