Fife is the Ancestral home of Scottish monarchs, world-famous for its golf and some of Scotland’s best scenic attractions.

In Southern Fife you can find Dunfermline, a former capital of Scotland, Fife’s largest City. The famous Forth Road and Rail Bridges are memorable sights for this area of Scotland

Although the gentle hills in the rural hinterland and the windswept cliffs, rocky bays and sandy beaches may be famous for the film ‘Chariots of Fire’ its most famous destination is St Andrews, Scotland’s oldest university town and the home of the world-famous Royal and Ancient golf club.

Home to Scotland’s capital for six centuries, Fife has always been at the heart of the nation’s history, evidence of which can still be found in its wealth of castles, cathedrals, and places of historic interest.

The Kingdom of Fife is also known throughout the world as the Home of Golf and boasts more than forty courses, from the famed fairways of St Andrews and several traditional seaside links to beautifully landscaped parkland and heathland courses suitable for golfers of all levels.

The Fife coastline is a very special environment which has distinctive rock formations, delicate flora and a varied wildlife. . For nature lovers, the path is a real walk on the wild side. Look out for grey seals and, in summer, basking sharks and dolphins.

Elmwood Golf Course

Elmwood Golf Course is an 18 hole parkland course in Fife and benefits from having an amazing backdrop of the Tarvit & Lomond Hills. The environment is a key focus for the club and there was an environmental strategy in place before the construction of the course even began back in 1998. This strategy is an ongoing core aspect to the club with the Green Team being made up from all areas of the venue, including greenkeeping, restaurant, kitchen, maintenance and administration, this holistic approach to the venue and site as a whole is how the team come up with new and innovative ideas to help the environment, and this way of working has lead to the high level of success that Elmwood has had.

We spoke to Stuart Pearson, part of the core team from the club, who is clearly proud of the course’s achievements so far but also looking forward to continuing the great work in the future.

The course itself is owned by Scotland’s Rural College (https://www.sruc.ac.uk/) which in itself might explain how and why the environment forms such a central role at the club. Students from the SRUC help with the development and implementation of the environmental strategy at the club as part of their education programmes. This is mutually beneficial to both the club and the students as there is a constant sharing of new ideas as to how the club can set the benchmark when it comes to environmental sustainability. It is home to more than 9,000 indigenous trees, there is minimal movement of soil and the result has been an increase in wildlife and wildflowers that thrive on the site. Stuart was keen to let us know that when it comes to looking after the quality of the playing area grass the site is 100% pesticide free. The team at Elmwood Golf Course has set its own environment bar very high and continues year on year to maintain and even exceed its own standards.