Montrose Links director's alarming forecast of how much could be lost in a 'perfect storm'

By PAUL HOMEWOOD

Last year, Montrose Links Trust sacrificed the third tee by moving rocks to reinforce the first green and second tee from coastal erosion
A recent report says “only a small increase in sea-level rise would imperil all of the world’s links courses before the end of the century”.
The Open is the only one of golf’s majors played in the UK and is hosted on links courses, including – as well at St Andrews and Royal Troon – Royal Birkdale, Hoylake, Royal Lytham and St Annes, Muirfield, Sandwich, Turnberry, Portrush and 2018 venue Carnoustie.
It adds that “more than 450 years of golfing history” at Montrose, one of the five oldest courses in the world, is at risk of being washed away by rising seas and coastal erosion linked to climate change.
Research published by Dundee University in 2016 showed the North Sea has crept 70 metres towards Montrose within the past 30 years.
Chris Curnin, director at Montrose Golf Links, said: “As the sea rises and the coast falls away, we’re left with nowhere to go. Climate change is often seen as tomorrow’s problem – but it’s already eating away at our course.
“In a perfect storm we could lose 5-10 metres over just a couple of days and that could happen at pretty much any point.”
There was as much as 20% less playing time for courses across the greater Glasgow area in 2016-17 compared to 10 years earlier, the report suggests.
“It is a fact that increased rainfall and extreme events are causing more disruption in recreational golf,” says Richard Windows of the Sports Turf Research Institute (STRI).
Steve Isaac, director of sustainability for the R and MA, golf’s governing body outside the United States and Mexico, agrees the “future threats are very real” for the sport.