Isabel weakens as Carolinas courses brace for high winds and storm surge

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Stay or go. Seasoned Carolina residentshave become accustomed to this emotionally-charged decision over the years when confronted with threatening hurricanes. For inhabitants of NorthCarolina's Outer Banks - including golf course personnel - the decisionbecame easier early this week in the face of slowly approaching HurricaneIsabel.

Over 900 residents were ordered Monday afternoon to begin boarding ferriesfrom Ocracoke Island in Hyde County. The county's remaining 4,000 residentswere urged to voluntarily evacuate by noon on Tuesday. Golf courses fromCorolla to Nags Head shut down Tuesday morning as employees shored-upclubhouses and maintenance facilities before leaving.

"We boarded up at noon and we are headed out," said J.B. Meads, longtimeemployee at Seascape Golf Links near Kitty Hawk. "When Floyd came through(in 1999) we spent three days cleaning up and that was after 60 mph winds.So this could end up being a lot worse."

Isabel, which flirted with Category 5 (greater than 155 mph winds) statusover the weekend, was downgraded to a Category 2 on Tuesday with sustainedwinds of 105 mph. Still, forecasters at the National Weather Service'sHurricane Center in Miami, Fla. warn that the storm could intensify as itcrosses the warm waters of the Gulf Stream. Isabel is projected to makelandfall somewhere between the Outer Banks and the Chesapeake Bay.

"All we can do is just wait to see where it hits," said Dave Mullineaux,head professional at Nags Head Golf Links. "We are closer to the RoanokeSound than the Atlantic Ocean, so if it comes in that way it will be worse.We have five holes that are right on the sound but we are a links stylecourse without many trees."

The NWS issued a hurricane watch from Little River, S.C. to Chincoteague,Va. Golf courses along the northern reaches of the Grand Strand are keepinga close eye on Isabel. Friday marks the beginning of the peak fall golfseason and courses from Little River to Shallotte were counting on full teesheets this weekend.

"We just don't need this right now," said Patrick Crean, general manager at Crow Creek Golf Club just north of Little River. "We have some big groups booked for Thursday and this weekend and we've been getting lots of calls about it. But so far they are sticking it out."

Crean said he will make a decision by mid morning tomorrow on whether or notto close the course on Thursday.

"If we close there's not much we can do," he said. "We will bring in theflags and hanging baskets and make sure we have plenty of gas and diesel andthat the generators are working and hope we can reopen Friday."

Myrtle Beach area golf touroperators are getting bombarded with phone calls from concerned golfers whobooked multi-day stay and play packages for this popular weekend. While mostgroups are going ahead with their planned trips, a few have backed out forfear of Isabel.

"We had one group of 12 cancel on us, but that is about it so far," saidJerry McGraw, president of Carolina Golf Travel. "Theweather forecast for Friday, Saturday and Sunday is beautiful so if we canjust get through Thursday we should be fine."

Outer Banks courses have a tougher road to hoe. Unless Isabel makes onefinal turn and veers towards New Jersey and New England, the handful ofcourses perched along these narrow strings of barrier islands will absorbsome portion of the hurricane's wrath. On its current projected path, theheart of the storm would slam into the Outer Banks sometime Thursday.

"The golf course itself is the least of our worries," said Mullineaux. "Thetrees and the clubhouse and physical plant are what gets hit the worst."

Mullineaux and other Outer Banks course officials couldn't speculate as tohow long local courses could be closed, or how much damage they areanticipating.

"We'll just head out of here and hope for the best," said Meads. (breakout box in If You Go format:) Hurricane Isabel at a Glance Sustained winds as of Tuesday 2 p.m. EST: 105 mph

Outer Banks golf courses: Closed
Grand Strand golf courses: Open Wed., Thurs. TBD
Isabel updates: The Weather Channel (weather.com), National Weather Service (nws.noaa.org)

September 16, 2003