Volunteer comes across unusual find at Balnakeil beach clean
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A GOLF ball was discovered in the base of kelp during a volunteer clean-up at Balnakeil beach in Durness.
The unusual hole-in-one was recorded at a spot below the golf course which is also a nature reserve.
The ball certainly went from tee to sea to weed before it was found by volunteer Elke Frotscher.
Kelp have a holdfast - seaweed’s equivalent of a root - which attaches it to rocks and large stones.
The blades or fronds of the kelp can break off during storms but a new blade grows from the holdfast.
Kelp can grow up to 1cm per day with a maximum length of 2.5m.
Local environmental group Plastic@bay organised the clean-up.
The group’s co-founder Dr Julien Moreau said: “It was an unusual find, but it was below the golf course where somebody has had a wayward shot. We have also heard of barnacles on footballs.
“The amount of plastic waste in the marine environment locally is depressing and much more than we can collect.
“I found one pipe that, from the type of barnacles on it, must have come from the Gulf of Mexico!
“A big storm in eastern Canada can also result in fish farm equipment ending in Sutherland.
“Commercial fishing gear is one of the most common ocean plastics reported in marine litter surveys. In the North Highlands it makes up 90 per cent of ocean plastic removed by beach cleaners.
“So it makes a change to get a golf ball - though it is still plastic.”
Durness Golf Club’s famous ninth hole runs beside the sea, therefore it is likely the ball originated from there.
Former European Tour and Ryder Cup player Ronan Rafferty has previously described the ninth hole as “one of the most exhilarating finishing holes to be found anywhere.. a heroic, derring-do of a par three played across the cliff edges to a green positioned on a small ledge above the crashing waves.”
