It's been more than 13 months since ol' what's her name flooded and closed the Isle Dauphine golf course on Dauphin Island. The back nine opened just a few short months after the storm, but the front nine sustained much more damage.
Many a snowbird will rest easier knowing their winter golf needs will not go unmet now that the entire course will be open for play again.
Isle Dauphine front nine set to re-open
Holes bordering the Gulf of Mexico that were heavily damaged by Hurricane Katrina have been repaired and will be open for public play on Oct. 17Isle Dauphine Country Club plans to officially re-open its front nine on Tuesday, Oct. 17, making it an 18-hole course for the first time since Hurricane Katrina washed away its Gulf-side holes in August 2005.
The back nine at IDCC was re-opened in December 2005 after Katrina's wrath on Aug. 29, but the damage to the front nine was extensive.
"We're just about ready to go, but we really could use another week or two," said Jeff Collier, who is IDCC's head pro as well as Dauphin Island's mayor. "We're proud to be where we are at right now. We've come a long, long way."
There were doubts at times about whether the front nine would re-open, but the Dauphin Island Property Owners' Association decided to move forward with the extensive repair project.
"The Property Owners' Association isn't eligible for any federal assistance and it gets expensive, especially when you have repetitive repairs," said Collier, noting the course also received some damage from Hurricane Ivan.
"You just persevere. It looks really good now."
In the past year, crews have rebuilt the No. 2 and No. 3 greens, which were destroyed by the storm surge that sent at least four feet of water over the course into the facility's cart barn. The tees on Nos. 2, 3 and 9 also had to be replaced, as well as the fairways on those holes that are the region's closest to the Gulf of Mexico.
"It was covered in about two feet of sand, so we had to remove the sand, bring in new topsoil and then sprig it," said Collier. "We have new fairways on 2, 3 and 4, which is a par-4, No. 9, and on No. 1 from about 150 yards out to the green.
"We also had a lot of irrigation work to do and we also had to go in and re-define and re-work all of the bunkers."
The renovated holes were all planted with sea dwarf paspalum, a grass popular among coastal courses because it is salt-tolerant.
Collier said the course still needs some work, but none that will interfere with the layout's playability.
"We only lost about 16 trees to the storm, but since then we've lost 300 to 400 trees due to beetles, saltwater stress and drought," Collier said. "Taking care of some of those is next on our list."
IDCC also lost all of its golf carts to the storm, but the course has rented a fleet of new carts.
Green/cart fees will be $25 for 18 holes and $15 for nine holes when the facility is completely open.
Isle Dauphine is usually closed on Mondays, but the course is making an exception in the winter months.
"We're going to open on Mondays from January through March, for snowbird season, then we'll be going back to being closed on Mondays," Collier said.
Tee times are not required, but the pro shop can be reached at 251-861-2433.