By Greg Wise
Surviving the Disaster
The Fallen Oak Story Being in the middle of the turf industry, we recently had the opportunity to attend the 2021 Deep South Turf Expo in Biloxi, Mississippi. We had heard incredible stories of Hurricane Zeta and the effects that it had on this area. This was the one year anniversary of the event and we had heard of some miraculous clean-up efforts from many of the golf courses in the area. Doing my research… Zeta was classified as a fast mover; low end Category 2 Hurricane, racing 20-30 mph through South Mississippi. Zeta was large. Tropical storm force winds extended about 140 miles away from the center. Large storms unravel slower as they travel across land. South Mississippi was on the right side of the center. Its trajectory through Slidell into Hancock and Pearl River counties uniquely positioned South Mississippi on the side of the storm where the winds
were blowing towards the same direction the storm was moving. One of the courses that sustained serious damage in the area was Fallen Oak, which is part of Beau Rivage Resort & Casino. We reached out to the Director of Grounds, Matt Hughes for a brief sit down interview. Golf Central: We have heard that you created a monumental task of recycling all of the damage caused by Hurricane Zeta? Matt: Just a year ago… we had been watching this storm and had a plan in place, if it truly stayed on track. October 28, when the storm hit, we were prepared, and just had to wait for the storm to clear and start cleaning our clean-up process. Reality had set in on first check, we had lost 1,000 trees and shrubs.
Director of Grounds, Matt Hughes
Golf Central: How long was the course closed for the clean-up? Matt: After the clean-up was complete and we felt comfortable with people playing, we were closed for 45-days. All of the final paperwork is still going on, yet we were ready to have our guests playing the course. Golf Central: We heard of the recycling effort to utilize the lost trees. Matt: We had utilized the same recycling effort that we went through with Hurricane Katrina during our construction in 2005. We were using mulching equipment on site to grind up the trees and limbs that came down and working with the mulch to decorate and define golf holes. We used as much as we could, but ultimately decided that wasn’t the greatest idea for long term maintenance. In more recent years we have reduced almost 40 acres of mulch and replaced with native grasses indigenous to the area to make it more sustainable. Now that we are having rainstorms and just natural attrition… we now just need to touch up smaller areas versus large acreage to replenish the beauty of the course. Golf Central: What does the future hold for Fallen Oak? Matt: Realizing that we have seen so many changes with the topography from storms over the years, we have created programs to re-forest the area. While it will obviously take time to mature, we feel that we are the stewards of this land and have to work to revitalize the area. Changes are always in the works to make Fallen Oak the most desirable golf course for our guests.
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Golf Central • Volume 22, Issue 8
