I agree OP. Many golf courses are expanses of sterile astroturf where no wildlife can live. The grass ones are mowed short, this alone destroys multiple habitats. Add fertiliser and weed killer and the removal of trees or ponds and you have even more habitat destruction. Long grass and wild flowers are vital habitats for bees, butterflies, insects, rodents, rabbits, slow worms, adders, grass snakes, amphibians in their terrestrial phase, to name a few.
Destruction of ponds angers me as so many of our native species are endangered, like great crested newts, natterjack toads, even the common frog and toad are diminishing in numbers due to habitat destruction. It’s actually illegal to build on or interfere with a GCN pond but somehow developers wiggle around it.
Thing is golf course users don’t see the destruction or think about it or patrol the course with a gun at night or dig out moles or fill in ponds or cut down trees.
Whereas hunters know they are killing. But it’s a decision, nobody’s pretending there won’t be a kill, or forming a blind eye. Every trail hunt runs the risk of getting a fox by accident. But foxes are far from endangered, and are a massive nuisance in some areas thanks to their population exploding. They spread disease too.
IME hunters are ecologically aware, promote biodiversity and land protection, understand the countryside and the importance of different habitats. At least that is my experience. Many sit on agricultural boards or support ecologist projects.
Sure a herd of horses galloping across the land and splashing through rivers, sliding off banks, jumping fences will cause a bit of damage but far less than the creation and maintenance of a golf course!