In the wake of Hurricane Helene's devastation, numerous golf courses assess their future

I will always remember an August 2023 family trip to Lake Lure.

Tucked into the mountains an hour southeast of Asheville, N.C., it was a beautiful, tranquil place to spend a fun week. My parents rented a house high on the mountain at Rumbling Bald Resort, my sister brought her family and I brought mine. My dad, brother-in-law and I enjoyed a round at Rumbling Bald's Apple Valley golf course, a graceful, not-too-tight Dan Maples mountain layout. We didn't have time to play the resort's Bald Mountain course, known for being one of the many area sites where the iconic film Dirty Dancing was filmed. Next time, we agreed.

My daughter, who had recently turned two, had a blast playing with her cousin, just three months younger than her. They splashed along the edge of the lake just down the mountain from our rental house. One afternoon, we rented a boat and drifted back and forth across the clear, pleasant water. The kids looked like colorful marshmallows in their toddler-size life jackets.

Last week, Hurricane Helene dumped what has been described as trillions of gallons of rainwater across the interior south, unleashing vicious mudslides throughout the mountains and trashing Lake Lure, as well as many other bodies of water that people have enjoyed for decades. My and millions of hearts now go out to the people of countless communities from North Carolina down through Florida who will start the process of rebuilding, in many cases from scratch. As of this writing, more than a million homes and businesses remain without power.

In the wake of the storm, Rumbling Bald's management has provided a steady stream of updates on relief efforts and needs - bottled water and gasoline chief among them. All resort facilities are closed and all events and reservations through at least October 14th have been canceled. A recent Facebook post from the resort provides a mixed-to-positive outlook. "The damage to our facilities and amenities is manageable and we are working to reopen them as quickly as possible," it reads. "More significant work will be required to the structures that are on the lake."

Leisure activities like golf obviously take a backseat to the overall hardship felt throughout Lake Lure and the other areas hit hardest by Hurricane Helene. But places like Rumbling Bald, where so many happy memories are made, have a way of shining brightly during dark times. Their return to activity marks a milestone in the healing process. They're a stabilizing and normalizing force and a welcome distraction. Here's hoping the sounds of golf shots can echo through the trees at Rumbling Bald and other beleaguered golf courses once more in the coming weeks and months.

Asheville has emerged as one of the hardest-hit areas, with floodwaters lingering in its main streets for days after the storm. The Omni Grove Park Inn sits on higher ground on the outskirts of town but remains closed until further notice and is not currently accepting new reservations.

About 30 minutes west of Asheville, Waynesville Inn & Golf Club is one of the newest stay-and-play spots in the mountains, with a recently renovated golf course with nine Donald Ross holes and nine others by architect Bobby Weed. The club's most recent communication reports the hotel is open, but that the front-nine dealt with an overflowing creek, while the back nine "held up well to the storm."

In some cases, golf courses serve an important function during massive rain events like Hurricane Helene, because they can temporarily retain and channel stormwater away from surrounding homes and businesses. One Facebook post from an Asheville resident included photos looking out over part of the Donald Ross-designed Asheville Municipal Golf Course, which sits across the street from the Swannanoa River a couple of miles east of downtown. In the case of the golf course, its flat, lower-lying front nine helped keep floodwaters from reaching some nearby homes. "We were lucky...The waters never reached us and I truly believe that's because the golf course was there," the post read.

Another particular area of note is golf's April epicenter: Augusta, Georgia. While Augusta National Golf Club officials played the extent of damage to the home of the Masters close to the vest in their statement, club chairman Fred Ridley acknowledged the "catastrophic and historic impact" the storm had on their home city. Ridley just announced a $5-million donation for the community's recovery.

Just half an hour from Augusta, the golf-mad community of Aiken, S.C. saw significant impacts to its courses. Palmetto Golf Club, an Alister MacKenzie course that ranks as one of the best in the Palmetto State, lost "too many trees to count" per a report from the Aiken Standard newspaper. And Aiken Golf Club, a century-old course that is known as one of America's best-value rounds, lost several majestic pines, according to owner Jim McNair, Jr. New nearby private clubs Old Barnwell and The Tree Farm, the latter of which is owned by PGA Tour player Zac Blair, lost trees of their own but were thankful to have made it through the storm without much lasting damage.

About an hour west of Augusta, the golf courses around Lake Oconee, including the large Reynolds Lake Oconee resort and residential community, made it through Hurricane Helene relatively unscathed.

In Atlanta, the reversible 9-hole Bobby Jones Golf Course remains closed "for the days ahead" after experiencing significant flooding from Peachtree Creek, which flows beside the facility, per a Facebook post.

The area of Florida where Helene made landfall is not as dense on the golf front as some others, but some courses nevertheless sustained light to moderate damage. Wakulla Sands, a newly renovated course just west of the hurricane's path in Crawfordville, south of Tallahassee, was able to open within 72 hours of the storm passing. Further down Florida's gulf coast, several courses experienced significant flooding but have returned to normal operations. Bobby Jones Golf Club, the Donald Ross-designed municipal course in Sarasota, was able to host its 49th annual City Championship just a couple of days after being hit with punishing rains. Courses up the coast in the Clearwater area have reopened as well.

If any of the places severely affected by Hurricane Helene are dear to you as favorite vacation spots, a great way to help them get back on their feet is to plan a visit once local officials say it's safe to do so. Not just golf courses but hotels and restaurants will be eager for your business as they start to get back on their feet. Even if some of the usual amenities are not available, your support will be especially valuable.

In the meantime, donations to official disaster relief funds in the states most affected will help the effort, along with national-level service organizations. Here are some links:

Florida Disaster Fund
North Carolina Disaster Relief Fund
Send Relief (Georgia)

Salvation Army
American Red Cross
Americares

GolfPass News

July 27, 2018

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