ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to examine the case study of “La Galiana” Golf Course, located in the Spanish town of Carcaixent (Valencia), and is one of the most sustainable golf courses in Spain. Concretely, we attempt to explain the distinctive key points of this golf course and at the same time intend to answer the following three questions: (1) How has this recently established golf course placed among the best in the world? (2) Do the proactive strategy and the long-term attitude towards sustainability constitute key drivers of this success? and (3) What are the main challenges in the path of sustainability in the golf industry? Through these questions we try to understand and uphold the appearance of sustainable golf courses, at the same time that we deny some of the myths currently associated with golf courses. Hence we propose a model that positively links pro-environmental culture, pro-environmental behavior and environmental performance, and offer some qualitative data to sustain these research propositions.
