Damage Light At Many Florida Golf Courses
At Abacoa Golf Club in Jupiter, the golfers came back before the power did.
"Believe it or not," said Rob Young, Abacoa's director of golf, "we were open for play Tuesday at noon."
That's last Tuesday, not yesterday. Last Tuesday, as in the day after Hurricane Wilma tore across South Florida.
"We opened up Tuesday at noon," Young said, "did about 65 players, and our power came on at about 3:30 that day. And we've just been crazy ever since."
At The Links at Boynton Beach, the power came back last Wednesday. But it will be some time before the golfers return.
"It's hard to put a date on it, but we're telling people for phone purposes that it's going to be at least 10 days," head pro Dan Hager said on Friday, "and if somebody said right now two weeks, I'd say I'd take it.
"To be back to normal is probably going to be a couple of years."
Just as Wilma divided South Floridians into those who have power and those who don't, it divided golf courses into those that have reopened and those that haven't.
Most have. On Tuesday The Post made phone calls to 55 public courses in Palm Beach, Martin and St. Lucie counties. Thirty-eight courses had reopened and nine more expected to reopen this week. Only four courses indicated they might be closed for an extended time, including one, Mizner Trail Golf Club in Boca Raton, that already was closed for renovation. Four courses could not be reached.
In general, Wilma did more damage in southern Palm Beach County, but some southern courses were able to recover more quickly than others. Winston Trails Golf Club in Lake Worth, just a couple of miles up Jog Road from The Links at Boynton Beach, was back in business Friday.
"We've been slammed since 7 o'clock," Winston Trails course owner Brian Symonds said Friday afternoon. "They're still in line waiting."
Greens a special concern
For the most part, Wilma did its damage with wind, not water. But by knocking out power in most areas, it presented course operators with a water-related problem: how to irrigate fragile greens.
"Normally when trees fall down they tend to rip up irrigation lines," said Scott Wahlin, golf course superintendent at The Links at Boynton Beach. "So the first thing is to get the irrigation up and running."
Without power, Wahlin said, "the first thing is to try to secure a generator large enough to run at least one pump, which is a very significant size generator."
Wahlin located a generator in Texas, but his course's power came on while it was being delivered, so it was diverted to another course, saving The Links some money.
"With those things you're looking at $4,000 just to hook them up and then $1,100 a week to run them."
Because The Links is a city-owned course, it was eligible for FEMA assistance. But apparently not everyone at FEMA understands that golf courses are among its clientele.
"If you call the FEMA number (from a golf course), they'll chastise you, saying their inspectors are too busy inspecting houses, and people don't have roofs over their heads, and get real," Wahlin said. "But the fact of the matter is, those debris inspectors are just as important as anybody else, because they've got to get things open again. They don't inspect houses. These people have a specialized job and the people with FEMA don't necessarily know who they are."
Wahlin considers himself a veteran of three hurricanes — Wilma, last year's Jeanne and Frances (he lumps them together) and Andrew, which devastated Miami-Dade County in 1992 when he was working at Don Shula's Golf Club in Miami Lakes. That's where he learned that golf-course emergency management can create strange situations.
"The executive offices were all shut down. They had vice presidents of the company out with chain saws, and I had their cellphones," he said. "I was in my office on my phones and I had their secretary working for me. Orchestrating the thing and getting all the people together is pretty much the golf course manager's job.
"The other guys, they're in the business of golf and the revenue side is completely shut off, so they might as well pick up sticks."
At most courses, just about everybody picks up sticks.
"We had everybody out there helping, like last year," said Bud Taylor, director of golf at 54-hole PGA Golf Club near Port St. Lucie. "We had our food and beverage department and golf department helping maintenance pick up sticks and get the place back in playable shape.
"That's neat to see everybody pull together and realize how important it is that we get the courses back open."
The longer courses remain closed, the more money they lose. The economic impact on the golf economy of Wilma is still being calculated, but numbers from last year's Florida storms are sobering.
Courses lost $48M in '04
The Adverse Weather Insurance Group, a Sarasota-based company that provides weather insurance to golf courses, estimates that Hurricane Charley cost 4,000 courses a total of $48 million over a three-day period. That figure represents only green fees, and doesn't include lost revenue from canceled resort stays, food and beverage sales or pro shop merchandise.
At the Boca Raton Resort & Club, canceled stays weren't a problem.
"The few groups that did (cancel) have all rescheduled throughout the season, so we're going to recoup that money," said Mike Trinley, co-head professional.
Trinley, fellow head pro Andy McMechan, assistant Jean Phebus and superintendent Al Heath led crews that had the resort's course cleaned up by Saturday.
"As of Saturday afternoon when we left at 3:30, we had all 18 holes cleared," Trinley said. "We just needed the carts to be charged and we were ready to go. Very minimal turf damage. The place looks like nothing ever happened."
Once courses reopened, they found plenty of eager customers.
"Sunday we probably put 170 to 180 golfers out for nine holes," said Rick Durham, head pro at West Palm Beach Golf Course, which has had its front nine open since Friday and hopes to have all 18 holes open today. "We were lined up on the first tee."
