Had an interesting phone conversation today with a friend who is the subject of a golf course feature coming up in the October issue of GCM -- Josh Hicks, superintendent at The Atchafalaya at Idlewild, a stunning layout near Patterson, La., in St. Mary Parish about 15 miles inland from the Gulf Coast.
The Atchafalaya, about 100 miles west of New Orleans and 60 miles due south of Baton Rouge, escaped significant damage three years ago when Hurricanes Katrina and Rita surged through the region, but Monday, when I noticed on The Weather Channel maps that Hurricane Gustav was making landfall on the Louisiana coast, Atchafalaya Bay appeared to be ground zero.
The next day I called Josh on his cell phone and caught him en route to his course from Shreveport, where his folks live and where he had sought haven as Gustav was approaching. "I understand it (the storm) went right through us, but I won't know anything until I get there," he said then.
I gave Josh a few days, then got back in touch with him this morning and the news for him and The Atchafalaya was all good.
"I feel pretty darn lucky right now," the six-year GCSAA member said. "The eye of the storm went right over my town and my golf course. I didn't lose a single shingle off my house and we lost only a few tree tops and limbs at the course. We got only about 4 1/2 inches of rain and any high water has receded in the last 36 hours. We're just doing clean-up and taking the opportunity to do some mowing and aerifying. Shoot, man, we'll probably be open by Wednesday."
In fact, some of the tree damage at The Atchafalaya was a blessing in disguise. The shade issues caused by the canopy from hugh mature oaks behind the seventh green and eighth tee made growing turf problematic. But not now. "Those trees are all about only 20 foot tall now, so I don't have any shade prolems anymore," Josh said.
Josh added that the power in his area came back on last night, but "You go over one parish, or around Baton Rouge, and they're talking four to six weeks without power."
Indeed, Josh said his good fortune is tempered by the heartbreak at many courses around him. He especially feels for his predecessor at The Atchafalaya, Scott Guidry, now superintendent at Ellendale Country Club 15 miles away in Houma.
"They lost more than 100 oak trees," Josh said. "Scott's in a bad way over there ... anything you can do to help him ..." If his lines and power are up, Guidry, a four-year GCSAA member, can be reached at 985-851-1376 or at [email protected].
Josh was a reluctant evacuee last weekend as Gustav developed into an imminent threat. When Rita plowed through Lake Charles in September 2005, his home suffered major damage. At the time, he was superintendent at Mallard Cove Golf Club there and would go on to be featured in GCM's Unique Hole series (April 2007).
So it was that Josh this time around had decided he would stay and try to save what he could if things got bad. That was until he woke up the other morning and Stephanie Abrams, Weather Channel meteorologist, was on the TV and in the neighborhood.
"I was gonna stay," he says. "But when The Weather Channel shows up to do a live feed four miles from where you're at, it's time to go."
He's not only lucky, but smart too.
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