Alongside being a place where players can display their skills at hitting a golf ball, golf courses could also play a pivotal role in providing good habitats for birds and other wildlife, it has been suggested.
Britain's 2,600 golf courses are filled with 140,000 hectares of out-of-bounds areas, although the amount of chemicals and fertilisers used by greenkeepers in certain locations turns many animals away.
However, the conservation group RSPB and the R&A, golf's governing body, have come together to produce a new handbook.
Entitled 'Birds and Golf Courses: A Guide to Habitat Management', the publication helps to inform greenkeepers about the role they can play in supporting wildlife.
Co-writer of the handbook, Nigel Symes from the RSPB, said: "The truth is that every golf course has potential to be a sanctuary for wildlife and to provide an important stepping stone for birds and other animals whose habitat is under threat.
"Planting native plants like heather and creating reed beds and hay meadows, as well as reducing pesticide and fertiliser use, can all make a big difference."
However, the wildlife on a course has not always been the kindest to players in the past, with clips witnessed of both a seagull and a fox scampering away with golf balls.
Alongside being a place where players can display their skills at hitting a 
