Bret VanRensselaer donates his time and backhoe Wednesday to help clean up the flooding aftermath at the Torrington Municipal Golf Course.

Never underestimate a golfer’s passion for his or her sport.

Volunteers from throughout the community converged on the Torrington Municipal Golf Course Wednesday to begin the daunting task of cleaning up and refurbishing the back nine of the course. Several fairways and a tee box were severely damaged when the overabundant North Platte River flooded parts of the course in June.

“Nobody’s being paid to do any of this,” volunteer and golf junkie Rick Breedlove said. “People are here because they love this place and they want to try to make it right again.”

About 25 volunteers, mostly golf regulars, joined forces with the course’s paid maintenance crews clearing away fallen trees and debris. Two of the volunteers, Bret VanRensselaer and Tom Feeser, brought in their own backhoes to assist the effort.

“I don’t mind doing whatever it takes,” VanRensselaer, a course regular since 2007, said. “I just want to be able to get back out playing.”

Donating one’s time and energy is one thing, but providing the use of a very expensive piece of construction equipment speaks to a whole other level of commitment.

“When you got a guy like Bret who just shows up with a backhoe, his fuel, his dime, his time,” Breedlove said. “Some of us, its just maybe our way of giving back a little.”

“There are a dozen trees that they’re helping us get out of here,” course manager and PGA pro Dave Dent said. “The ground got so soft, the wind came up and pushed a dozen trees over.”

Dent is dashing from place to place in a golf cart trying to coordinate the best use of the volunteers and employees he has on hand. With the myriad of tasks looming ahead for him and his maintenance crew, it behooves him to accomplish as much as possible while he has the extra help.

The fairway grass leading to the 15th hole is thin, yellowed and lifeless, drowned by a lake of stagnant water that overtook much of the back nine holes at the course. Leaves cover the ground while the surrounding trees don’t appear to have lost any of their foliage. Dent stops the cart to illustrate how the flooding began.

For the complete article see the 07-30-2010 issue.

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