Greening the Greens

“This green community will fit you to a tee!”

– Judy, SLHL’s Green Girl

When you think of a golf course, what immediately comes to mind? The beautiful greens, naturally. And when you surround that golf course with environmentally designed and built homes, the greens just become greener.

The Greens at Fox Run is a quaint little community of luxury English country-inspired cottage homes complete with steep roofs, arched windows and stone exteriors. Nestled into the landscape that surrounds the Fox Run Golf Club in Eureka, Missouri, The Greens offers an opportunity for carefree living that celebrates the fact that living green is living easy.

Each charming cottage is designed and built for a lifetime and embodies the greenest technology available today. In fact, this community of homes has earned the Green Building Initiative Gold Rating by the National Association of Home Builders, one of the highest green ratings a home can receive. Low VOC (volatile organic compounds) paints, recycled content carpeting and recycled newspaper insulation are used in each residence, as are ENERGY STAR® rated appliances.

The Greens employs geothermal energy systems for heat, air conditioning and hot water. During the winter, the heat pump uses heat from the ground to warm the air in a home. In the summer months, the relatively cooler earth contributes to the cooling of the home. A study by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) concluded that geothermal energy is the most environmentally friendly heating and cooling system available today.

Healthy and eco-conscious living is what The Greens at Fox Run are all about. Exteriors are crafted from time-tested materials like stone, brick, cement and stucco. In fact, all building materials, inside and out, are chosen not only for their quality, but also for their renewability and low environmental impact in harvesting, manufacturing, construction and livability. From super insulated walls to finely engineered equipment and materials, these houses are built with pride and made to last.

David Ault, owner of The Greens and The Fox Run Golf Club, is an avid golfer and conservationist. It was his vision in the late 1990s to build the most challenging bent grass golf course in the region, and he ended up creating one of the most challenging courses in the Midwest! The Clubhouse and Conference Center that resulted from that vision were wrought with details that gave it the feel of a timeless genteel manor home. Ault's commitment to ecology and his background in the U.S. Navy led him to incorporate the geothermal energy system that now serves each and every home at The Greens. “These right-sized homes are extraordinarily energy-efficient,” says Patrick Kelley, project manager at The Greens. They continue the Ault family's commitment to energy-wise construction. The Aults have been heating and cooling the various buildings at the Club, including the picturesque Clubhouse with geothermal systems for over 15 years, long before ‘green' was a household word.”

And the green of the golf course runs deep. So deep, in fact, that organic fertilizers and an on-site irrigation system help to keep the greens green, too.

Merging the latest in green technology with nature's abundant resources and beauty has made The Greens at Fox Run and the Fox Run Golf Club stand out from other golfing communities. I guess that proves that it is possible to “have it all” and not leave a giant carbon footprint on the planet.