Weather. We are back to that theme this past couple of weeks.

Brickyard Crossing has been closed for 3½ of the last 11 days. On every one of these days, Little Eagle Creek overflowed its banks and flooded the adjacent holes.

The first day we were closed was Saturday, May 31 – what a good way to end a month of rain already. All of our bridges were under water and impassable.

Believe it or not, we were open the next day and were able to get carts in the fairways by mid-afternoon. Then Wednesday, June 4, rain hit again. It looked much worse this time.

The bridges were submerged, and we even had water on the putting green, which had not happened since we were flooded on Labor Day of 2003, when the golf shop had more than 18 inches of water.

The next rain we had was Saturday, June 7. The creek rose again and covered our bridges, along with part of the golf course.

That brings us to this week, in which we are playing host to the Women’s City Amateur. Monday, June 9 was their qualifying day, and we got in that round just before more rain came late in the afternoon.

That evening, about 10 p.m., we had a storm come through that just dumped on Central Indiana. It rained through most of the night and into the morning. And yes, the creek did get out of its banks again.

At that point, it did not look like golf would be played. But our superintendent, Jeff Stuart, and his staff did an incredible job, as they had done the previous times, to get the course ready for the Women’s City Am by 12:30 p.m. Most places around us were not even open, and we had a tournament.

The value of a good golf course superintendent like Jeff Stuart can not be overlooked. The compliments we receive daily on the condition of the course are to numerous to count. He and his staff have battled these conditions now for more than 10 days and are giving Brickyard Crossing players the best conditions possible.

Needless to say, some courses here in Indiana have been devastated by the rains and floods we have encountered. Each course has different scenarios to deal with. Some are drainage problems; others are just their locations. Our hats go off to Jeff and his staff and also to all the golf course superintendents out there who give us the best possible playing conditions daily.

We hope all the courses make a comeback and that golfers will return to their favorite local course, and we sure hope players will try the Brickyard in the meantime. We now offer a twilight greens’ fee of $55 after 4 p.m. daily, including a cart.

Jeff Schroeder

PGA Head Professional

Brickyard Crossing