Golf thrives on the ocean’s edge. What happens when the oceans rise?

On Kiawah Island, 17 miles southwest of Charleston and home to some of the most expensive real estate in the American South, nuisance flooding was beginning to affect some low-lying areas following heavy rains. Then, in 2018, a report by the Union of Concerned Scientists, a nonprofit science advocacy group, confirmed the worst fears: Things were only going to get worse. By 2045, the report said, more than 1,500 homes on Kiawah, worth a collective $1.3 billion, were at risk of becoming chronically inundated by flooding. The year before that report’s release, Tropical Storm Irma flooded an estimated 73 percent of the island.