Mother nature wreaks havoc on golf courses with regularity.
Fire, flood, extreme heat and cold, hurricanes and tornadoes all are common foes of the golf course superintendent. But no one should have to endure what Josh Pope and his team experienced in 2016 and 2017 at The Greenbrier Resort in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia.On June 23, 2016, just days before the PGA Tour's annual event at The Greenbrier's historic Old White Course, flooding rains washed out the course and led to the cancellation of the tournament. But that was only the beginning for Pope, the rest of the team at The Greenbrier and residents of southeastern West Virginia.
For what he endured and how he picked up the pieces - personally, emotionally and professionally, after all, some weren't so lucky - Pope was named a finalist for the 2017 TurfNet Superintendent of the Year Award, presented by Syngenta.
Other finalists include Jorge Croda of Southern Oaks Golf Club in Burleson, Texas, Mark Hoban of Rivermont Golf Club in Johns Creek, Georgia, Chris Ortmeier of the Champions Club in Houston and Rick Tegtmeier of Des Moines Golf and Country Club in West Des Moines, Iowa.
The winner of the 18th annual award will be named at 2 p.m. Feb. 8 at the Syngenta booth during this year's Golf Industry Show in San Antonio and will receive a trip for two and a week of free golf on the TurfNet members trip to Ireland in October, courtesy of Syngenta.
As rain fell throughout the day and showed no signs of letting up, Howard's Creek that runs through the golf course overflowed and flooded half the greens on the 100-year-old Old White, parts of U.S. 60 that bisects the multi-course Greenbrier property and the tunnels running beneath the highway connecting the courses.
The next day, a marker noting the depth of a 1915 flood near the 14th green and 15th tee on the 1914 Charles Blair Macdonald design was 8 feet under water, making the Greenbrier Classic scheduled for July 4-10 an impossibility.
The flood was about much more than golf. It was a community-wide tragedy that washed away possessions, homes, memories and the souls of 23 neighbors. The remains of three of the nearly two-dozen drowning victims were recovered on The Old White Course.
The story of tragedy, loss and recovery is one that Pope has retold countless times at conferences, cocktail receptions and in passing.
"As far as I am concerned, there is no possible way anyone other than Josh Pope at Greenbrier Old White can win this award," wrote East Lake Golf Club superintendent Ralph Kepple in nominating Pope for the honor. "Hell, I think you should just name it after him! To take that disaster and rebuild it better than before while under an extremely tight time frame is one of the best stories ever."
Recovery over the next year with the help of architect Keith Foster was a complex relationship between trying to balance golf, work and personal tragedy in an area where the local economy is so reliant on the well being of The Greenbrier. Every step of the process was a constant reminder of the pain and suffering felt by so many.
"The focus was on the golf course and personal stuff," Pope said. "We'd come to work, then go home and help family and friends rebuild. I asked A LOT of my assistants.
There was a weight on our shoulders to get the course back open. That helped bring the community back because of the economic impact of the (Greenbrier). It was huge to get golf up and running."
The race was on during the next year to make sure the course was ready for the PGA Tour, and the course opened for practice by the pros the Monday of tournament week.
The pressure to bring the course back on time took its toll on Pope, who admits to suffering a minor breakdown in the final run-up to the tournament. Even when his boss, director of golf course operations Kelly Shumate, ordered him to go home, Pope felt he belonged at the golf course.
"My boss was next to me when it happened. I was hyperventilating because the tournament was 30 days out and we were still laying sod. I didn't think we'd be done on time," Pope said. "The stress level over the past year had finally hit me.
"I went home, took some deep breaths and took a shower, and then went back to work, even though I wasn't supposed to. I'm a high-anxiety person to begin with, and you know how superintendents are: We worry about everything, and I was worried about the golf course being done on time."