Mill Creek Golf Course still closed after storm damage

One place that will take a long time to fully recover from Sunday’s storm is Mill Creek Golf Course. There are downed trees everywhere.

The road leading from Route 224 in Boardman down to the Mill Creek Golf Course remains closed Friday evening because of the trees that are down across the road. In multiple areas, there are large trees uprooted that need removed before anyone can think about playing here.

A large uprooted tree stretches across the 14th fairway on Mill Creek’s South Golf Course, next to another tree a pitching wedge away. The view from the 15th tee box is much the same, with large branches covering the first 100 yards.

Mill Creek MetroParks Executive Director Aaron Young said structural damage to the golf course was minimal. A tree clipped a corner of the clubhouse, damaging the awning. Most of the damage is from trees on the golf course itself. This is the view from the 11th tee box on the north. You can’t see the fairway.

“It’s difficult to get around both the north and the south course. Now, in terms of quantifying that, I would say the south course took the brunt of the storm, but the north course has seen significant damage as well,” Young said.

Young said he doesn’t know how many trees were downed.

“It’s so extensive. Counting them is a waste of time. At this point in time, it’s really just ok, let’s identify; let’s try and get some trees off of the greens, off the tees, so that we can protect those and possibly mow those if we can. Fairways would be third, and then we’ll just go from there,” Young said.

Young said the plan is to concentrate first on getting the north course open, then the south. The short-term goal is to have the north open the first weekend in August for the Greatest Golfer competition. The first priority was to get the debris off the greens and tee boxes. The 14 green and 15 tee were both clear. But when asked if it was possible the courses would be closed for the rest of the season, Young said it’s “unknown at this time.”

“You go at it with the hopes of days, leaning toward maybe weeks. We’re not at that point. We’re looking at weeks, maybe months,” Young said.

One thing holding up the cleanup is they’ll need the help of tree companies, and right now they’re all tied up working to get people back into their homes.

 

Read the original article at WKBN.