Business of golf gets swept up in hurricane’s aftermath

We’ve been down this road before … the bumpy, exhausting, even tragic road to recovery after a major hurricane.

Certainly these natural disasters affect just about everything in their path.

And golf courses are no exception.

Now before anyone accuses me of addressing a trivial subject – such as the interruption of play on a golf course due to storms, let me remind you that thousands of jobs depend on the continuing operation of those golf courses. Restaurant staffs can’t work when courses are closed. Golf professionals can’t give lessons. Golf shop personnel can’t sell merchandise.

So, the return to normalcy – as quickly as possible – is just as important at a golf course as it is at just about any other business. And, in tourism areas that depend on golf as an attraction, it becomes of utmost importance.

Unfortunately, I have been all too familiar with this recovery scene for far too many years.

My first up-close involvement came in 1989, when Hurricane Hugo cut a destructive swath through the Carolinas. It made landfall at Isle of Palms, South Carolina, with top recorded wind speeds of 162 miles per hour.

I was dispatched by a national magazine to do a story on its damage. My first view of it came while driving south on Highway 17 from Myrtle Beach to the Charleston area. On the left (east) side of the highway was a 60-foot luxury fishing boat, listing on its side. This was 1.1 miles from the ocean, yet the tidal surge had lifted the boat and deposited it alongside the highway.

On the right side was what used to be Francis Marion National Forest. Miles and miles of thousands and thousands of trees were gone. They had not been uprooted, as is the case in most storms. Instead, the force of the wind shear was so brutal it snapped the tall pines as if they were matchsticks.

Hugo then continued on its destructive path inland toward Charlotte, North Carolina. The flooding was massive and left the area paralyzed for weeks.

The next up-close experience was in 1992, when Hurricane

Andrew devastated Southeast Florida. Its highest recorded wind speeds reached 175 miles per hour and resulted in $25 billion in damage.

Again, the story of the hurricane’s effect on golf was the reason for a visit to the devastated area. Golf courses everywhere were damaged. Deering Bay Yacht and Country Club in Miami was a muststop, because of a unique story.

The fairways had been turned into lakes by the massive flooding. In one of the temporary lakes a baby whale had been marooned, after some of the water receded. The rescue of the whale, and its return to sea, was quite a bit of drama.

A few miles north, at Fort Lauderdale Country Club, another stop was mandatory. This time it was to view the toppling of one of the largest ficus trees in the state. It was close to 100 feet high and the root system was as wide as the tree’s massive canopy. On its side, the roots were the size of the front of a Walmart. The photo was shocking.

Last year, when Hurricane Matthew hit the Myrtle Beach area, another post-storm visit was necessary. This time it was to shoot the Traveling Golfer television show for Comcast SportsNet. Despite the storm, scheduling made it impossible to move to a later date.

To the credit of maintenance crews at a number of golf courses, massive cleanups took place and the finished television show provided no evidence of the storm.

Once again, this year, crews at golf courses throughout the state will be working around the clock to repair the damage.

“The good thing is that those workers are used to long hours and big jobs,” explained golf course architect Ron Garl, who has 22 golf courses that he built or renovated along the West Coast of Florida.

“My phone started ringing as soon as the hurricane left,” said Garl. “Some of the courses were luckier than others but they all are going to need some work. In some cases, courses that need some renovation will take advantage of the headstart they got from Irma. Mother Nature can actually help a golf course that is too congested with trees.”

That’s one way to find a silver lining in the cloud.

But, whether the clouds came courtesy of Hugo, Andrew, Matthew or Irma – areas that depend on golf as an important part of their economy can use a break from these visits. Here’s hoping for better weather in the near future.

Tony Leodora is president of TL Golf Services, host of the weekly GolfTalk Live radio show on WNTP 990-AM and host of the Traveling Golfer television show — as well as editor of GolfStyles magazine. He is former sports editor of The Times Herald. Send comments to tlgolfservices@aol.com.