Apr. 7—Golf courses in Aiken County and the surrounding areas have a simple message: They are open and ready for play.
Six months after Tropical Storm Helene caused widespread damage, the many public and private clubs in the area are ready for their busiest week of the year as golf fans descend on the area for the Masters Tournament.
"We are open," said Mike Wiland, head of golf operations at Houndslake Country Club.
"We go from Sunday to Monday on our rates, which includes golf cart and lunch," he said.
Like many of the area's courses, Houndslake wasn't spared by Helene. But it could have been worse.
"Nothing on the golf course, but everything on the edge was a disaster," Wiland said. "The majority of tree problems came on the side of the golf course."
Across town at Aiken Golf Club, owner Jim McNair Jr. said his course is thriving.
"After the initial shock, the hurricane was probably the best thing to happen to this course in 20 years," McNair said. "It thinned out the course. We lost some beautiful trees, but we lost a lot that were out of play."
McNair said golfers appreciate the new, more open look at his course. Overall, he estimated Aiken Golf Club lost between 80 and 100 "significant" trees.
"Obviously there was a cost to remove the trees, but overall it didn't hurt it at all," he said. "I think the aesthetics are better, too."
Not far away, the Chalk Mine will be open to the public April 7-13 for a donation of $50 with replays for $20 if available. Proceeds will support First Tee-Aiken and USC Aiken's men's golf team.
The 9-hole par-3 course was designed by McNair, and is for walking only.
Tee times are available from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day. Reservations can be made by calling 803-226-0053.
After a winter that featured a rare accumulation of snow, golf courses in the area are beginning to green up with the recent warm weather.
Brooks Blackburn, general manager at Palmetto Golf Club, said his course was "looking fine." Palmetto only lost a handful of trees that affected play.
"Do we have some outskirt areas of tree damage that we eventually need to clean up? Or are we just going to let it be natural? I don't know the answer to that," he said.
"The actual golf course cleanup was pretty quick. The hardest part was those root balls."
The area's two newest courses, Old Barnwell and The Tree Farm, had different degrees of damage.
Old Barnwell, located in the southeastern part of the county, only lost a few trees. None of those affected the golf course, said Director of Golf Kitty Nicastro.
The Tree Farm lost around 400 trees, founder Zac Blair wrote on social media in September. But the course is cleaned up and ready for a busy week.
"I feel very fortunate that The Tree Farm made it through the hurricane virtually unscathed," Blair wrote of the course located near Interstate 20. "Of the nearly 400 trees that went down none of them severely damaged any greens, tees, fairways or buildings."
