Golf’s unique connection with nature is central to the sport’s unending allure. This synergy with the land and the elements explains why many tournaments are finding ways to bring sustainability to the forefront and taking positive actions for the environment.

Dow and WM have established themselves as leaders in advancing sustainability and developing sustainable solutions in a variety of arenas, including golf. WM’s broad reach as a comprehensive environmental solutions provider and Dow’s leadership in material science are bringing new levels of sustainability and innovation to communities and golf tournaments.

Just as the LPGA and PGA TOUR’s best are teaming up on the golf course at this week’s Grant Thornton Invitational, Dow and WM are continuing to work together to enhance the tournament’s sustainability program. The collaboration addresses key opportunities to reduce environmental impact, while also analyzing the event’s footprint to develop a phased emissions reduction plan.

By reaching potentially millions of fans, sponsors and vendors, professional golf events like the Grant Thornton Invitational, the WM Phoenix Open and the Dow Championship provide unparalleled opportunities to educate and raise awareness of environmental issues and sustainability.

“In order to be successful at events like this, we work in partnership from the very beginning on event design, to the choice we offer our spectators and ultimately to how we invest in our infrastructure to be able to reclaim and repurpose those materials,” said Carrie Houtman, Dow’s global sustainability director.

The collaboration at the Grant Thornton Invitational builds on WM and Dow’s continued support for a more expansive recycling system across the country. Recent work between the two companies includes a bold collaboration to improve residential collection for hard-to-recycle plastic films by allowing consumers in select markets to place these materials directly in their curbside recycling.

Through this work, residents in certain markets were able to put items such as grocery bags, bread bags, food storage bags, mailer envelopes, shrink wrap and dry-cleaning bags in their curbside recycling bins, and WM processed the material at its nearby recycling facility.

This type of out-of-the-box thinking is nothing new for WM or Dow. Soon after becoming the title sponsor of the PGA TOUR’s Phoenix Open in 2010, WM imagined an event at which nothing is wasted. By 2013, the world’s most attended golf tournament was a zero-waste event with all materials either recycled, composted, donated, reused or used to recover energy and create fuel. Twelve years later, the WM Phoenix Open is one of the world’s largest certified zero-waste sporting events – a strategic investment for the WM brand that elevates and reinforces WM’s position as a sustainability leader.

Building on this sustainability and sports industry operations expertise, WM expanded the best practices developed at the WM Phoenix Open to apply to other sports leagues, teams and venues. WM has a more than 30-year history providing sustainability solutions for a variety of customers of all sizes and industries. WM now serves more than 60 sports-related customers and partners and has tripled the number of sport leagues, events, teams and venues served since 2021. The company is currently supporting sustainability programs for six sports leagues, 10 venues, 12 golf tournaments, multiple large events and a variety of non-sports customers.

“We are dedicated to supporting large-scale events like golf tournaments as they develop long-term, data-driven sustainability strategies,” said Eric Dixon, vice president, sustainability and environmental solutions, WM. “Through this work, we are able to measure environmental impacts and translate findings into recommendations for future planning to continuously improve."

Dow is the Official Sustainability Resource for the LPGA and the Ladies European Tour and has hosted the LPGA's Dow Championship in Michigan since 2019. The Dow Championship is committed to minimizing all environmental impacts from tournament activities and creating “net positive” outcomes for its surrounding communities in the Great Lakes Bay Region. In 2023, the tournament balanced its direct emissions and water operational footprint, offsetting 100 percent of the tournament’s unavoidable direct emissions.

“At Dow, we believe in the power of sport, and its ability to bring communities together while also driving for a better tomorrow,” said Carlos Padilla II, head of global sports partnerships at Dow. “With golf, we have a unique opportunity to come together with partners like WM, athletes, fans, manufacturers and others to foster sustainability and reduce environmental impact, on and off the course.”

Both companies and their respective PGA TOUR and LPGA Tour tournaments work closely with the GEO Foundation for Sustainable Golf (GEO), a Scotland-based non-profit organization dedicated to inspiring, supporting and recognizing sustainability in and through golf around the world. The 2019 Dow Championship was the first-ever GEO Certified LPGA event, a certification it also received in 2021, 2022 and 2023. The 2017 WM Phoenix Open was the first GEO Certified PGA TOUR event and has been awarded GEO certification each year since. GEO continues to work collaboratively to help the sport embrace environmental and social issues and has become widely acclaimed for its role in fostering nature, conserving resources and building healthy communities, which are key tenets shared by Dow and WM.

“Without companies like WM and Dow supporting golf and golf tournaments to be more sustainable, I really don’t think we would be where we are today,” said Brazos Barber, director of sustainability, PGA TOUR. “Their support, their expertise and their guidance have really helped move the entire golf industry forward.”