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COURSE CARE

The 2010 Nashville Flood: A Report From The Front Lines

By Chris Hartwiger

| May 10, 2010

Top Left: At this golf course, not only did the entire golf course flood, but the maintenance facility and clubhouse were flooded, too. Top Right: The bunkers on the holes that flooded are a complete loss. Bottom Left: Some fairways had deposits of river rock and gravel primarily. Clean up of these materials will be highly labor intensive. Bottom Right: Once as much silt as possible is removed by mechanical means, washing fairways with hoses is slow and time consuming.

Nashville and middle Tennessee made national headlines last week. Between 13 to 20 inches of rain fell in a 36 hour period, and the results were devastating. Property damage was extensive, widespread, and will total in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

Damage to Nashville golf courses was variable depending on proximity to local waterways. Visits to two golf courses with serious flood damage clearly showed that cleanup at these courses and others will be expensive and extremely labor intensive. These pictures provide an idea as to the devastation and power of this storm.

For those in Tennessee dealing with cleanup and with questions about the impact of floods on golf facilities, this link describes what to do after the flood waters recede: /content/dam/usga/pdf/imported/course-care/000308.pdf.

If anyone needs assistance during the recovery effort, do not hesitate to call Chris Hartwiger (678-591-7410 or chartwiger@usga.org) or Patrick O’Brien (678-591-7340 or patobrien@usga.org).