Course Battered by Cyclone Ului

Severe Tropical Cyclone Ului crossed the coast near Airlie Beach overnight on Saturday/Sunday 20/21 March 2010.  Although the centre was over 100km away from Mackay, the Golf Course was battered by the strong winds which reached over 100 km per hour over a period of about four hours.

Buildings Survived Without Damage

Fortunately, there was no significant damage caused to any of the buildings.  The Club House and the Pro Shop were open for business as usual.  However, power was lost from Saturday until lunchtime Tuesday, so the cold room stopped being a cold room.

Many Trees Blown Over

The major damage to the course was to the trees, with a large number of branches snapped and many trees torn out by the roots.  There was also a lot of leaf debris scattered all over the fairways.  Fortunately, there was no damage at all to the tees or the greens.

Our Greens staff got busy with chainsaws cutting hanging branches and chopping up the debris into manageable sizes ready for the teams of volunteers to load onto trucks and cart off to the Green Waste dump.

Wood Chipper Gives Good Service

The use of the wood chipper helped reduce the volume of waste to be disposed but it still took a lot of time to process the waste, and there was still a lot of heavier waste which had to be carted away to the Bucasia Green Waste dump. 

The good side to this, of course, is the forced reduction of the number of trees available for your ball to hide behind, but although there was a lot of damage, there are still lots of trees left, so maybe it is not so good after all.

The other impact on the course was the effect of the150+ mm of rain that fell on top of the almost continual rain over the previous few weeks.  Until then, the Greens staff were able to keep the grass mown to a reasonable height to aid drying, and keep the course playable. However, this rain made the course virtually unplayable.  Most bunkers were also full of water and took some time to repair.

Great Volunteer Effort

Thanks to a magnificent effort by staff and volunteers, our course was back in play in under three weeks, and in tremendous condition considering the rain and damage caused by Ului. Those who played were pleasantly surprised at the condition of the fairways and the course in general. 

Volunteer response was amazing.  In total, over 1552 volunteer hours have been donated to the cleanup, some people working 14 days straight.  59 people attended Easter Saturday's working bee, and another 30 each day Sunday and Monday. Thursday Club members fielded about 30 workers on Thursday, and a big team of women also answered the call on Wednesday.

We should all give a great vote of thanks to all the volunteers who have freely given their time, trucks, trailers etc to get the course back to a playable condition.  Dad's Army, the Ladies Team and many individuals have worked splendidly.

A Few Pictures of the Course on the Day after Ului Hit

Thanks to photographers Michele & Phil.

Down the 1st fairway from the tee

Close-up down the 1st fairway from the tee

Water hazard on 2nd hole from the tee

From the 3rd green

4th tee

Down the 4th fairway

4th green from old 5th Women's tee

New water hazard for 5th tee - bridge needs raising

Opening up the 6th fairway

6th fairway - no more complaining about this tree!

7th fairway - big tree on waterhole not so big any more

7th fairway - Now we all will be able to take on the water

On the 9th fairway near green

10th tee

10th fairway from green

10th fairway near 100m marker

Looking towards the 11th tee

Beside the 11th green

Looking towards the 12th tee

12th green & tree which brought down power lines

Between the 12th & 13th fairway

Looking towards the 13th tee

Beside the 14th green

From the 15th tee

Next to the 18th green

Back down the 18th fairway

Falling tree just missed Buggy Shed

9th fairway near green