The battle to save the links courses disappearing into the sea
What is coastal erosion?
Coastal erosion is described by the British Geological Survey as “the removal of material from the coast by wave action, tidal currents and/or the activities of man, typically causing a landward retreat of the coastline”.
Waves are formed when wind blows over the sea. There are two types – constructive and destructive – and the latter aids coastal erosion.
Waves can smash against a cliff, causing the rock to break apart, and this is called hydraulic action. Pebbles can grind along a rock platform over time, making them smooth, and this is known as abrasion.
Attrition describes where the sea carries rocks and they knock against each other, while sea water can also dissolve certain kinds of rocks. This is called solution.
Dunes are a prominent feature of coastlines and have an important role to play in the aesthetics of links golf. Many were formed thousands of years ago when sand was produced by glaciers and delivered to the coast by rivers.
The coast and those dunes are constantly modified by tides, winds and waves and are always changing – both growing and eroding – over time.
The issue now is several-fold. We’ve developed land near coasts for human habitation and built towns. Erosion is threatening them, and golf courses are a part of that.
We’ve manufactured conditions in bays and harbours – by carrying out activities like dredging – and they have altered the properties of the coast somewhere else, which can accelerate or change the natural erosion process.
Our climate, and in particular rising sea levels and extreme weather events, is also playing a more and more significant role.
A big storm, for example, can massively quicken erosion – stripping away metres of dunes in a single night.
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How Montrose is falling into the North Sea
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Steve Carroll
A journalist for 25 years, Steve has been immersed in club golf for almost as long. A former club captain, he has passed the Level 3 Rules of Golf exam with distinction having attended the R&A's prestigious Tournament Administrators and Referees Seminar.
Steve has officiated at a host of high-profile tournaments, including Open Regional Qualifying, PGA Fourball Championship, English Men's Senior Amateur, and the North of England Amateur Championship. In 2023, he made his international debut as part of the team that refereed England vs Switzerland U16 girls.
A part of NCG's Top 100s panel, Steve has a particular love of links golf and is frantically trying to restore his single-figure handicap. He currently floats at around 11.
Steve plays at Close House, in Newcastle, and York GC, where he is a member of the club's matches and competitions committee and referees the annual 36-hole scratch York Rose Bowl.
Having studied history at Newcastle University, he became a journalist having passed his NTCJ exams at Darlington College of Technology.
What's in Steve's bag: TaylorMade Stealth 2 driver, 3-wood, and hybrids; TaylorMade Stealth 2 irons; TaylorMade Hi-Toe, Ping ChipR, Sik Putter.
