By Bob West
Bryan Jackson will never forget the scene of utter devastation, nor what went through his mind when he first saw Belle Oaks Golf Club two days after Hurricane Ike roared through Southeast Texas last September.
“It looked like somebody set off a bomb and leveled it,” said Jackson, the Belle Oaks head pro and course superintendent. “Water and downed trees were everywhere. My first thought was we’d never play golf out there again. It just looked completely hopeless.”
Jackson had returned two days after Ike hit, fearing the worst but still not expecting anything on the level of what he encountered. The cart barn was under more than three feet of mud and water. The clubhouse was basically destroyed. Thousands of dead fish littered the fairways in all directions.
Amazingly, a year later, the golf course has been restored to near pristine condition. Yes, there are still some rough places around the edges and trees that need to be removed. But a first time visitor would have no clue of what a wasteland Jackson encountered on Sept. 15, 2008.
For sure, the course looks different to long-time members. A few holes, especically No. 11 and No. 13, are considerably easier because of missing trees. Off-line shots are less difficult to recover from, because of the massive thinning out of trees, not only by Ike but by Rita, Humberto and Bonnie.
Bottom line, however, Belle Oaks remains one of the most beautiful layouts and best tests of golf in Southeast Texas.
“We have come all the way back,” says course owner Jerry Braxton, beaming with pride. “It’s fantastic. There was simply no way to visualize it ever looking like this again. I really thought we were down for the count. I can’t say enough about what Bryan and his people accomplished.”
Jackson is rightfully proud of the transformation he and a five-man work crew accomplished in what was a slow, tedious and frustrating process. As he makes the daily drive along the winding road leading to the golf course, there’s a tremendous sense of satisfaction at seeing the elegance of Belle Oaks in the summer sunlight.
“I wouldn’t ever want to take on something like this again,” he said. “I’ve been through some really trying challenges in 20 years in the golf business. But nothing was as tough as bringing Belle Oaks back. Dealing with Rita’s aftermath was a piece of cake compared to this because of the water damage.
“It’s a great feeling to hear the comments of folks who come out here and are surprised and impressed with what we’ve been able to do.”
So what have they been able to do? Well, golfers familiar with Belle Oaks, dating back to its days as Port Arthur Country Club, will tell you that tee to green the course is about as lush as its ever been. New tee markers and ball washers, which were long overdue, add to recent improvements.
The Bermuda greens remain slow and grainy, but it’s always been that way once temperatures rise. Jackson continues to lobby Braxton and co-owner Brian Phelps for the $180,000 that would enable him to completely redo the greens, but that probably depends on Braxton’s adjoining subdivision taking off.
While the greens remain on the slow side, the fact they are back to pre-Ike condition, and in some cases even better, is among the miracles of the restoration. Jackson’s greatest concern initially was whether he’d be able to salvage five greens that sat under salt water and rotten mud for over a week.
Compounding the challenge of saving the greens on No. 8, No. 9, No. 14, No. 15 and No. 18 was the fact Belle Oaks’ irrigation system had been wiped out and wouldn’t be restored for nearly eight months. Without a watering system, even the greens that weren’t submerged were in danger.
The solution turned out to be daily hand watering from a huge water truck. But, before that process could even begin, the heavy coating of mud had to be scraped off. Once that was done, 1,000 gallons of water was poured across the putting surfaces every day.
“It was at least a month after the storm before I realized we were going to be able to save them,” Jackson reflects. “One of the great things about Bermuda is that it can handle a good amount of salt and not die. Some of the chemicals we use on the greens are like an acid salt.
“If these had been bent grass, they would never have survived. I don’t know about the miviverde or tiff eagle grasses, although I think they would probably have come back. What’s exciting is that some of the greens that were in danger, like 8 and 18, are better than they were before.”
As high a priority as the greens were, other issues had to be addressed first. A determination had to be made as to whether the cart fleet could be salvaged. And, before serious work could begin anywhere else, the adjacent home where course workers live needed to be gutted and rebuilt.
Since money was an issue, the massive golf course project would never have gotten off the ground if the workers’ home wasn’t livable. So Jackson had to gut the house, rebuild the inside and go through all the other steps so many in Southeast Texas became all-too familiar with in the aftermath of Ike and Rita.
The cart situation, meanwhile, was a major undertaking. Carts had to be dug out from a fallen shed and salt, mud, grass and cane had to be removed before pressure washing could begin. A similar process was necessary with all the equipment in the flooded maintenance barn.
Braxton had purchased 20 new carts two months before Ike hit and would wind up in a prolonged fight with his insurance company over them. A settlement was eventually reached, but Belle Oaks would not have reopened as soon as it did had Jackson, his dad and Phillip Dupree not had the wherewithal to get old and new carts running again.
Among other things, batteries had to be removed and wiring for switches and computers tackled.
On top of everything else, carnage to the massive clubhouse needed to be addressed. Obstacles included rotting carpet, mold and mildew. A decision was made to relocate the golf shop where it used to be near the 18th green. It’s not fancy but its functional.
The rest of the clubhouse was closed off. One of the plans going forward is to demolish the rest of the building but leave the roof as a covered awning — sort of an open breezeway — where golfers can congregate after tournaments.
Yet another heavy-duty project was the pump house, which at one time was under nine feet of water. It had to be completely redone, ground wire had to be rebored and new wire run from a GSU pole to the pump house.
While saving the greens was job one on the golf course, some 450 fallen trees had to be cut up, hauled off and set afire. Dead and dying trees had to come down, and that did not always happen easily. In some cases — like the big oak to the left of the 8th green — Braxton had to bring in a trac hoe and a front end loader with forks on the front from his construction company.
According to Jackson, some 75 to 80 more trees must still come down. Included are several pines along the cart path leading to the 18th green. Jackson also frets about all the unsightly stumps that need to be removed.
All in all, though, the outlook is positive. Some of the carts break down from time to time, there is an occasional mosquito problem and the level of play is not as robust as it once was. None of that has discouraged Jackson or Braxton, who intend to keep on making improvements.
“One of the next projects,” Jackson said, “is to redo the restroom that sits between the 12th green and 13th tee box. We’ve finally found a way to get water out there. We have also talked with the Forestry Service and in November will be planting a good size load of small saplings.”
As for Braxton, there seems to be little doubt he’s committed for the long haul.
“It’s been an expensive process, but we are trying hard to make the golf course as good as it can be within our means,” he said. “I’m trying to keep it as an asset to our subdivision. It’s certainly an asset to Taylor Landing.
“Bryan keeps pushing me for money to redo every green and I really wish we could. Hopefully, it will happen one of these days. But for now I am so pleased at what beautiful shape the golf course is in on a daily basis.”
So are the golfers who shared Jackson’s fear that Belle Oaks was history.
