Bummer: St. Andrews Golf Course Could Maybe Possibly Be Underwater By 2050

All because you drive your fossil fueled vehicle to the golf course and have an evil hotdog and syrupy soda at the turn

St. Andrews could be underwater by 2050, according to a new climate-change study

The Home of Golf could be underwater as soon as 2050, according to a new climate-change study.

The study, released by Climate Central—an organization comprised of leading scientists and journalists who study climate change’s impact on society—and analyzed by The Herald predicts large swaths of Scotland’s coastline could be submerged due to increased annual flooding and sea level rise. This includes St. Andrews Links, located in the town of St. Andrews on Scotland’s eastern coastline.

Climate Central published an interactive map to show which areas could be affected. It predicts a widening of the River Clyde, which would impact areas to the west of Glasgow, as well as damage to Dundee, Fife, Stirling and a number of other Scottish metropolitan areas.

St. Andrews’ Old Course is one of five Scottish courses in the Open Championship’s 10-course rota. The map also suggests two other Scottish rota courses—Carnoustie and Royal Troon, both located on the coast—could be severely impacted.

“As these maps incorporate big datasets, which always include some error” an explainer on Climate Central’s website reads, “these maps should be regarded as screening tools to identify places that may require deeper investigation of risk.”

Oh, wait, what was that? A disclaimer for their fearmongering? Anyhow, the height above sea level of St. Andrews proper is 82 feet. The golf course is located in an area which is much closer to sea level, but, the seas would have to rise around 5 feet to start inundating the course. Just north of St. Andrews is Aberdeen, which shows a virtually flat sea rise, at .25 feet per 100 years, data going back to 1862. Just south is North Shields, which shows .62 feet per 100 years, going back to 1895. Neither shows any sort of acceleration. Both are well below what is expected during a Holocene warm period. So, just more fearmongering.