EnergyuseandGHGemissionsperunitareawerehighestfor greens,followed by tees, fairways and roughs. However, when consideringtheentiregolfcourses,bothenergyuseandGHG emis-sionsweremainlyrelatedtofairwayandroughmaintenancedue tothelargerareatheyoccupied.Mowingwasthemost energy-consumingactivityand contributed 21 and27% of theprimary energyuseofthegolfcourses.Irrigationandmanufacturingof min-eralfertiliserandmachineryalsoresultedinconsiderableenergy use.Mowingand emissionsassociatedwithfertilisation (manu-factureof Nfertiliserand soilemissionsof N2Ooccurringafter application)contributedmosttoGHGemissions.EmissionsofN2O fromdecompositionofgrassclippingsareapotentialhotspotfor GHGemissionsfromturfmanagementthatneedsfurther
inves-fairway and roughin the assessment considerablyreduced the carbonfootprintforfairwayandturnedtheroughintoasinkfor GHG.Appropriatemeasuresforreducing energyuseandcarbon footprintfromlawnmanagementarethus:i)reducedmowing fre-quencywhenapplicable,ii)investmentinelectrifiedmachinery, iii)loweringthemineralNfertiliserrate(especiallyonfairways) andiv)reducingtheamountandtransportofsandfordressing.
Loweringthemineralfertiliserrateis of particularimportance, sinceGHGemissionsoriginatefromboththemanufacturingphase andfromNturnoverafterapplication.However,measuresmust beadaptedtotheprevailingconditionsatthespecificgolfcourse andtherequirementssetbygolfers.Thereisalsoaneedformore golfcoursesthatprioritiseandmarketalowenvironmental foot-printevenattheexpenseofe.g.currentaestheticpreferences.A lifecycle perspective asappliedin this studycan beusedas a toolfordecision-supportforgolfcoursesaimingatimprovingtheir environmentalperformance.
Conflictofinterest
Wedeclarethatnoconflictsofinterestofanykind(director indirect)exist.
Acknowledgements
Thisstudyformedpartofthemultidisciplinaryresearch pro-gramme“Lawnasecologicalandculturalphenomenon–Search forsustainablelawnsinSweden”,which wasfundedbyFormas (grantno.225-2012-1369),theSwedishResearchCouncilfor Envi-ronment,AgriculturalSciencesandSpatialPlanning.
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