September 26, 2024, was a day far-from-the-coast Augusta, Georgia, gained’t quickly neglect. Hurricane Helene roared by, leaving in its wake a battered and devastated neighborhood, elements of that are nonetheless recovering right now. The Bobby Jones Hyperlinks-operated Forest Hills Golf Course – suffered its personal distinctive misfortune.
The traditional Donald Ross-designed course owned by Augusta College, and the place Bobby Jones as soon as gained the Southeast Newbie in the identical yr he gained the Grand Slam, had closed in June 2024 for an entire greens renovation and generated plenty of pleasure for its deliberate October 1 reopening. Then simply days earlier than, the hurricane hit. No less than 1,500 timber went down, with particles scattered all through the property. The course workers, many whose houses had been additionally broken, labored additional time on the clean-up, two tree corporations had been engaged, and inside six weeks, the course reopened. At present, with a number of minor initiatives remaining, Forest Hills is prospering once more.
“All the crew pulled collectively to get the job performed,” says Joshua Deal, Vice President of Operations at Bobby Jones Hyperlinks, and President of the Georgia Part PGA of America. “It was a collaborative effort. Before everything, the crew on the facility instantly obtained in contractors to evaluate the harm, notably with the tree cleanup. That was the largest hurdle and to verify we may ultimately reopen to members and friends when it was secure. Precedence one was cleansing up particles, hangers and widow makers that had been everywhere in the course. Then we may flip our consideration to the outlying areas and aesthetics. As you’ll be able to think about, the cleanup in these areas surrounding the course was a few six-month course of.”
Intensive course harm was subsequently attributable to the equipment wanted to take away the timber. Cart path repairs rapidly turned prioritized, in order that it was secure to journey across the property, whereas irrigation programs had been briefly placed on the again burner as a result of the course didn’t have to run water within the winter. As soon as it warmed up although, plenty of the irrigation harm was found. So, the course superintendent and crew have frolicked isolating areas of want, repairing them, and taking part in “whack-a-mole” from there, in accordance with Deal.
“On the optimistic facet, the neighborhood was extremely supportive and pleased to get Forest Hills again open and expertise some normalcy of being on the market and taking part in,” says Deal. “They love the brand new greens, and the course reopened in completely improbable situation. We’ve had nice suggestions from each friends and members, and that’s helped present a bit of spark of momentum as we proceed to wash up from what was a scary scenario. It was nice to listen to members of the neighborhood say they’re simply so pleased this place is again open and in nice form.”
With Masters week so necessary for the membership’s annual revenues, Deal says there have been plenty of eyeballs on Forest Hills in April – solely including to the stress to supply nice taking part in situations. Plus, it’s dwelling to Augusta College’s golf crew, former back-to-back NCAA Division 1 nationwide champions in 2010 and 2011, who additionally host a significant school occasion on the course in April. “
Forest Hills Golf Course has been round a very long time – its 1926 opening predates Augusta Nationwide, so it has a fairly a historical past. “The golf course has been round a very long time and isn’t going wherever. Even a devastating hurricane can’t hold this nice Augusta course down for lengthy.”
And that’s greater than evident now.
