YORKTOWN, N.Y. – The overwhelming Lower Hudson Valley floods brought tragedy and destruction, but for plain old frustration look to this town.
On July 8, golfers, families and officials reveled at the grand opening of a town-owned, par-3 golf course with a DJ and ribbon-cutting. Returning a course to the property had been eyed for more than a decade.
By evening of July 9, the course was submerged in the deluge.
“The golf course was completely flooded with water,” Town Supervisor Tom Diana said.
The 9-hole Links at Valley Fields course in the Shrub Oak hamlet, in the town’s north end, shut down that Monday. Diana said on Tuesday that a good amount of water had receded from the course.
On Thursday, the course reopened.
The clubhouse was spared flooding or damage. But the pro shop did get some flooding and various equipment such as golf carts and grounds-keeping equipment were affected.
Chris Munoz, a partner in the team that operates the facility, said on Tuesday that a lot of manpower was working at the site, “trying to save everything as much as possible.” He said the crew was doing everything to clear out the water. He expressed hope the course could open by the weekend, which it did.
“Even if we open, still we’re still going to have repairs going on, but we’d like to get the public back on our course as soon as possible,” Munoz said.
A September 2018 article on the United States Golf Association website said one key is to get excessive water out, quickly.
“When submersed for long periods, grass is deprived of oxygen and begins to die,” the article said, adding that the situations can be worse if it’s salt water – not the situation in well-inland Yorktown. “Beyond the damage caused by floodwater, deposits of silt, rock and debris can prevent routine maintenance and can take weeks or even months to clear.”
A view of the newly opened The Links at Valley Fields in Shrub Oak, July 8, 2023. Town officials celebrated Yorktown’s golf course grand reopening with an all day event after being closed for years. Photo: Mark Vergari/The Journal News
Yorktown and a host of other localities in Westchester, Putnam, Rockland, and Orange counties, as well as their residents, may well apply for disaster relief to help offset some of the repair costs. The governor declared states of emergency in those counties, a step toward seeking Federal Emergency Management Agency help or reimbursement. Towns and residents must assess what’s…
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