“That’s land we will never get back,” says Mark Fay, chairman of the Laytown Pitch and Putt Club, which was once again battered by wet and wild weather this week.
Fay says it is “heartbreaking” to watch the Co Meath amenity gradually succumb to the effects of coastal erosion.
“I’d say in the last two winters, we have lost over four meters of land, one and a half meters of which was taken by the sea on Thursday.”
Club members are in the process of starting a fundraising campaign to construct measures, including replacement fencing, to safeguard the more than 50-year-old course from further damage and land loss.
“We will probably have to move at least one tee box because when you stand on it, you are looking right down into the sea. The next wave and it’s gone,” Fay adds.
Laytown Pitch and Putt Club in Co Meath has been repeatedly damaged by coastal erosion
“We are lucky that we have room to shuffle things about. The tide went around the greens which have held up well but there are holes now between them that we need to address.”
The club, spread over two hectares of coastline, has 108 members, a further 40 associate members and an additional 60 or so green fee visitors each week.
Fay estimates that about 30 metres of land has been lost to the effects of coastal erosion since 2012.
“When you look out to sea and see the lifebuoys, that is where the course used to be,” he says. “The members have spent about €54,000 on the course in the last two years and we are due to hold our first national title here later this year.”
Fay adds: “I’m just sickened by it all. It’s just a constant battle and it’s heartbreaking.”
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