Flooded cart paths, overflowing gopher holes and branches littered the Dairy Creek course after Sunday’s storm but it paled in comparison to last year’s storm.
“You know, there was there was more water flowing last year than we've ever seen on these properties," SLO County Golf Superintendent Josh Heptig explained.
This time was different. All three county courses, Dairy Creek, Morro Bay and Chalk Mountain were well prepared for the forecast.
“[We were] just making sure all drains are opened up and if the channel waves are clear," Heptig explained. "As far as for water coming down, [checking] any of the major creeks or infrastructure on the golf course.”
The damage was minimal despite the whipping winds that rolled through all three courses.
“To not have a bunch of Monterey pines and other trees down at Morro Bay Golf course is huge. We had just one small branch at Chalk Mountain fall down and thennat Dairy Creek, kind of the same thing.”
The tee sheet at Dairy Creek featured very few golfers but the ones that did play explained that the conditions weren’t as bad as people might think.
“It was pretty muddy walking in the fairways," One golfer said. "My shoes are all wet right now, but the greens held up pretty good. They seemed to dry out pretty good and the sun came out for a little bit so that helped.”
Morro Bay Golf Course experienced the biggest effect from the wind but because of it's sandy soil, it wasn’t affected by the rain.
“The water seeps through the soil so easily there that really didn't have much of an impact other than just the wind and blowing some trees over and knocking some things down there," Heptig said.
Overall, the conditions of all three courses were better than expected. The main thing was just making sure people on the course and staff were safe through it all.
“If we get a lot of potential for flooding, a lot of potential for hazardous driving conditions or things like that, we'll shut down the golf course more so to just help keep our keep our staff and everybody else safe. “
According to Heptig, the only differences to golfing the courses right now is that Chalk and Dairy Creek will likely be cart path only for the foreseeable future to allow the ground to dry out a bit before letting motorized carts move across it.
