“What Is Lost so That Other Things Can Be Sustained?”: The Climate Crisis, Loss, and the Afterlife of Golf

• Published in: Sociology of sport journal 2024-09, p.1-10
• Main Authors: Millington, Brad, Wilson, Brian
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0741-1235; 1543-2785
• DOI: 10.1123/ssj.2023-0216

This article introduces sociological conceptions of loss to literature on sport to assess the “life” and “death” of golf courses—as well as the “afterlife” of golf terrain once golf courses close. As indicated by the quotation from Rebecca Elliott’s writing (2018) in our title, a loss framing differs from the concept of sustainability by considering practices that might be discarded to serve better environmental futures. We consider loss vis-à-vis three golf industry “outlooks”: (1) strategic and gradual loss, where loss serves an industry-friendly view of sustainability; (2) permanent loss, where courses “die,” potentially toward greener “afterlives”; and (3) transformational loss, where golf courses remain but are substantially changed. We conclude with reflections on loss and the study of sport beyond golf.