Steps toward sustainability

The words Winnetka Golf Club and sustainability have been found in the same sentence quite often recently. The Illinois club earned the Green to a Tee Award from KemperSports this year. Green to a Tee is a structured sustainability program aimed to promote environmental stewardship on golf courses. Winnetka also became a Certified Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary, the first KemperSports facility to receive all four levels of certification in a single year.

Who are the people behind these conservation achievements, and what efforts are they making at the northern Illinois course?

Winnetka Golf Club opened as a 9-hole facility in 1917, designed by William Langford. A few years later, those nine holes were redesigned and nine more were added to complete a full 18-hole course. A 9-hole short course has been added as well. 

Andrew Garner worked as director of agronomy from March 2023 through February 2025 during a major stormwater management and course renovation at the club. He has since accepted a job as superintendent of Diablo Country Club, east of Oakland, California, and Evan Davis now holds the director of agronomy position. Davis says he’s excited about continuing the environmental efforts at the course.

“Something super important to me is continuing this environmental stewardship in terms of Audubon (International), in terms of preserving the wildlife and the habitats that we have here, to me, is super important,” Davis says. “I’m a young guy. I’m 25 and I’m of a new generation of guys that really value sustainability and ecologically friendly practices.” 

When Garner was hired in 2023, he was tasked with revitalizing out-of-play areas. Revitalization areas focused on native areas, tree-filled land, banks and untouched parts of the course. Habitat revitalization for wildlife was executed alongside the task. In native areas beneath trees, Garner and his team worked to replant grass and create a cleaner aesthetic. In benefit of the animals, wildlife have a new place to find food from fallen tree branches and leaves. Wildlife sightings are frequent on the course. Animals such as coyotes, squirrels, deer, muskrats and turtles reside on the property.

Throughout course renovations and work, the maintenance team used collected wood and sticks to build insect habitats in out-of-play areas. Following the recent renovation project, wood from construction was chopped and piled to build brush pile habitats for the small creatures.

“It creates a better habitat for some of those lower food chain wildlife and insects. Just kind of supporting the food chain here on the property,” Garner says.

The club has created a safe space for birds on the property. Twenty bluebird houses and purple martin birdhouses are placed all around the course, and flocks use them regularly. Blue herons, geese, ducks, cardinals and robins also visit the property.

Last year, an Eagle Scout worked with the course to install two adult bat structures and two juvenile bat structures. “I think the biggest thing about our bat project is that we were able to engage with the Eagle Scouts,” Garner says.

Davis plans to emphasize water management and conservation.

“The new trend in the industry is firm and fast. Overwatering just creates so many problems,” Davis says. “When you overwater, you get thatch. When you get thatch, you’re more susceptible to disease. When you’re more susceptible to disease, you put out more spray applications and you go at heavier rates. The root of a lot of these problems, in my opinion, is water.”

Conservation efforts are made in numerous aspects of the club. The team is working to reduce fertilizer inputs and focus on hot spots instead of blanket applications. They’re also working to reduce water usage through irrigation audits and hand watering and are working to reduce energy usage. The club has also planted pollinator gardens throughout the course.

Environmentalism has been at the core of Winnetka Golf Club — during both Gardner’s time at the club and for Davis’s plans for the role.

“I’m excited to get in here, and what a great honor it is to manage something that is so important to the community,” Davis says. “And just to know that I take the responsibility of environmental stewardship seriously, and it’s a serious and quintessential part of our economic program. I’m really honored for the opportunity to see the place over, and I’m excited to sustainably practice so future generations can enjoy this property.”