He's owned Saturday Night Live, singing, dancing, boy bands and just about every respectable model/actress in the city of Los Angeles. Now, Justin Timberlake might just be owning the golf industry.Timberlake, 28, who is a scrappy 6-handicap, has recently opened the "greenest" golf course in the country, and only course to receive the Audobon International Classic Sanctuary certification.
How is Mirimichi, the golf course Timberlake grew up playing, so green? There are a number of things he's done to make it eco-friendly. First and foremost, Timberlake is using rainwater-driven irrigation systems to water the course, one of the big problems with golf courses to environmentalists.
Along with that, the course has solar-powered golf carts, which can only cut energy costs on a course located in sunny Memphis, Tenn.
"After we had the golf course, we said why don't we refurbish it and make it even nicer for the community. Then I asked questions about what we could possibly do, and we found out we could actually make it a 'green course,'" Timberlake said.Sure, the project cost Timberlake $16 million, but it at least gets the word out that this is a viable option for future projects. Our country isn't necessarily what you'd call "North America's Prius," but there are people focusing on this energy problem and when celebrities get involved, it only boosts the awareness. If Timberlake can toss this money around for resources, who is to say companies like Jack Nicklaus Design or Troon Golf couldn't do the same?
"So when it's finished this summer it will be a Platinum LEED certified green course. The first in the United States of America, so that's pretty exciting that you could take all that land and make it eco-friendly."
Of course, nobody has still picked up on my brilliant idea to have solar-paneled moving sidewalks on the golf course and just scrap golf carts all together. With the prices of a sandwich and beer fairly similar, shouldn't we make airports and golf courses a little more akin?
h/t Busbee at Devil Ball Golf
