BLAINE, Minn. – (August 3, 2017) – As many Blaine homeowners continue to clean up and repair damage from the June hail storm that tore through the city, maintenance crews at the TPC Twin Cities knew that they only had six weeks to address all the damage on the course.
“About probably 8:30 or 9:00 in the morning, the hail came through, hit really fast went through probably 15, 20 minutes is all it lasted. But probably golf ball to slightly larger than golf ball size hail with pretty jagged edges, it wasn’t very round. It was so windy when it hit the green, it was kind of skipping across, leaving an inch and half gouges.” according to Mark Michalski, the golf course superintendent.
The storm took down 50 trees on the course and completely covered some holes with leaves. The work to repair the greens in time for the 3M Championship started immediately after the storm clouds cleared.
“Within those first two days we aerified twice, and the greens got rolled seven times, and we top dressed three times in that first three days. Then the following after that we have been top dressing weekly after that, just to heal up any scars that were left. We opened the golf course back up for play six days after the storm went through. Probably within 14 to 21 days, you really couldn’t see anything left of the green to indicate that the storm went through.”
Now golfers and visitors to the course this week would have no idea that just six weeks ago the course was unplayable.
“I think we are right where we should be whether or not that storm would have gone through or not, So I’m very happy with where we are at with the golf course.” Michalski said.
The golf course crews have put in long hours for the last several weeks, and their hard work has paid off as the players hit the course this week with nothing but positive reviews.
