More coastal protection for golf courses in St. Andrews

In the past, St. Andrews used the land directly on the coast to build golf courses. Today, the Links Trust of St. Andrews, manager and owner of the six golf courses with the Old Course as the centerpiece, buys land by the sea to protect its golf courses. At the beginning of April, the Links Trust announced that it had acquired another large piece of land that “has been identified as a potential ingress point for coastal erosion and flooding. (..)The acquisition allows the Trust to incorporate the land and the coastline into its strategic planning to build enhanced resilience against the threat of coastal erosion and flooding.”

Building resilience against coastal erosion and flooding has been a priority for St Andrews Links Trust for more than a decade. The importance of this work was highlighted by heavy storms and high tides experienced in the latter half of 2023 and the first few months of 2024 on Scotland’s east coast, with many coastal communities impacted. A combination of high tides, storm surges and easterly winds saw significant impact on the West Sands with up to a metre of sand lost in some places.

Ranald Strachan, Lead West Sands Ranger at St Andrews Links Trust, added: “Last winter was a challenging one with a number of storms, high tides and easterly winds impacting our recent restoration efforts. However, while it’s always disappointing to see restoration efforts washed away, it’s the exact reason they are built in the first place, to provide the first layer of protection in climatic events such as those experienced in the past few months.

There is no doubt we are in a much stronger position than we would be due to the dune restoration work and coastal management that has been undertaken over the past 15 years.” The measures include, for example, the reclamation of beach strips or the expansion of marsh strips, particularly along the coastline of Eden Platz.