Nature giveth and nature taketh. It hands us rolling, verdant patches of greenery on which to build golf courses. Then it spends the rest of eternity testing our resolve to maintain them. Just ask Oakdale Golf Club in Buffalo Lake, Minnesota, which was struck by a violent hail storm last weekend. What began as a regular summer thunderstorm escalated rapidly as baseball-sized hail began to plummet from the sky. Golfers on the course captured the incredible footage as they scrambled for what little shelter they could find.
However, the true extent of the damage wasn’t clear until the sun broke back through the clouds and the club’s superintendent went out to examine the greens.
What the hail…. 🌨️☠️
(📹: short_sided_golf IG + Jeff Asche SC) pic.twitter.com/ZeqAS1edS1
— NUCLR GOLF (@NUCLRGOLF) August 14, 2023
Luckily no one was seriously injured by the storm, but Oakdale was still forced to close for much of the weekend as they underwent clean-up and recovery efforts. Thanks to the help of local golfers and community members – as well as a little sprinkling of greenskeeper pixie dust – Oakdale made huge strides in just a few days. From the looks of things, the course should be up and running again in no time.
