The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

Having started the project about six years ago with more than $4 million invested into it, businessman Craig Flowers said the damage from the passing of Hurricane Matthew will not deter him from completing the Bahamas Golf Federation’s nine-hole golf course.

But the former BGF president, who has personally made the commitment to the project, said while the course at the Baillou Hills Sporting Complex was almost completed, the storm will set the project back.

“The majority of the damage was done by the wind. We didn’t have that much rain,” said Flowers as he made an inspection yesterday following two days of clean up by a hired crew of workers.

“We conditioned the area for flooding and not anything else. The high intensity wind that we experienced caused a lot of damage to the vegetation. Most of the trees are somewhat above the level that we are walking and that is because when we graded the land here, it was for the purpose of maintaining the trees.”

However, Flowers said in their advanced planning, they constructed walls as barriers around the trees, which helped to secure the trees that remained standing after the passing of the category 4 storm on Thursday.

“Unfortunately, due to funding and a lot of other things, we weren’t able to get to some of the trees at the back end of the property,” he said. “We intended to put them up, but we just never got there. So along the border of the property, we had a lot of trees that were damaged.

“A lot of trees were toppled over and a lot of them have been uprooted from the bottom because of the grading of the property. We really wanted to maintain the trees because of the environment so the birds and the wild life that inhabit this property can survive.”

Flowers, the owner of FML Group of Companies, said to be able to replace the trees, some of them which are at least 25 years old, maybe impossible but he will continue to improve the vegetation and beautify the place.

“Some of the trees that were there were placed there to protect the holes when other players were playing on opposite holes,” he said. “So we are going to have to put some type of vegetation back to prevent ball flight from one hole to another.

“That is going to be my major concern at this present place and time.”

Six years ago, when Flowers and Agatha Delancy conceived the idea of developing a driving range at the site, they approached the then Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture Neville Wisdom, who provided the land for them to begin the work. Wisdom was present for the ground breaking before he left office.

“I had no idea when I first started that I was going to be investing the type of funds in which I had done so far,” Flowers said. “I only came with the purpose of starting the driving range, but as time went on, the adjoining properties were made available to us and I took on the task of investing some four and-a-half to five million at this site.

“One has to consider that before the property could be used to design the golf course, it had to be cleaned up. In using the old dump site, how much of the old material that was here has decomposed itself where there will be no environmental hazard for utilisation of this property. That took us some time because we were able to test the water contents and do a study of what type of wild life that could live in this environment.”

With the golf course almost 90 per cent completed before the storm passed, Flowers said they have been hit with a setback, but they are pressing on to seeing its completion with the clubhouse, locker for the junior development programme and a maintenance shift to ensure that the all aspects of the facility is properly taken care off.

Delancy, a former president - the first female - of the BGF, who served as Flowers sat in office as her vice president, is now in charge of the overall growth and development of the property and getting it ready for its official opening.

“I’m very hesitate that tyne golf course is in a position to play on, but it’s not in a position where it can be maintained without the necessary maintenance and support system,” Flowers said. “I would like to see those things in place with the locker room, a computer room and a proper clubhouse before amy task is finally done.”

Of course, the storm has out a dent into the plans, but Flowers said he’s committed to ensuring that the entire property is completed.