The day after the Harrisburg, Pa., golf course applied chemicals to the greens, the distributor informed staff that it was a “bad batch,” and shouldn’t be used. The course will be closed for two months to repair the damage, and is losing nearly $7,000 per day.
Members of the Blue Ridge Golf Course in Harrisburg, Pa., received a letter in June informing them the course will be closed for more than two months because the chemicals used to treat the greens killed the grass, the Harrisburg-based WHTM News reported.
“It’s been a ghost town around here,” head golf professional Jeffrey Breiner said.
Course workers say they are tired. “It’s been a tough couple of months to come to work because we want to be here. We want to be busy interacting with the golfers,” Breiner said. “It’s just taken a toll on everybody. It’s just not the same without anybody here.”
Earlier this summer, chemicals were sprayed to protect the grass as part of routine course maintenance. However, the very next day, the chemical company called saying it was a bad batch and told employees not to use it, but by that time, it was too late, WHTM reported.
“You can’t hide the mess,” Breiner said.
The chemical company mixed the spray with an industrial herbicide by accident. It’s used to control weeds, but instead it killed a lot of the grass. Course officials say the same batch was distributed to dozens of courses in the area, WHTM reported.
“They get on the greens and they just pick the ball up and go to the next hole. It’s mainly become a practice area,” Breiner said. “We’ve been here since 1932 and this has never happened here before.”
The error is costing the course hundreds of thousands of dollars. “We’re on average doing maybe 20 rounds of golf where we would normally be doing 120-140 rounds of golf a day,” said Breiner, adding that up to $7,000 is lost per day.
“We’re down 90 percent in phone calls. Phone barely rings any more right now, so until this problem gets fixed and the word gets back out there it’s going to be a problem,” said Breiner.
Until then, course employees will keep answering questions, WHTM reported.
“That’s been the hardest part of this whole process is explaining it over and over every day, 20 times a day to everybody. That’s been the hardest part,” Breiner said.
The country club is working with the manufacturers and the chemical company to fix the damage and hopes to reopen in October, WHTM reported.
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