A Question of Ethics?

I watched the BBC’s ‘You’ve been Trumped’ documentary with interest last week.  In case you didn’t see it, this was a somewhat jaundiced look at Donald Trump’s new development on the Aberdeenshire coast.  It stirred up a lot of debate, plus the threat of the odd law suit or two.

I’m not going to pass judgement on this particular development. For starters, I think you have to be careful forming an opinion from a single source, especially as this film so clearly set out to paint a one-sided picture.  The focus was on the sentimental and short-term impacts rather than the longer-term potential of what may in time prove to be a successful and lucrative project for the region. Admittedly, Trump and his team (and the local police) didn’t come out of it very favourably, but editing makes it easy to paint the picture you want viewers to form and the thoughts of the project’s supporters (of whom there are many) were conspicuous in their absence.

But all this did get me thinking about two things which I hadn’t given much thought to in the past.

Firstly, the extent of the challenges that can face a golf course developer. Local residents (for and against), environmentalists, politicians, academics, business leaders; they all have an opinion. I am sure the issues facing this development are the same as have faced many others, the greatest difference being Donald Trump’s involvement, which means the headlines are never far away.  In the modern world, especially at a Site of Special Scientific Interest, golfing developments will inevitably be fraught with difficulty. There clearly needs to be a very robust business plan, with a concise strategy for job creation and local revenue generation, to trump (forgive me) the environmental impact and concerns of local residents, which should obviously be accorded due weight.

The second issue that struck me was one of ethics and our moral obligations as golfers. Sadly, no golfing development comes without contention of some sort, most often I suspect over environmental concerns.  So when the opportunity presents itself to play, how many of us pause and consider whether what we’re doing is right or ethical? It’s just hitting a little white ball around, right?  How morally dubious can it be?

Perhaps it’s too easy to ignore (or forget) the over-arching ethical questions.  We buy free range eggs because we worry about the quality of life of the chickens, so what about the species affected by the bulldozing of the landscape or the local people whose homes or livelihoods have been impacted?  If this is all in the interests of enhancing my golfing experience, am I comfortable with that?

The Trump development is an extreme example, and there is always the argument that a golf course, for all its earth-moving and fertilizer-spraying, is still a ‘natural’ environment that protects an area from being concreted over.

I don’t profess to have an answer; I just know that in the past I wouldn’t even have asked myself the question.  I expect I’ll put these thoughts to one side and wrestle with them again when the opportunity to play a great new course arises again. Fortunately, we’re blessed with a lot of established golf courses in this part of the world, and so I can look forward to playing a less morally-challenging game in the meantime. What dismay and damage these courses may themselves have caused once upon a time, heaven only knows.  Perhaps this is why ignorance is bliss.