Camp John Hay in Baguio City takes pride in making it not only friendly for the members but also for Mother Earth.

General manager Jude Estaquio told DAILY TRIBUNE that one of the ways they are preserving water in the club is by using stored rainwater and watering the fairways just once a week.

“The water to use to irrigate during the summer is the stored rainwater from the collected reservoirs. You try to manage it for the drought, from the sewage treatment plant of Camp John Hay.

“Additional measures we put in place, there are areas we will no longer irrigate. You only go once a week on the fairway and you still keep up to date with your putting greens and teeing areas.”

Estaquio said having its golf carts electric has been a standard not only to Camp John Hay but also for the other golf courses handled by the Sobrepeña Group.

He also said Camp John Hay thoroughly handles its waste disposal as well.

“More than a decade ago, all of the golf carts in the Sobrepeña Group’s, including Camp John Hay, Southwoods, Forrest Hills and Sherwood are all electric carts,” Estaquio said.

“In the golf club, if you’re talking about the waste at the clubhouse, it is segregated thoroughly by our housekeeping. When it comes to hazardous waste, we have an environmental safety officer who checks the pollution control officer in our engineering department who abides by all the restrictions imposed on hazardous wastes like oil and rubber in golf cart tires.”

Estaquio said he hopes more golf clubs would also do their part in limiting their carbon footprint and coordinate with government agencies as well.

“In this industry, we could use further measures on how we can improve our carbon footprint if we are able to measure the carbon footprint in golf clubs, it can show that our industry does help because we have a lot of trees and Camp John Hay doesn’t use air-conditioning. The club doesn’t use air-conditioning but uses natural ventilation even in summer,” Estaquio said.