"People get cabin fever and they've got to get out and they want something to do," Winston Trails' Symonds said.
"Believe it or not," said Rob Young, Abacoa's director of golf, "we were open for play Tuesday at noon."
That's last Tuesday, not yesterday. Last Tuesday, as in the day after Hurricane Wilma tore across South Florida.
"We opened up Tuesday at noon," Young said, "did about 65 players, and our power came on at about 3:30 that day. And we've just been crazy ever since."
At The Links at Boynton Beach, the power came back last Wednesday. But it will be some time before the golfers return.
"It's hard to put a date on it, but we're telling people for phone purposes that it's going to be at least 10 days," head pro Dan Hager said on Friday, "and if somebody said right now two weeks, I'd say I'd take it.
"To be back to normal is probably going to be a couple of years."
Just as Wilma divided South Floridians into those who have power and those who don't, it divided golf courses into those that have reopened and those that haven't.
Most have. On Tuesday The Post made phone calls to 55 public courses in Palm Beach, Martin and St. Lucie counties. Thirty-eight courses had reopened and nine more expected to reopen this week. Only four courses indicated they might be closed for an extended time, including one, Mizner Trail Golf Club in Boca Raton, that already was closed for renovation. Four courses could not be reached.
In general, Wilma did more damage in southern Palm Beach County, but some southern courses were able to recover more quickly than others. Winston Trails Golf Club in Lake Worth, just a couple of miles up Jog Road from The Links at Boynton Beach, was back in business Friday.
"We've been slammed since 7 o'clock," Winston Trails course owner Brian Symonds said Friday afternoon. "They're still in line waiting."
Greens a special concern
For the most part, Wilma did its damage with wind, not water. But by knocking out power in most areas, it presented course operators with a water-related problem: how to irrigate fragile greens.
"Normally when trees fall down they tend to rip up irrigation lines," said Scott Wahlin, golf course superintendent at The Links at Boynton Beach. "So the first thing is to get the irrigation up and running."
Without power, Wahlin said, "the first thing is to try to secure a generator large enough to run at least one pump, which is a very significant size generator."
Wahlin located a generator in Texas, but his course's power came on while it was being delivered, so it was diverted to another course, saving The Links some money.
"With those things you're looking at $4,000 just to hook them up and then $1,100 a week to run them."
Because The Links is a city-owned course, it was eligible for FEMA assistance. But apparently not everyone at FEMA understands that golf courses are among its clientele.
"If you call the FEMA number (from a golf course), they'll chastise you, saying their inspectors are too busy inspecting houses, and people don't have roofs over their heads, and get real," Wahlin said. "But the fact of the matter is, those debris inspectors are just as important as anybody else, because they've got to get things open again. They don't inspect houses. These people have a specialized job and the people with FEMA don't necessarily know who they are."
Wahlin considers himself a veteran of three hurricanes — Wilma, last year's Jeanne and Frances (he lumps them together) and Andrew, which devastated Miami-Dade County in 1992 when he was working at Don Shula's Golf Club in Miami Lakes. That's where he learned that golf-course emergency management can create strange situations.
"The executive offices were all shut down. They had vice presidents of the company out with chain saws, and I had their cellphones," he said. "I was in my office on my phones and I had their secretary working for me. Orchestrating the thing and getting all the people together is pretty much the golf course manager's job.
"The other guys, they're in the business of golf and the revenue side is completely shut off, so they might as well pick up sticks."
At most courses, just about everybody picks up sticks.
"We had everybody out there helping, like last year," said Bud Taylor, director of golf at 54-hole PGA Golf Club near Port St. Lucie. "We had our food and beverage department and golf department helping maintenance pick up sticks and get the place back in playable shape.
"That's neat to see everybody pull together and realize how important it is that we get the courses back open."
The longer courses remain closed, the more money they lose. The economic impact on the golf economy of Wilma is still being calculated, but numbers from last year's Florida storms are sobering.
Courses lost $48M in '04
The Adverse Weather Insurance Group, a Sarasota-based company that provides weather insurance to golf courses, estimates that Hurricane Charley cost 4,000 courses a total of $48 million over a three-day period. That figure represents only green fees, and doesn't include lost revenue from canceled resort stays, food and beverage sales or pro shop merchandise.
At the Boca Raton Resort & Club, canceled stays weren't a problem.
"The few groups that did (cancel) have all rescheduled throughout the season, so we're going to recoup that money," said Mike Trinley, co-head professional.
Trinley, fellow head pro Andy McMechan, assistant Jean Phebus and superintendent Al Heath led crews that had the resort's course cleaned up by Saturday.
"As of Saturday afternoon when we left at 3:30, we had all 18 holes cleared," Trinley said. "We just needed the carts to be charged and we were ready to go. Very minimal turf damage. The place looks like nothing ever happened."
Once courses reopened, they found plenty of eager customers.
"Sunday we probably put 170 to 180 golfers out for nine holes," said Rick Durham, head pro at West Palm Beach Golf Course, which has had its front nine open since Friday and hopes to have all 18 holes open today. "We were lined up on the first tee."
"People get cabin fever and they've got to get out and they want something to do," Winston Trails' Symonds said.
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