ORLANDO – Tropical Storm Nicole, forecast to become a hurricane before making landfall somewhere Wednesday night or early Thursday morning in South Florida, threatens to bring potentially damaging high winds and heavy rains to hundreds – possibly thousands – of golf courses along the eastern coast of the U.S.
The storm was over the Bahamas on Wednesday morning with sustained winds of 70 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center’s 10 a.m. report. It was forecast to reach the U.S. somewhere just north of West Palm Beach near the golf hot spot of Jupiter, home to many golf professionals. The storm is then forecast to cross Florida toward a region just north of Tampa and into the Gulf of Mexico before curving to the northeast into Georgia.
The storm’s projected path is likely to change slightly, as most tropical systems do, making it difficult to predict exactly which specific areas will be greatly impacted. And while most attention is – and should be – focused on any potential human toll and the threat of general property damage, there definitely will be impacts to a Florida golf industry that already suffered greatly from Hurricane Ian in September.
The National Hurricane Center’s 10 a.m. Wednesday projections for the path of Tropical Storm Nicole, which is forecast to become a hurricane before reaching Florida on Nov. 9 or Nov. 10 (Courtesy of the National Hurricane Center)
While Ian blasted Fort Myers and Florida’s southern Gulf Coast before crossing the state headed northeast, Nicole threatens to head northwest, crossing Ian’s path somewhere south of Orlando. While the greatest damage to golf courses is likely near landfall, there exists a serious threat where this week’s storm crosses paths with Ian’s track, making for a forbidding “X marks the spot” of potential flooding, tree damage and temporary closures in the center of the state.
In all, there are more than 1,200 courses in Florida. Except for those in the Panhandle to the northwest, few Florida course operators will escape some level of impact – ranging from a simple loss of tee time sales all the way to suffering catastrophic damage – from either Ian or Nicole. Because of Florida’s great amount of courses, more than one in 12 courses in all of the United States was impacted just in Ian.
Florida has hundreds of golf courses along Nicole’s projected path. Just among Golfweek’s Best ranking of top public-access courses in Florida, the storm’s…
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