England’s southwest coastline bore the brunt of Storm Austen, with a number of golf clubs affected in one way or another…
Newquay is best known for being the surfing capital of the UK. Or you might recognize the famous Headland Hotel, which was the setting of the 1990 film based on Roald Dahl’s The Witches. Now its golf course has inadvertently become home to one of the world’s largest bunkers.
Staff at Newquay Golf Club were relieved to come into work and find all buildings were still intact after wind speeds topping of 70 miles-an-hour battered Cornwall’s coastline. But they weren’t ready for what they would discover out on the course.
The entire par-five eighth hole – a three-shotter that plays 518 yards off the tips – was left completely buried after Storm Austen scooped up tons of sand from the neighboring Fistral Beach and dumped it on the famous Harry Colt links.
In a brief statement, the club’s general manager Peter Batty said he was “pleased to report that the clubhouse suffered no structural damage”, while the “practice Nets also survived the high winds”.
“Regrettably,” he continued, “the course did not fare quite so well. The combination of gale-force north-westerly winds and the dry conditions resulted in a significant amount of sand being blown off the dunes and onto the first part of the eighth fairway. As you can see from the accompanying photographs, the sand has spread across a substantial width of the fairway.”
Newquay’s par-five eighth hole is completely covered in sand thanks to Storm Austen. (Credit: Newquay Golf Club)
Until the sand is somehow removed, the hole will be shortened to play as a 147-yard par-three.
Newquay wasn’t the only course in Cornwall bearing the brunt of Storm Austen, with Truro Golf Club being forced to closed due to a number of trees falling.
Storm Austen also caused a number of trees to fall at inland courses. (Credit: Truro Golf Club)