A complete and totally free Master Plan from two ASGCA members; that is the offer to public golf facilities in Texas and Louisiana impacted by Hurricane Harvey from Nathan Crace, ASGCA Associate, and Todd Quitno, ASGCA.
“No human being could watch that and not be moved,” said Crace, a golf course architect based in South Mississippi. “Not only by the sheer volume of water, but also by the strength of the human spirit—neighbors helping neighbors and strangers helping strangers. In 2005, when Katrina came onto the Mississippi Gulf Coast, it changed the landscape here forever. Watching the devastation from Harvey, you knew that part of the country was going to be years in the rebuilding process.”
Crace’s idea is a collaborative effort between himself and Quitno to offer one golf course in the area impacted by Hurricane Harvey a chance at something they may not otherwise be able to afford—a chance to turn tragedy into a fresh start with a professionally designed plan of action. They are teaming up to provide a complete golf course Master Plan—at NO COST TO THE COURSE—designed by not one, but two, ASGCA members. Their goal is to help that course develop a “road map to the future” and truly transform their facility and their operation.
“I’m excited about the opportunity to help in some small way,” says Quitno from his office in Chicago. “Being a thousand miles removed from Houston it is hard to even comprehend what folks are going through down there. To some, rebuilding golf may seem a low priority, but I know many courses never came back after the Katrina disaster, which is a real shame. We know there are courses around Houston that probably needed some help before the storm, but didn’t have the funding or direction. Maybe they had a list of ideas they were trying to prioritize. While Harvey probably turned that list completely upside down, this could be an opportunity to come out on the other side better than they were going in, making the most of a bad situation.”
Crace and Quitno have stipulated some ground rules for their offer:
1. The course should be a public course or open daily to the public (because part of the goal it to also help grown the game and help the community).
2. Courses currently in talks with another ASGCA member, working with another
ASGCA member, or otherwise bound to another member should not apply because the goal is to help a course that may not be able to hire an ASGCA member—not take work away from other members.
3. The course’s golf course superintendent needs to be a GCSAA member.