The weather reports predicted four to five inches of rain in areas of New England during the early part of the week of May 15. Almost 11 inches and three days later, the golf course at Passaconaway Country Club in Litchfield, N.H., was under water as much as 10 feet in some spots.
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Like many parts of the Northeast United States, New Hampshire was soaked with what many are calling a 100-year flood.
“People are saying this was the worst flood since 1935,” says Joe Bouchard, golf course superintendent at Passaconaway. He says this is the worst he’s ever seen the course flooded in his 10 years at the club, which is six miles south of Manchester.
The crew found the fairways and bunkers filled with the water from the rain and the swelling Merrimack River May 15. This attracted more watercraft than golf carts to the normally busy course.
“There were two jet skis out there, a boat, canoes, a couple kayaks and boogie boards,” says general manager Rick Hobbs. “Bouchard got a little nervous when a motor boat jetted out over his soaked greens so he ordered it out of there.”
The rare sight attracted others who just observed from a distance.
“People came from all over just to look at it,” Hobbs says. “There were hundreds of them.”
The course was especially susceptible to flooding because of its proximity to the Merrimack River, Bouchard suspects. One of the holes is just 20 feet from the river.
Eastman Golf Links in Grantham, N.H., ended up in a better position. The course is located about 20 miles south of White River Junction, Vt. The rain rolled off the course almost as fast as it came down, sparing most of the course from flooding.
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“Everything has either soaked into the ground or run off, so we’re in pretty good shape,” says Ken Barton, general foreman and assistant superintendent.
At Passaconaway, much of the water drained within 36 hours, taking much of the silt with it. That saved much of the course from damage, according to Bouchard.
Even so, the course had to be closed for most of the week while the course began to dry. Most of the greens will come out of the flooding in good shape, but there are some that remained under water for a longer period of time. Bouchard treated those areas with chemicals in hopes the treatment will ward off disease.
Between the extra $5,000 in chemicals used and the cancelled daily outings and league play during the week, this will set the course back $10,000 to 20,000, Bouchard estimates – and that doesn’t include cleanup and the extra hours the crew puts in, he says.
Bouchard says if the flooding had to happen, it’s fortunate it came at this time because some of his seasonal workers had just finished college for the year and were available to help with cleanup tasks. In addition, none of the buildings were flooded.
Unlike Passaconaway, Eastman didn’t have to shut down.
“In the 30 years I’ve been here, we’ve never closed the doors,” Barton says. “If golfers want to play, go for it.”
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Passaconaway is open again, and Bouchard feels fortunate that there wasn’t more damage. Grass actually grew in some spots.
“We try to look at the good side of it all,” he says. “We go on. We even got a few ideas about how to clean stuff up. But I never thought this place would be under water like that.” GCN
