Greenbriar Under Water

[Aflighter]

The course at the greenbriar is underwater.Might have problem playing trny in few weeks.Greens and grass in general doesnt do good being flooded.

[Chilli Dipper]

Here's what it looks like in West Virginia right now.

It's hard to see the course being ready for tournament play in two weeks.

[dennyjones]

That storm was pretty severe.   I'm sure they'll work hard to make sure it will be in great shape.

[Buckeyebowman]

Wow! I'm so glad that stuff missed us. It went by to our southwest. We got a few small thunderstorms and rather gentle rain. The AJGA was in town at Mill Creek, and they had to finish in a gentle, intermittent sprinkle this morning. A little off topic but, man, can some of those kids play golf!

[iacas]

 

[jamo]

Oh man. Going by the title I assumed you meant monetarily. Wow.

[saevel25]

Wow, I didn't know Greenbrier was in a flood plane. They might not play for a few years. 

[kpaulhus]

11 hours ago, saevel25 said:

Wow, I didn't know Greenbrier was in a flood plane. They might not play for a few years. 

As fast as that water was moving, I wouldn't be surprised if it came and went and they were able to play (albeit ball in hand) for the tourney. Only takes a little wind and 3-4 days of heat to dry up a course after flooding. 

There might be some impact to the bunkers and rough and some tree damage, but the greens keeping crew at Greenbriar are top notch and can work miracles. 

[Jeremie Boop]

7 minutes ago, kpaulhus said:

As fast as that water was moving, I wouldn't be surprised if it came and went and they were able to play (albeit ball in hand) for the tourney. Only takes a little wind and 3-4 days of heat to dry up a course after flooding. 

There might be some impact to the bunkers and rough and some tree damage, but the greens keeping crew at Greenbriar are top notch and can work miracles. 

I think it will depend on how much of the turf was damaged by the swift moving water and debris it was carrying. If it is mostly intact it's possible that they will still be able to turn the condition around well enough to host the tournament, but if there was any significant debris being dragged along the ground by the water there could be some pretty nasty damage. It will be hard to tell until the water recedes and the extent of the damage is revealed.

[boogielicious]

28 minutes ago, kpaulhus said:

As fast as that water was moving, I wouldn't be surprised if it came and went and they were able to play (albeit ball in hand) for the tourney. Only takes a little wind and 3-4 days of heat to dry up a course after flooding. 

There might be some impact to the bunkers and rough and some tree damage, but the greens keeping crew at Greenbriar are top notch and can work miracles. 

 

19 minutes ago, Jeremie Boop said:

I think it will depend on how much of the turf was damaged by the swift moving water and debris it was carrying. If it is mostly intact it's possible that they will still be able to turn the condition around well enough to host the tournament, but if there was any significant debris being dragged along the ground by the water there could be some pretty nasty damage. It will be hard to tell until the water recedes and the extent of the damage is revealed.

As someone who has been through ocean floods, I hope for the best but fear for the worst . Moving water can erode turf quickly and leave behind lots of dirt, sand and debris.

[Wally Fairway]

Here is an overhead view (from the Washington Post) and I've read somewhere there maybe places with up to 3" of mud.
Larger photo here - https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2016/06/24/historic-flood-engulfs-greenbrier-golf-course-home-to-pga-event-in-two-weeks/

Do they cancel, or can they try to move it to another location

Edited June 24, 2016 by Wally Fairway

[mchepp]

The video looks bad. I guess it depends on the weather going forward. If its dry they can probably get it ready. 

[jkelley9]

I did a lot of research on flood water damage, standing and moving, when we were about to purchase a house in a flood plain zone (we ended up not).  Moving flood water is devastating to grass. It completely messes up almost every aspect of the turf (sediments, density, mineral profile, pH, and and can bring in saltwater and all sort of junk depending on location). The roots will swell and if dried out too quickly can completely rot. Then there's the disease that comes with it. There is some terrific research that the government did (you heard me right... the government. I was absolutely shocked at the high-caliber report they wrote and everything, and this is coming from a chemical engineer).

I know that there are extremely skilled greenskeepers at Greenbriar and I'm really not all that familiar with how good folks can be when it comes to restoring damage like this, but I would be dumbfounded if they were to be able to repair the damage done in time for this tournament. Of course, that would be splendid if they could!

Edited June 25, 2016 by jkelley9

[newtogolf]

10 hours ago, boogielicious said:

 

As someone who has been through ocean floods, I hope for the best but fear for the worst . Moving water can erode turf quickly and leave behind lots of dirt, sand and debris.

Ocean water kills grass so salt water floods have a double attack.  The debris they carry and the moving water can erode and destroy areas of turf but long term the grass left will die due to salinity.  They would have to flush the area with a lot of fresh water to reduce the salt levels to save the grass.  

[boogielicious]

7 hours ago, newtogolf said:

Ocean water kills grass so salt water floods have a double attack.  The debris they carry and the moving water can erode and destroy areas of turf but long term the grass left will die due to salinity.  They would have to flush the area with a lot of fresh water to reduce the salt levels to save the grass.  

Surprisingly, this is not always the case. My Mom's yard gets flooded every year and the grass recovers. It must be the kind of grass she has in Mass. Either way, I hope that area recovers quickly. Flooding devastates an area. My thoughts are with the folks in West Virginia.

[Dave2512]

On ‎6‎/‎23‎/‎2016 at 9:40 PM, saevel25 said:

Wow, I didn't know Greenbrier was in a flood plane. They might not play for a few years. 

I agree. We had floods in 2012 and the courses that were underwater took a few years to come back. When they did reopen it was just some holes and it was not as severe as the WV flooding.

[Golfingdad]

Don't know if it was accurate, but I saw a guy on the news specifically say that this is a "1000 year storm."

That is shocking to me since, as a civil engineer, I have never seen reference to such a thing.  Our worst case design storms are always 100 year.  I don't even think any of our reference materials go past 100 year storms.

[Dave2512]

Isn't it just a measure of probability?