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Being abandoned to the ocean


England’s oldest golf course is being ‘abandoned to the ocean’ after Storm Eleanor prompts cliff collapse


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The club's general manager Mark Evans shows where the championship tee for the eight hole used to be


The Royal North Devon Golf Club has accused the Government of “abandoning us to the ocean” after Storm Eleanor prompted the collapse of part of its eighth tee and further high tides threaten the demise of the seventh.


Designed by “Old” Tom Morris, the course at the mouth of the Taw‐ Torridge Estuary is renowned as the “St Andrew’s of the South” and one of the UK’s toughest.


The historic layout now faces permanent disfigurement, however, due to the brutal coastal erosion.


More than 50 yards of the championship course has been lost as a result of the “preventable” collapse, with boulders strewn across one of the fairways.


Natural England, the body responsible for the stretch of coast near Westward Ho!, appears content to let the sea reclaim the land, according to the club.


The agency insisted no suggestions were ruled out, but a statement explaining that “the dunes and shingle ridge are naturally dynamic


coastal features and subject to constant change” have been seized on by local golfers as evidence civil servants are determined to let Mother Nature take its course.


Mark Evans, the club’s general manager, said: “By allowing this collapse we are tampering with history. There's no plan at the moment ‐ it’s a disgrace.”


Whilst other land is available which would allow the club to reconfigure the course away from the coastal collapse, this would make the golf “not anything like as interesting”, according to Mr Evans.


Natural England said it would permit the club to build two new greens, providing it relinquished the two existing ones threatened by erosion.


The collapse and subsequent flooding have also provoked fears over the security of a nearby landfill site containing hospital waste and other toxic material such as asbestos.


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Nathan Hume wins top spray operator award


Amenity Sprayer Operator of the Year (ASOY) has been won by Nathan Hume, Contracts Manager and Ecologist for national grounds maintenance experts, SH Goss Ltd.


The ASOY Awards are organised by the Amenity Forum, and sponsored by ICL and Syngenta, in association with BASIS.


As well as the overall top operator, Nathan was the winner of the Landscape & Industrial using hand held equipment category.


Also recognised by the Awards were Chris Phillips and Lee Harrison of Complete Weed Control.


PC FEBRUARY/MARCH 2018 I 13


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