Indiana golf course returns after greens were left unplayable

EVANSVILLE, Ind. — The West Side was missing part of itself.

That’s how those described not having Helfrich Hills Golf Course. A series of events left all 19 greens, including the practice green, on a 6,300-yard layout unplayable. It required a months-long project that left the course feeling empty during the fall season.

It’s now inching closer to complete restoration thanks to a recent milestone.

After using temporary pins since September, Helfrich opened its greens to play on April 1. There is still more work to be done, according to course golf professional Dave McAtee. But reaching this point was important.

“It’s been a long road,” said McAtee. “Very pleased with where we are right now. It was important for (players) to get back on the greens as soon as we could without doing it too soon.”

Here’s how Helfrich, celebrating its 100th year in 2023, got in this dire position.

‘One thing after another’ led to Helfrich Golf Course facelift

Although the irrigation system was winterized, a backflow preventer was filled with water last year. Supply chain issues caused a delay in ordering proper parts. Next came a heat wave in May, and later a summer drought. Then a hydraulic pump, estimated to have been 27 years old, stopped working.

It left the grass on every green damaged. The heat caused them to turn brown or patchy. The bunkers were in bad shape. Still, Helfrich hosted a City Tournament qualifier, only for competitors to find it difficult to play — complaints were made known. The opening rounds were both held at Fendrich two weeks later.

Playing fees were reduced to $10 for 18 holes with temporary pins placed in front of the green.

“It was one thing after another,” Evansville Deputy Mayor Steve Schaefer told the Courier & Press in October. “It was basically months where zero irrigation was able to be used. We were borrowing water trucks. The irrigation system is the lifeblood of a course.”

The restoration process began in September. Helfrich closed for five days as all 19 greens were re-seeded. McAtee said those at the course did much of the work themselves. An outside contractor was brought in with a slit-seeder, a machine that slits the ground and drops seeds in the cracks to give them deeper contact with the soil.

McAtee estimated the entire process cost around $12,000, perhaps slightly more. He noted the “silver lining” in this was seeding every green with new hybrid grass.

Since reopening last week, Helfrich…