The battle to save the links courses disappearing into the sea
Golf courses and coastal erosion: Abersoch
“It’s an easy solution,” vents a frustrated Dai Davies, Abersoch’s club manager. “You continue the rock armour to where the beach huts are. We’re talking £250,000 of work, but the club doesn’t have that sort of money in ready capital.”
If the narrow fence – all that’s now separating the beach from the 8th green at Abersoch – wasn’t enough of a clue that parts of this Gwynedd course are in imminent peril then the new contouring on the putting surface has alerted everyone to its fate.
“There’s obviously some movement underneath the sand dunes as well,” Davies adds. “If there was a breach there, and there’s every indication that there might be at some time in the future, how long that’s going to be I’ve got no idea, it wouldn’t just affect the 8th.
“It would come across the 8th, 9th and 10th and effectively up to the 11th and the clubhouse.”
A number of Abersoch’s holes run right alongside the sand dunes and around three quarters of the golf course is protected by rock armour, sea defences, and a line of beach huts.
But there’s around 150 metres of unprotected sand dune, reckons Davies, and, in the last four years, he estimates those dunes have shrunk by as much as 30 metres.
The club proposed a solution to the problem – build three new beach huts, sell them and use the money to pay for more rock armour to protect the unguarded dune – but say they’ve got nowhere with the authorities.
“It’s probably 50 or 60 metres away now,” adds Davies. “Four years ago we had devastating storms that wiped away a lot of the beach huts and two of those (storms) and there would be a serious breach.
“It’s massively frustrating because we know there is a solution to the problem.”
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The affect of coastal erosion on golfing communities
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Formby’s future-proofing plan for new holes
How Royal North Devon lost 20 metres in three nights
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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.
