Green at US Bank Championship damaged.

[robb01]

that is horrible

[ramylson]

Reported today in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinal.

 

Link: http://www.jsonline.com/sports/golf/49558397.html

 

The golf course maintenance staff at Brown Deer Park is in a race against time to get the 17th green in playable condition just two weeks before the 42nd annual U.S. Bank Championship in Milwaukee.

 

About 60% of the putting surface on No. 17 was damaged by vandals on the night of June 23, according to tournament director Dan Croak. The damage likely was caused by a motorcycle or motorcycles.

 

"I got the call early Wednesday morning (June 24) from Tim," Croak said, referring to course superintendent Tim Wegner. "My reaction was extreme disappointment."

 

Wegner and Brian Zimmerman, chief of operations for Milwaukee County Parks, immediately formulated a plan for repairing the damaged turf. They pooled resources from the parks department and even borrowed equipment from local private clubs.

 

"We had doughnuts burned into the green and we did lose some turf in spots," Zimmerman said. "Our staff worked extremely hard to patch it that day. We have used every available tool."

 

The repair consisted of patching the most severe damage with sod, overseeding the entire green twice and aerating it.

 

Also, some eight trees were removed from behind the green, which will add about three hours of morning sunlight to help speed up the growing process. The trees were not in play and did not affect strategy on the hole.

 

Croak said the PGA Tour had been notified of the damage.

 

"We're very pleased with the response that Brian and the entire parks department has given us," Croak said. "The Tour is confident that Tim has done the right things to repair it."

 

The question now is whether the green will be serviceable for the U.S. Bank Championship. A pro-am and practice rounds are scheduled for July 13 and the first day of competition is July 16.

 

"All that can be done has been done," Croak said. "Tim and Brian and their crew have done the best job they can to this point. Over the next two weeks it's a matter of growing the grass that has been repaired.

 

"At this point we're operating under the assumption it will be playable for the tournament. It may not be pretty and it may not be perfect."

 

Croak and Zimmerman said scarring would be visible on the green during the tournament. The key issue for the touring professionals will be whether putts roll smoothly.

 

"We've got 14 days and we're doing everything possible to ensure that we will have PGA Tour conditions," Zimmerman said Tuesday. "We're top-dressing the green again today. We're using every available resource."

 

Park and tournament officials initially were reluctant to talk about the incident because they didn't want to encourage copycats. They also declined to address specifics about park security over the next two weeks.

 

"We're doing what we've always done," Croak said.

 

The 17th green is situated near Range Line Road. The vandalism occurred before a snow fence was put up around the course. The fencing is erected every year before the tournament and is up now.

 

"We're been out here 16 years and this is the first time anything like this has happened," Croak said.

 

The U.S. Bank Championship, then called the Greater Milwaukee Open, moved from Tuckaway Country Club in Franklin to Brown Deer Park in 1994.

 

"It's something you pray never happens on any golf course you manage, or any golf course anywhere," Zimmerman said, "but especially with the national spotlight coming here in a couple weeks."

 

Scott Evans, the head professional at Brown Deer Park, said the course's regular golfers were upset about the vandalism but were "incredibly supportive of us."

 

"We have not gotten one complaint," he said. "They're mad this happened but they're not blaming us. I'm pretty proud of our golfers right now."

 

[SemperFi91]

What a bunch of losers whoever did this.

[gpo]

Well, maybe the PGA Tour pros can play on a temp. green like we have to from time to time with no discount.

[ramylson]

Seriously?

 

I don't understand people..

[SpartyOn1982]

Up here in Michigan we get punks who think it is funny to run their snowmobiles on the greens. Happens every year! :bigwhack:

[tpariff]

That sucks! But it looks like they're taking the right steps to get it fixed. It's amazing what a good superintendent can do with two weeks time. I'm sure it will be playable. Maybe not perfect, but definitely playable.

 

Kevin

[mat562]

As someone who played for many years at a club that was occasionally plagued by idiots with motorbikes, it's cases like this that make stringing piano wire around greens at night seem mightily attractive. Sadly, the reasoning that 'if your son hadn't been deliberately committing criminal damage to a local golf course in the middle of the night his head would still be attached to his worthless body' is overridden by common sense and the law of the land.

 

It sounds like the green staff have risen manfully to the challenge and, hopefully, the damage can be speedily repaired and the idiots responsible brought to book.

[ssp]

That sucks! But it looks like they're taking the right steps to get it fixed. It's amazing what a good superintendent can do with two weeks time. I'm sure it will be playable. Maybe not perfect, but definitely playable.

 

Kevin

 

 

agreed - should be playable.

[ramylson]

If anyone wants a look at the layout/hole, here's something I put together last year:

 

http://www.golfwrx.com/forums/index.php?sh...p;hl=Brown+Deer

 

I can't believe that someone would go and do this, but I'm guessing the teenagers in question have little common sense.

[bunana3]

The stupid crap like this always seems to happen in milwaukee for some reason.

[daheels]

My buddy just told me about this. For a city struggling to keep the event here this is the last thing we needed.

[bma725]

The stupid crap like this always seems to happen in milwaukee for some reason.

 

Yep. First time it's happened at Brown Deer, but that just makes it the latest in a string of stupid incidents at the different county courses. People set fire to one of the water coolers at Dretzka, a guy got mugged on one of the holes at Lincoln, somebody drove on the greens at Grant etc etc.

 

Looks like the final kiss of death for PGA Tour golf in the area.

[Speedly]

Sadly, the reasoning that 'if your son hadn't been deliberately committing criminal damage to a local golf course in the middle of the night his head would still be attached to his worthless body' is overridden by common sense and the law of the land.

 

I disagree. In my opinion, it's only the law of the land. Common sense should be the thing that tells the jerks that they should respect others' property and effort.

[Tmiller72]

That green is close to the road, but there are houses right there. I'm suprised nobody saw anything. Or maybe they did and the police aren't releasing that info?

[bigred90gt]

This same thing happened at the country club I used to be a member at. We didnt have any kind of championships being played there, so it didnt get any special treatment to make it playable. It took a couple of months to fully grow back, and even then, you could still see the outlines of where the damage was. Putting on this green was impossible. They did several donuts on the green that spiraled basically from the middle all the way out, and criss crossed themselves. It was a mess. I agree with Mat, chicken wire would go a long way to help incidents like this.

[bma725]

That green is close to the road, but there are houses right there. I'm suprised nobody saw anything. Or maybe they did and the police aren't releasing that info?

 

Unfortunately, while the road runs along several holes, that particular green is sort of at the end of the house and it's not really visible at night from the other side of the road.