BLOWN AWAY

By Torleif Sorenson on 5/16/13

The National Weather Service in Fort Worth, Texas says that at least ten tornadoes struck northern Texas on Wednesday afternoon and evening. According to Dallas television station KTVT, at least six people are known dead and more than three dozen others had been hospitalized.

While we are certain that all of you share our sympathetic thoughts and prayers for the victims of these storms, we also decided to check in on our fellow golf enthusiasts in Granbury, about 35 miles southwest of Fort Worth.

De Cordova Bend Country Club was less than one mile from where the Granbury tornado struck and seems to have sustained the most damage of any of the courses in that area. Nevertheless, the club's head professional, PGA of America member Heath Eagle, allowed that they are doing better than most of their neighbors:

"About 40 or 50 homes nearby were just leveled, and we know about the six fatalities. Out here, the hail started out as pea-size, then it grew to golf ball-size and baseball-size hail, and then we had some grapefruit-size hail. Mostly, we have tree and roof damage, some broken windows, and a lot of damage to the greens.

"This is going to be a construction zone for awhile."

Both Eagle and Amber Featherston of nearby Hidden Oaks GC praised the National Weather Service, local weather spotters, and the local law enforcement's "Code Red Notification System," which sounded emergency sirens before the storm hit.

The jaw-dropping part of Heath Eagle's story is that yesterday was his very first day on the job at De Cordova Bend Country Club. I asked him if he thought this was a "baptism of fire," and Eagle answered:

"If it gets any worse than this, then I'll be looking around for a different job."

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Images via National Weather Service, Fort Worth

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