Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast Aug. 29 and left behind a path of death and destruction. In her wake, golf course superintendents are left to pick of the pieces. Some courses were totally destroyed, while others saw little more than scattered branches flooded bunkers.
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Mitchell Fontenot, CGCS, of the Louisiana State University Golf Club, says he, his staff and the course got by shamefully unscathed.
“Although traffic lights are out within Baton Rouge, we didn’t lose any major trees, even though we don’t have many to lose to begin with,” he says. “Several smaller trees were blown down, but we got by fine. I had power in less than 24 hours. We had small debris that’s already been cleaned up and were open for play on Tuesday.”
Fontenot says he hasn’t talked to any superintendents east of Baton Rouge, where the eye of the hurricane hit.
“It’s complete devastation,” he says. “It’s a war zone. It’s hard to tell where the golf courses are. Life isn’t going to be the same. Golf isn’t important right now. I’m lucky because I will continue to have a job.”
Pat Ardoin, a sales representative for Ewing Irrigation and a retired golf course superintendent based in Lafayette, La., says it will be about three months before the city of New Orleans has power. He says the city needs to be drained before electricity can be restored and that some parts of the city are flooded 20-feet deep.
In the Covington area north of New Orleans, Ardoin says everything is devastated. He says the Metairie Country Club and New Orleans Country Club are under water. Additionally, English Turn Golf & Country Club in New Orleans is located right where the eye of the storm hit.
“I haven’t heard any reports from these golf courses, but these courses will be out for months,” Ardoin says.
David McCallum, superintendent of The Island Country Club in Baton Rouge, La., was spared the worst of the storm – only losing a day’s play.
“We’re doing pretty good,” McCallum says. “A whole lot better than a lot of guys.”
Sitting about 60 miles northwest of downtown New Orleans, McCallum says his course received five inches of rain, had four or five trees knocked down and had sand washed out of the bunkers. Compare that with other Louisiana courses – Chateau Estates Golf and Country Club in Kenner and Oak Harbor Golf Club in Slidell – that are under water, and McCallum is counting his blessings.
Even New Orleans courses that missed the devastating affects of the storm are feeling the pinch. Walker Sory, superintendent at Audubon Park, has a course that’s playable, according to McCallum, but has no way to maintain it and nobody available to play it if it opened.
Fontenot estimates there are about 40 golf courses in his local GCSAA chapter that were hit hard by the hurricane, some utterly destroyed.
“It will take a year to recover from this,” he says. “From a business standpoint, who will come and play the courses once they’ve recovered? There’s no infrastructure. Authorities are telling people they can’t go home for weeks and when they do go home, what are they going home to?”
Ardoin agrees with Fontenot and says about 40 golf courses in Louisiana were hit hard by the hurricane. He say about another 20 were devastated from the Louisiana border to the Alabama border.
“It’s a matter of time,” he says. “Utilities are the most important thing needed to help get these golf course back up and running.”
Even with the death toll rising, McCallum looks for a silver lining.
“As bad as it was – and this could be the largest natural disaster this country has seen – it could have been worse,” he says about Katrina moving to the east before it hit land and easing up on New Orleans. “We may not be looking at anything other than water.”
McCallum has contacted superintendents throughout the country and has heard of plans for a golf tournament in Houston to raise relief money. Additionally, a fellow superintendent in Wisconsin offered his summer home to those in need.
For more information on relief efforts, call 800-HELP-NOW or visit www.redcross.org or www.gcsaa.org.