LIVINGSTON — The Livingston Golf Course has been reopened for less than a week. Devastating mid-June floods from the Yellowstone River left essentially the entire course under water.
“Apparently, the course was a part of the river for at least a day or two," said member Chris Kelley. "When the waters came down, the whole right-hand side of the course was just river bottom.”
You see all that water and can only imagine the amount of silt that comes with it. That was the biggest task for the members and grounds crew in Livingston, who teamed up to clear the course and return it to play.
“They had 20-40 guys out here the next day shoveling off the greens, because the greens would suffocate underneath that silt. Every shovel full of that stuff was like cement," Kelley said.
It took a lot of manpower to get the course playable again, and there are areas still recovering, such as the No. 4 fairway. But Kelley is trying to keep a positive outlook on it all.
“I’ve got all these high hopes that, oh all this river dirt is going to improve the fairways. It’s going to add new topsoil as the grass comes up and we’re going to have better fairways than ever before, but I don’t know," Kelley said. "I’m not sure, I’ve never seen anything like this happen, so I’m just keeping my fingers crossed that it all works out for the best.”
Kelley joked off camera that the locals have long wanted a water feature on their course, just not necessarily this kind.
