Golf Links

Preferring to see the half-full portion of the glass, area golf course managers and professionals are trying to think about how much easier it will be to grow grass this spring and summer instead of worrying over the continuing damages of January's ice storm.

"Well there's going to be more sun in areas that didn't get much before and the grass whould come out a lot sooner this year," said Paxton Park professional Danny Muller, who still has plenty of piles of fallen timber and hanging limbs to clear off despite opening within a week of the January 27 storm.

"Mother Nature thinned out a lot of the trees and shortened a lof of others, so the course is going to be a little different. But it gives us an opportunity to reforest some areas in the most conducive manner to growing grass on some fairways and greens where it was hard to grow. We're just anxious to get to the point where it looks clean again."

That may be May for some area courses. Kentucky Dam State Park remains closed due to the clutter of fallen timber on the course while the Country Club of Paducah has only half its course cleared and open with the second half unlikely to open until mid-April. It will likely spend nearly $300,000 as it deals with over 1,200 trees damaged by the storm.

"Financially it's a setback," said professional Jason Stilley, "I've never seen anything like it. On the corner (of the course) where No. 10 and No. 11 are, they say there's nearly 100 damaged trees. Our green, tees and fairway damage was pretty minimal, and we've been able to get out and do the usual work to get the course ready, so when we get it cleared it should be in good shape.

"We lost a couple of key trees that will change how people play the course and it's going to be different out there. But we should have a better stand of grass this year and our roughs will likely be more plush. We're looking into increasing the rough to bring back some of the difficulty of the course."

Most area courses were back in business quickly, but still have plenty of residue left to clear. Drake Creek Golf Course in Ledbetter, The Silos in West Paducah and Rolling Hills Country Club in Lone Oak all were back open for play within a week or thwo, but not without major efforts to clean up and clear off the residue. Unlike the wind damage from the residue of Hurricane Ike last fall, most of the limbs fell on the edges of fairways and greens and did little damage to the course.

"We were open and cleared in a week, but we don't have as many trees as most," said Drake Creek professional Todd Butts. "We have some little sad stories out on the course, but compared to some of the others, we don't have anything to complain about."

Kentucky Dam State Park remains the saddest story. Professional Glenn Dorten said the course has made little progress to clean up damage until government contractors are able to help out. Dorten estimates 100 trees are down and nearly 600 have hanging limbs that must be removed. he anticipates a late April or early May re-opening.

"We're the only state park still closed that I know and we're going to lose a lot of revenue," said Dorten. "Some of the other state parks did a lof of work on their own, but they have bigger staffs and were able to get more done. We have a lot of trees to clear still."

Paxton Park has also had to wait for cleanup help from the city, but has worked continuously to move the debris off the course. Within a week it had enough area cleared for players to returen, but those big piles are still waiting for removal.

"We've been able to get most of it doen ourselves and keep whittling away at it. Without help from the city or FEMA, it might have cost us over $100,000 to clean up. We'll get it hauled away soon."