Golf uses as much British land as Greater Manchester
In England alone, golf courses use 16 billion litres of water per year
London's 43 publicly owned courses could provide housing for 300,000 people
We're in the middle of a climate catastrophe, with droughts, hurricanes, and wildfires sweeping the Earth.
And yet, with mere years left to avert the worst consequences of a phenomenon we created, we're playing golf like Nero fiddling as Rome burns.
The sport uses an obscene amount of natural resources such as land and water, all to create a plastic version of nature for a luxurious game that has no place in these desperate times.
Here are all the reasons why golf should be banned, and a plan for what should replace golf courses.
3. It's not popular enough to justify itself
In terms of popularity across the UK, golf falls behind football, rugby, cricket, tennis, and possibly even horse racing.
Despite this fact, golf courses take up 67 times more space in London than tennis courts, and use 47% more land than football pitches.
In total, around 100 km² of London is given over to sport and leisure activities - of which 43% is dedicated entirely to golf.
Seven times more people play football than golf on these shores, and their sport uses space efficiently, with 22 footballers taking up - at most - a 100.6 by 64 metre space.
That means each player can have a maximum of 293 m² to themselves, or roughly a 15 by 20 metre rectangle.
In contrast, since most golf clubs only allow four players to play a hole at the same time, each course can only host 72 golfers at once - meaning 6,944 m² of space being painstakingly cultivated for each player.
