Member Clubs
VIRGINIA ARTESIAN put it , Zangardi met Nick Brown , co-owner of Virginia Artesian , a 100-percent solar powered bottling company located in the Richmond suburb of Mechanicsville .
Founded by Nick ’ s father Steve , Virginia Artesian bottled its first water in 2002 . It draws its water from a deep , stone-protected aquifer located directly beneath the facility in Hanover County , allowing Virginia Artesian to truly bottle straight from the source .
Most importantly , the company had grown from infancy to a thriving operation that produces nearly 10 million bottles of water per year and is the only such water company on the East Coast that bottles in plastic , glass and aluminum .
The latter of those three quickly caught Zangardi ’ s eye .
“ It was kind of the cornerstone piece in what I was trying to do in eliminating all single-use plastics ,” Zangardi said . “ Water was a hard one , and Virginia Artesian came through .”
Steve Brown has ceded much of the day-to-day operations of the business to Nick , and Virginia Artesian has garnered a quick following in the golf space . It distributes up and down the East Coast , reaching as far as Puerto Rico . But much of Virginia Artesian ’ s golf clientele is in-state . Twenty VSGA member clubs use Virginia Artesian in some capacity . Kiskiack and Primland Resort have made the full aluminum switch .
“ We ’ ve worked with golf courses as long as I can remember ,” Nick said .
Virginia Artesian also offers a custom label service , something that Zangardi was quick to explore once Kiskiack realized that moving fully to aluminum was a viable option . Zangardi notes that it only
It was kind of the cornerstone piece in what I was trying to do in eliminating all single-use plastics . Water was a hard one , and Virginia Artesian came through .”
— Vince Zangardi
costs about 25 cents more per aluminum bottle than it does for single-use plastic . The aluminum bottles are reusable , meaning the club needs less inventory of the aluminum bottles than it did for the plastic ones .
Kiskiack ’ s logo is prominently featured on the aluminum bottle that ’ s sold on property , making the bottle a keepsake that players can bring back and fill repeatedly during future rounds .
“ Vince was one of the first private-label customers that we did with the aluminum ,” Nick Brown said . “ It ’ s a chance for people to do things a little bit smarter . We know the resources that we have , we need to take care of them . My kids , I want to leave them something better than when I got here . So that ’ s been our push .”
Virginia Artesian has also shown the capability to go even more micro than just the golfcourse level . The company provided custom-label bottles for the BMW Charity Pro-Am Korn Ferry Tour event in South Carolina in summer 2022 .
“ They used close to 20,000 aluminum bottles , which is really cool ,” Nick Brown said . “ I know it ’ s an initiative they ’ ve focused on , removing those plastics . It was a really big opportunity for us and a unique opportunity to work with a charity event like that , which we like being a part of .”
And small nods to eco-sustainability like moving away from single-use plastic will allow both golf clubs and water companies like Virginia Artesian to be a part of golf for a long time going forward .
vsga . org J ANUARY / F EBRUARY 2023 | V IRGINIA G OLFER 11