SPRING 2013
w w w. N J G o l f N e w s . c o m
Junior Golf…page 12
VOL 23, NO. 1
AFTER THE STORM
page 7…2013 U.S. Women’s Open
page 8…Shoprite LPGA Classic
page 10…Inspirational Mario Tobia
Time to Play Again! page 14…2013 U.S. Open at Merion
S
GOLF COURSES RECOUP AND REGROUP
uper Storm Sandy, which struck the area late last October, delivered unprecedented damage to Shore area residences, businesses, beaches and boardwalks, but its effects were also felt widely throughout many New Jersey counties, and as far north and east as parts of Long Island and Connecticut. Hundreds of golf courses throughout the state suffered damages in this late season hurricane, and Golfer’s Tee Times talked with a handful of managers and superintendents to get a better understanding of how they prepared for, and then cleaned up from – Super Storm Sandy. “The eye of the storm literally crossed 17th Street in Brigantine, so in some ways it was a blessing,” said Nathan Robbins, General Manager at the Links at Brigantine Beach, said the 18-hole golf course suffered more from water damage than from wind. “If you look at damage to places twenty miles north of us, they really had sustained winds. Our damage was limited to flooding, and we were fortunate not to have any water in our clubhouse or cart barn. But there were areas of the course under three and four feet of water, and that forced us to close for about three weeks after the storm” he added. The Links at Brigantine Beach was back up and running by Thanksgiving, he said, “but the difficult part has been since then we’re almost 50 percent above average in precipitation
By Richard J. Skelly
and this whole island has yet to dry out following the storm. With all of that said, we’re very optimistic for the coming year. The golf course is in pretty good shape and come the middle of the summer, we’re confident you won’t see any lasting effects from the storm.” Robbins continued on to say that their 9th and th 18 greens were the only ones underwater for any length of time, “but we had an 18-foot powerboat that was in the left rough of our second hole for a time, and the walking bridge on the third hole ended up in the left rough of the second hole.” Robbins said the walking bridge must weigh at least a ton, and the force of the incoming water moved it more than 100 yards. “We didn’t have any fast moving current so it was more a matter of making sure we did everything we could to make sure the effects of salt water were limited,” Robbins said. Absecon Bay is about 50 yards from the 1st tee at the Links, he pointed out, and the 15th hole sports a peninsula green, which also got submerged, but for less time than the 9th and 18th greens. “While we were able to open by late November, one of the biggest challenges has been combating the perception that this whole area was closed down and damaged beyond repair. There was no damage to Atlantic City casinos and no damage to the boardwalk there. Other area golf courses might have had some trees come down, but for the most part, they were back open within a week,” Robbins said.
Matthew Morrow, the superintendent at Manasquan River GC in Brielle, a private club nestled along the river of the same name, which sits less than 2 miles from the Atlantic Ocean, said he and the General Manager and members at the course used Super Storm Sandy as a learning experience and found out ways to improve on infrastructure and drainage in certain areas of the property. “Hopefully this is an once-in-a-lifetime event, but the good part about the whole experience was we learned a lot about the golf course and how we can improve on drainage and create a better tree management program,” Morrow explained, adding Manasquan River lost about 100 trees all over the property. “We had a 25-foot and a 38-foot boat, both ended up on the golf course,” Morrow said, and needless to say, both boat owners came forth immediately to make arrangements with their insurance companies to have them removed from the 12th and 17th holes, respectively.” As far as tree damage, Morrow said he and his crew did as much as they could in-house but left big or overly dangerous jobs to a tree company in Pennsylvania that he’d worked with in the past. “Losing power was pretty much a foregone conclusion in my mind. Knowing the golf course is so close to river and we were going to flood, we got all our pumps ready and our equipment fueled up and generators were all primed and ready to go,” he said. Manasquan River leads to the Manasquan Inlet which in turn leads out to the ocean, which is continued on page 3