Columbus golf course is closed as it tries to recover from fatal tornado
Four days after a storm with a tornado killed a father and son on a Columbus golf course, the facility remains closed with no timeline for reopening as it tries to clean up the damage.
The storm ripped through the Chattahoochee Valley on Sunday, causing power outages, flooding and downed trees. The tornado in the Midland area of Muscogee County damaged some homes.
Matthew Terrell Collins Sr., 58, and Matthew Terrell Collins Jr., 29, died at Bull Creek Golf Course after a tree fell on them while they took refuge.
Jim Arendt, director of golf for the Columbus Consolidated Government, told the Ledger-Enquirer the tornado hit the course very shortly after the city’s emergency alert system went off.
Arendt said the course experienced high winds and heavy rains. He estimated the course had around 400-500 trees that were downed from the storm.
“Our strategy currently is that we will open the east course first, and then we’ll open a portion of the west course, and then eventually all of the west course,” Arendt said.
The damage is concentrated towards the west course, primarily holes 4-12, Arendt said
“We’re being as strategic as we can to make the golf course available for our public, but we have to be safe about it too,” he said.
It’s difficult to assess the amount of damages, Arendt said, but he estimated the cost to be $50,000-$120,000.
Arendt said he is “beyond proud” of his staff.
“They’re working super hard, extended hours,” he said, “but it is so much damage that we can’t handle all of it in house.”
Arendt called the deaths of the father and son “a traumatic experience for the staff.”
“We exist to make people happy, not to experience anything other than that,” he said. “I feel so much for the family, but I also feel for the staff because it’s hard on them, too.”
Columbus mayor reacts to tornado’s impact
Columbus Mayor Skip Henderson told the Ledger-Enquirer, “This one was kind of personal to me,” stating he has a son not much older than the younger Collins.
“Any chance I get to grab some golf with him (his son), even if the weather looks a little dicey, I’d probably take it, just hoping to get a few holes in,” Henderson said.
“It was a tragic, just horrible, act of nature,” Henderson said. “We hurt for the Collins family. My wife and I continue to pray for them. We can’t say anything or do anything that is gonna ease the pain that they’re going through right now other than just pray as hard as we can that it begins to diminish with time.”
Henderson said the city is encouraging workers affected by the deaths to “use the counseling sessions that are afforded them until they are able to kind of come to grips with what happened.”