I was superintendent at Eagle Springs Golf Course and walked into the pro shop right around 8 a.m. There was a large screen TV with a picture of the first tower on fire. I stood there stunned for a couple of minutes watching NBC's coverage when I saw this dark flying object plow into the second tower. Initially, I thought I was watching a replay of the first flight but I found out pretty quickly that it was the second plane. The rest of the morning became a blur as the attacks continued.
Eagle Springs is not quite as busy as Glen Echo with regular takeoffs and landings but we normally went through a sequence for about 4 hours everyday when airplanes would be lining up for landings as they went east to west and then circled around St. Charles and landed from the west. We would also have planes crossing the course flying from north to south landing on the crossing runway from time to time. Over the next week, the daily occurrence of planes flying overhead gave way to the beautiful silence that can be experienced on a golf course but the silence was deafening and very eerie after what our country had just experienced on 9/11. Once planes began to fly, even though we were not back to normal, the noise of those jet engines did bring some sense of normalcy back to my life.
As most of you know, the American Express Championship was about to be contested at
Bellerive CC. that week. I had volunteered for the afternoon shift to help the staff prepare for their tournament. I had worked Sunday and Monday raking bunkers. After the attacks, I reported to work that afternoon knowing that the tournament was going to be cancelled but showed up to get the final word. I will always remember the faces of the staff who were so sad from the occurrences earlier that morning. Superintendent Tony Mancuso CGCS attempted to give us the news but was too overcome with emotion to speak. His first assistant Rob Kick(current Superintendent at Algonquin) gave us the news that the event was cancelled. All of us connected to golf understand the work that leads up to a major event. Good guys who in the end were only concerned about what had happened to our country.
I've mentioned in the past that I have a membership in a golf course information company(TURFNET) in which I frequent the web board to share information with fellow superintendent's and ask questions. Through that board, I read the firsthand experiences of superintendents who watched the destruction of the twin towers from their beautiful properties around New York City. Also, a number of clubs experienced multiple members/friends who died that day.
As I make my way around the property the next few days, my thoughts will be with those we lost and those left behind. I will sit and listen to the quite serenity that a golf course can bring but I will be very happy to have the silence broken seeing those planes flying overhead again.
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