Course may end up in hole lot of bother

ONE of the earliest established golf venues in the world could lose some of its historic holes if it fails to hold back ravaging tides.

For more than 450 years golf has been played on the links of Montrose but changing seas and coastal erosion are threatening to destroy part of the course which was created 455 years ago and can boast features laid down by Old Tom Morris.

In research published in 2016, Dundee University post-doctoral researcher Dr Fraser Milne estimated that the North Sea has crept 70 metres towards Montrose within the last 30 years.

The championship course has already been altered to take account of recent devastation. Montrose Links is now looking at funding options to install £5 million-worth of rock armour alongside three of its seaside holes.

Failure to find a solution would mean a “massive realignment exercise” inland — amalgamating the existing championship and Broomfield courses into one.

Andrew Boyd, chairman of the board of directors at Montrose, said: “The erosion has been ongoing for the past 25 years and we’ve realigned the 2nd, 3rd and 6th holes to minimise the damage but now we’re running out of room. We are lucky in that we have two 18-hole golf courses at Montrose Links but if we can’t find a solution we could lose nine holes.

“We’d have to carry out a massive realignment exercise and effectively build a new course over the existing 36 holes to save what we have.”

Mr Boyd added: “The weather is the biggest unknown factor.”

He said they will have to find the £5m themselves for the rock armour but amalgamating the courses could cost just as much. They are looking at government grants and even the possibility of a crowdfunding campaign as it doesn’t meet the criteria for “emergency funding”.