Several years ago, a bunch of hickory golfers visited Scotland for the World Hickory and played Montross Golf Link, described as the world’s fifth oldest golf links. Golf.com just ran an interesting story about the second hole of the course getting buried in sand due to a winter storm and the impact of coastal erosion.
As you can see from the pictures, the second hole, which is closest to the North Sea, got buried under a thick layer of sand. The bunkes had to be dug out and an industrial blower is going to be used to clean the fairway.
According to the story, head greenskeeper Darren McLaughlin, “This is a result of coastal erosion, the dunes slightly just retreating towards the golf course. When the wind turns to come from the southeast then effectively there is very little protection. It blows up towards the course, to the second fairway and leaves this fairly thick carpet of sand; and then the fairway is basically unplayable. I have never seen anything like that.”
Apparently, “the North Sea has crept 70m closer to Montrose Links throughout the past 30 years” and the course has already taken steps to combat this impact.
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