Rain Putting Damper On Local Golf Course

A beautiful day in Tulsa on Saturday means hundreds were out hitting the links, but that hasn't been the norm this year. The News On 6's Dan Bewley reports the crazy weather is impacting some city owned golf courses.

For many Tulsa duffers, the rain has spoiled a day on the links. One golf course seems to be right in the bulls-eye

Birdies and bogeys alike are alive and well at Mohawk Gold Course.

"We are a year round golf facility, weather permitting," said Mohawk Director of Golf Charlie Stuerebaut.

Only, the weather has permitted too much this year.

"When it floods here it really does flood to where we could have six to seven holes completely underwater," said Stuerebaut.

Then it takes as many as three days for it to drain.  Some golfers don't seem to mind the rain.

"Sometimes I like it when it rains because I can play fast, nobody's in the way," said Zane Gardner of Tulsa.

Others are forced to sit home.

"We haven't been able to play as much with the rain and everything, but try to get out when it's not raining," said Travis Marshall of Owasso.

Since January, Mohawk has had to close at least four times a month thanks to Mother Nature.

"The reason being is a lot of water channels seem to channel in to Mohawk Park, which then causes our course to flood substantially every time we get a little rain out there," said Stuerebaut.

When they have to close this golf course because of the weather it has an impact on the bottom line, losing as much as $6,000 each day it's closed.

Beside the rain and flooding, Mohawk is still dealing with leftovers from the December ice storm. A pile of debris sits in the parking lot and every time it rains, course officials say, more broken limbs fall to the ground. But on a clear day it's easy to find a party on the back nine. As they say, a bad day of golf beats a good day in the office.

The $6,000 figure is just for the weekdays. If they close on the weekend that could be as much as $10,000 a day in lost revenue.