Mill Creek crews removing 400 trees from golf course

BOARDMAN -- Stacie Butler, head golf professional at the Mill Creek Golf Course, which lost more than 400 trees in the July 5 microburst and EF-1 tornado, gave a tour of the worst hit parts of the golf course Thursday.

About 16 golf course staff members and an outside firm have been working since July 5 to clean up the destroyed trees, especially the ones that fell over the greens, fairways, tee boxes and cart paths. However, much work remains, and many trees are still in the tree lines on the edge of the 36-hole course.

On hole No. 16 on the South Course, from the fairway, downed trees could still be seen on both sides of the fairway for hundreds of yards. The fairway, meanwhile, was the perfect golf course green color. No blemishes on the beautifully manicured fairway were visible.

The trunks of some of the biggest trees remain on the edge of the golf course, now lying on their side with tons of dirt still attached to the roots after the wind ripped them out of the ground.

Butler, who is 5-foot-4, stood next to a couple of the turned-over tree trunks to show just how big some of them are.

Also still visible are the scars on the fairways where trees and large branches from trees pierced the manicured grass. Also visible in one case was the damage that was done to a cart path by a large tree that was next to a cart path. When the tree blew over, the roots tore out part of the cart path with it.

Butler said hole Nos. 6, 7, 11, 12, 13 and 16 on the South Course sustained the most tree damage in the storm.

"Our main focus is to make sure that when we're done with the project and we have done a great job with the restoration of the golf course, it will be back to its normal condition that people expect from a Mill Creek MetroParks, Donald Ross-designed golf course," Butler said.

"We have started to repair turf already. Some of the greens they have started to repair, tee boxes, seeding," Butler said.

She said trees also fell on three greens on the North Course.

"Our maintenance department the next morning got in, got started right away clearing tees, greens, fairways, getting everything off of those so that they could still be mowed and their regular maintenance and just kept moving," she said.

She agreed with Mill Creek MetroParks Executive Director Aaron Young that it will be "a while" until the golf course can reopen, saying the course has been open as late as Christmas some years.

"We definitely have the focus on getting it back open this year," Butler said. She said she cannot narrow down the date yet. "It just depends on how much work gets done and whether Mother Nature continues to cooperate and stay dry."

She did want to ask the public not to drive on the roads around the golf course or ride bicycles in those areas to give workers the space to do their work, including with heavy equipment.

"We are actively working and clearing," Butler said. "And just for everybody's safety to just kind of stay out of this area; let the guys do their work safely and not have to worry about people riding bikes and running."

She said the golf course staff have regular maintenance work to do still.

"And when they are done with that, as time allows, they are continuing to chip and clear some things that are out there. Their main focus is to just continue to maintain the course as it should be, as you would during a normal season and then get the rest of the stuff as time allows," she said.