Two clubs share their stories of disaster recovery
Summing it up
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hink “it could never happen to you”? That’s what Bill Ochsenhirt, Vice President/General Manager of Inverness Country Club in Birmingham, Ala. thought until June 2007, when arson destroyed his property’s clubhouse (“Inverness CC Rises From the Ashes,” C&RB, December 2007). It’s also what Joey Hickman, Golf Pro and General Manager of Old Hickory (Tenn.) Country Club, thought until May 2010, when Nashville’s 100-year flood ruined parts of his course.
But in times of crisis, people pull together. That’s what happened both in Birmingham and Old Hickory, and while the road back to normalcy wasn’t always easy, it was attainable.
‘Are we still on for tomorrow?’
Literally hours after he watched Inverness’ 34-year-old clubhouse burn down to its foundation — taking with it 18 years’ worth of the hard-copy files that were stored inside — Ochsenhirt was receiving calls from members who, after expressing their sympathies over the loss, wanted to know whether their scheduled tee times were still going to happen in the morning.
It was then that Ochsenhirt realized he had to keep things as normal as possible during the recovery and rebuilding process, no matter how daunting that task might be. While all of the hard-copy records were gone, online records had been stored on an off-site server, and could be accessed from his home computer. He credits his wife, Pamela, with helping Inverness cope with the fire’s aftermath. Day after day, she stood curbside at the club, helping the Inverness staff answer the questions and concerns of golfers, members and even curious passers-by.
“We literally worked from a tent for the first three months,” says Ochsenhirt, noting that the intense Alabama summer heat didn’t help matters.
For many members, he says, coming to the site was “almost like going to a funeral. People were married here, celebrated their kids’ birthdays here. The building had 30 years of memories,” he says. But soon, sadness turned to excitement, when members learned that the clubhouse would be rebuilt.
Because the clubhouse wasn’t running at full capacity until 2009, it had to lay off about 45 employees. “We had such a great outreach from surrounding clubs, though,” Ochsenhirt says. “All of our employees literally had jobs the next day, with the understanding that they were welcome to come back here when we reopened. But by then, they had established new roots at their jobs.”
Ochsenhirt also credits his colleagues with helping him relocate weddings and other events that were scheduled in the first months after the fire.
On Sept. 1, 2007, the Inverness staff moved into an air-conditioned, temporary structure, which was wryly referred to as the “modular palace.” And on July 3, 2009, Inverness Country Club reopened its clubhouse bigger and better than ever (“A Hot Property Again,” C&RB, August 2009).
‘Nobody thought it was going to flood’
Joey Hickman recalls watching the Nashville flood on TV, feeling sympathetic for colleagues at the Gaylord Opryland resort who were in the thick of the event. But because Old Hickory was northeast of the city, nestled between Old Hickory Lake and the Cumberland River, he really didn’t expect to see damage to his club, too. Within hours, however, his water pump and five of his greens were submerged.
Hickman characterizes the days immediately after the flooding as “humbling.”
“We did not have any ability to wash off the mud residual, and we went a full nine days before we were able to get the pumps back up to run water,” he recalls, noting that the team didn’t even know what kind of sediment was left behind. “After the rains, it got very hot —we could have lost all the greens in a weekend.”
That was not to be the case, however, thanks in no small part to a member who is also a lawn-care professional and brought his 1,500-gallon truck to the course and watered the greens.
Like Ochsenhirt, Hickman worked hard to get the club back to as close to normal operations as quickly as possible. “We were closed that first week, then we opened nine of 18 holes on the higher elevation,” he says. Where a typical May for the club sees about 2,750 rounds, May 2010 was down to about 1,400. Because Old Hickory’s clubhouse sits on a hill, indoor events, dining and other club functions were not affected, he says.
Hickman is particularly grateful that the three golf outings that were scheduled at the club in the first few weeks after the flood could all be rescheduled. “That would have been a huge impact, at least $20,000 in revenue we would have otherwise lost,” he says.
In September, Old Hickory hosted a PGA state match.
“We played 16 holes, then holes 1 and 3 again, to make 18 holes,” says Hickman, who was on the PGA Tournament Committee and had explained the circumstances to his colleagues. “Everyone was patting me on the back and saying, ‘It was a lot better than what you said it might be.’ ”
Still, Hickman is glad that “2010 is in the rear-view mirror.”
“My faith grew even more this year,” he says. “I have not only grown as a golf pro, but also as a person who can handle adversity. “
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