How an exotic holiday sparked a career in sustainable golf

How did you become involved in sustainability?

My interest in sustainability stems from a time on holiday in Bali, where we were shocked to see locals burning mounds of plastic waste by the roadside. Although tourism is a large part of the problem, plastic waste is washed up in significant quantities on Bali’s beautiful beaches. For countries like Bali, without a developed recycling system, it seems that burning of plastic waste is one of their solutions to the problem.

Following that trip and back at work in the motor industry, I became a champion for reducing our plastic consumption whilst striving to encourage recycling and repurposing wherever possible. Then Covid hit and I found myself at home with time on my hands and that’s when I questioned whether there was something that I could do to combine my love of golf with sustainability.

What sparked the idea for Clean Strike, your sustainable golf club cleaner?

As a child, I’d been taught to look after my belongings, and I’d taken that through into adulthood. My golf equipment in particular, has always been very well maintained and I clean my clubs after every round. Talking to a good friend during that long Covid period, we came up with the idea of producing a sustainable golf club cleaner, as it combined his skills as a chemist and my knowledge of sustainability and golf.

How is the cleaner sustainable?

We worked hard on formulating a product that is not harmful to the environment and created a highly effective spray made from food waste – don’t worry it smells great!. This is now Clean Strike, our golf club cleaner, that is delivered in a sustainable cannister that has been produced using Prevented Ocean Plastic.

In what other ways is Verta Golf sustainable?

We have developed a set of pledges that guide the development of the business, these are:

1. Core materials are from sustainable or recyclable sources
2. Local suppliers are used wherever possible
3. We work proactively to offset our carbon footprint
4. We promote inclusivity and accessibility in the golf community

What's next for Verta Golf?

Feedback on the product has been overwhelming positive, and we are now working on an even more sustainable version which is due for release in Spring 2025. We also have a number of other sustainable product ideas, which are in various stages of development, so this is just the start Verta golf. 

Further reading

Prevented Ocean Plastic™ x Verta Golf (cleanstrike.co.uk)

Bali's Plastic Problem