Golf's shrines—Pebble Beach and the Old Course—under assault - Brief Article

Golf Digest, Jan, 2000 by Mike Stachura

It seems a sacrilege to even think of it, but some geologists and doomsdayers fear for the future of golf's two most beloved landmarks. Their concern? That the Old Course at St. Andrews, Scotland, and Pebble Beach Golf Links in California, sites of the next British and U.S. Opens, might not survive intact through the 21st century.

Experts say that about 20 feet of coastline surrounding the Jubilee Course, which fronts the New and Old Courses, has eroded in the past 18 months. At that rate, if the erosion is left unchecked, the Old Course might lose a few holes and St. Andrews might lose a few of its six golf courses over the next 100 years.

A plan to place rock-filled wire gabions to shore up the coastline was denied by the local town council because of the area's environmental sensitivity. As a result, a feasibility study funded by groups including the Scottish Natural Heritage and the St. Andrews Links Trust, the agency that runs the Old Course and five other St. Andrews golf courses, will evaluate alternatives to protect the shores surrounding the Old Course. Results of the study are expected to be released in February.

Already the Links Trust has spent more than [pound]100,000 on controlling erosion. The eastern edge of St. Andrews appears to be bearing the brunt of the damage. The holes most affected are the 11th and 12th on the Old Course, the eighth tee on the Jubilee, the fourth tee and fairway on the Eden and the ninth fairway and green on the New.

In addition, researchers at St. Andrews University are suggesting that global warming could further erode the shoreline and produce more violent storms that could increase beach erosion.

At Pebble Beach, efforts at protecting the coastline are further along, but the fear remains. Ted Horton, VP of resource management, estimates that Pebble Beach loses about three inches a year to coastal erosion. "Clearly, if you were to extrapolate that out over the years, you would be losing some significant footage," says Horton. "Beach erosion is a very natural process on the West Coast. Sometimes you might lose 10 feet in one year, but over time it's averaged out to be about three inches."

To stem the tide, so to speak, the Pebble Beach Company has undertaken major projects at major expense. Large, deep drain lines that funnel subsurface water back to the ocean were placed underneath the fourth fairway, the new fifth hole (shown at left) and the sixth hole. "I guess you never stop it, but you can sure slow it down," Horton says. In addition, along the ninth green, the 10th green, the 17th green and the entire 18th hole, new drains were installed and the coastal walls were re-armored with an artificial rock formation made to look like the natural granite and sandstone deposits that line the shore. "The layperson would not realize that it's artificial rock," Horton says. "It's actually a very strong steel-and-concrete wall."

Whether Pebble Beach or St. Andrews survive in the next millennium will be up to nature, which, of course, pretty much created both of these landmarks in the first place.

"For any one of us to stand here and say there's a guarantee that nothing will ever happen now or in the future would be sort of foolish," Horton says. "But I think we've taken all the precautions that were available to us."