I had the opportunity to visit four golf facilities along the Georgia and South Carolina coast to get a feel for the damage that Hurricane Matthew left behind. While the eye of the storm never came ashore, there was plenty of destruction along the coast.
I visited the Georgia Southern Golf Course in Statesboro Georgia, Ford Plantation in Richmond Hill Georgia, The Landings in Savannah Georgia and Belfair Plantation in Bluffton South Carolina. I spoke with superintendent Brook Sentell of Sea Pines on Hilton Head Island over the phone to learn about damage on his course.
As you might expect, the damage was far more severe as you got closer to the ocean. Sea Pines, Ford Plantation and The Landings had extensive tree damage as well as some flooding. Some of the courses were also flooded by tidal surges resulting in salt water covering parts of their courses. Many of the superintendents were applying gypsum to try to lower the sodium concentrations in the areas affected by salt. Many of the courses in the area were using tree contractors and logging companies to do the heavy lifting involved with so many trees leaning, broken or fallen to the ground. Some areas on courses that had eroded, including bunker faces and lake banks, thanks to the 20+ inches of rain that fell on some parts of the region.
Fortunately, I didn't hear of any major damage to any members homes or personal property. The power seemed to be on everywhere, the gas stations were operating without lines and the stores had plenty of groceries in them.
Hotel rooms were another story. I had to stay well inland in Statesboro because there were no rooms available near the coast due to the high number of contractors, insurance adjusters and displaced homeowners. In fact, while driving around the Hilton Head area, I felt like I was in the way with so much work going on.
Thanks go out to Patrick Reinhardt at Georgia Southern GC, Nelson Caron at The Ford Plantation GC, Chris Steigelman, CGCS at The Landings, Brook Sentel at Sea Pines and Ken Lee, CGCS at Belfair Plantation for taking time out of their hectic schedules to spend some time showing me their post-hurricane courses.
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| Aerial view of Sea Pines Resort on Hilton Head Island the day after Matthew. |
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| Club members assisting in the clean up effort at Belfair Plantation in Bluffton, S.C. |
