EARTH SHAPING NEWS www.gcbaa.org
Published Quarterly by the Golf Course Builders Association of America
3rd Quarter 2017
GCBAA Members Weather Hurricane Harvey “Here in Texas, we say, ‘Cowboy Up,’” chuckled Paul Cope, Manager for QGS, Inc. “Everybody is still devastated, but they’re also very helpful. They’re trying to be as positive as they can. Everybody’s smiling that Texas smile. There’s good people here, everywhere you look.” Cope sounded surprisingly cheerful as he shared stories of riding out—and then cleaning up from—Hurricane Harvey. But if you know Paul, there’s nothing surprising about his positive spirit and can-do attitude. Despite having had a foot of standing water in his house, Cope manages to see the silver lining that followed Harvey’s storm clouds. Chris Lineberger, Vice President of VM Golf Services, also managed an admirable amount of optimism in the days following the hurricane.“I will admit it’s been pretty neat to see,” Lineberger noted. “There’s so much work going on, we’re all sending people to help each other out. A lot of the contractors are in communication with each other, and our goal is just to help get everybody back up and running as fast as we can.”
VIEW FROM THE HOME OF GCBAA MEMBER PAUL COPE AFTER HURRICANE HARVEY
That process—of righting things both in individual homes and on golf courses in the Houston area—is going to take time. One course on the north side of town had several feet of sediment washed onto its green from a nearby river. Another course lost 99 percent of its bunker sand, and its clubhouse and equipment storage space flooded. “You have to understand, for a city that averages 55-60 inches of rain a year, we had our annual rainfall in one event,” Lineberger explained. “It was the damndest thing you’ve ever seen. Nonstop water. You’re glued to the news and radar. There were tornado warnings INSIDE going off around the clock. The water levels were rising and you’re just in awe of 2 President’s Perspective what’s going on in the city. And you’re trying to figure out, what do I do? What should I do?” 3 Executive Director Notes For Lineberger, the ultimate answer to those questions was simple: evacuate. He and his wife have three kids, ages ten, eight and two. His children were “100 percent of the reason why we left,” Lineberger said. “We could be those people on the news being rescued by a boat, or we could just get out of town for a couple days. So, we moved the important stuff upstairs and tried not worry about the rest of it.”He added, “It puts a lot of things in perspective for you. We are very blessed and very fortunate. A friend of mine, another contractor, lost everything… house, cars, belongings, everything went under water. It’s been really sad to see.” Like Lineberger, Cope was impressed with the heroic acts of ordinary people. His oldest daughter was involved with caring for displaced pets. One of her friends assisted with ongoing rescue efforts with his airboat; he told Cope it was the most dramatic thing he’d ever done in his life. (At one point, his airboat broke down, and he found another one and kept working.) Even their twin seven-year-old granddaughters worked to help. More stories of hope included a man Cope and his wife met in Kerrville, Texas, who showed them photos of people that set up tables COVER STORY CONTINUED ON PG 29
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