Timeline unclear to reopen damaged golf courses
Many golfers in the valley have speculated that the Mill Creek and Tippecanoe golf courses may close for the rest of the season as they continue to clean up fallen trees from the course.
21 News reached out to the courses to confirm whether or not they plan to reopen for the season.
Tippecanoe country club was not able to say what their timeline for reopening may be.
However, Aaron Young, executive director of Mill Creek Metroparks, told 21 News that they plan to reopen their golf facilities, but the timeline is still up in the air. He said they are currently discussing bringing in a third party contractor to aid Metroparks staff in cleaning the course.
Mill Creek is also home to several golf events over the summer, Young says organizers for this weeks scheduled events have been contacted about rescheduling, but future events have not yet been addressed.
Todd Franko, the owner of the annual Greatest Golfer event, said he is hopeful that the tournament will still be held at Mill Creek Park this season.
“In the golf economy there’s fundraisers, there’s our event, there’s a lot of people that look forward to their annual golf events,” Franko explained. “So it’s a key facility and we’re optimistic that the guys know what they’re doing and we’re just eager for them to pull through, because mother nature gave them a test.”
Young said that no members of the Mill Creek staff have considered shutting the course down for the rest of the season.
“We do anticipate reopening the golf course, but at this early juncture it’s dependent on the success of the cleanup efforts that are ongoing.”
Franko told 21 News that regardless of whether or not the park is open the Greatest Golfer tournament will still be played, just at a different course in the valley.
“We’ve had some storms in the past that have had us doing some shuffling at the last minute. So I think our plan is if Mill Creek has the challenges they have and it does get in the way for August seventh, we’ll reach out to the other valley courses and see if we can find some space.”
Read the original article at WFMJ.