When Cody Bell was preparing to start his tenure as director of golf at Talking Rock Golf Course in the summer of 2023, he was looking forward to enhancing the golf experience at the Shuswap greens near Chase.
But for the former pro at the Salmon Arm Golf Course — and for most others throughout the Shuswap — golf soon became an afterthought when the Bush Creek East wildfire ripped through the region, levelling structures and forcing widespread evacuations.
Bell started at Talking Rock one week after the wildfire began spreading rapidly on Aug. 18.
“My start date here as the director of golf was postponed about a week, but I was quickly thrown into it,” he told The Morning Star, describing a “unique scenario where golf was very much a secondary topic and getting people safe and making sure the facilities were OK and stabilizing were the main focuses of the community at the time.”
As the fire gradually encroached on the Talking Rock property, destroying a nearby gas station, it was unclear for some time whether there would be anything left of the golf course.
“There was a lot of uncertainty in terms of what the extent of the damage was, whether it was the entire golf course, whether it was the remainder of the Quaaout Lodge, whether it was our maintenance yard — all that was up in the air,” Bell said.
But when the flames subsided after burning more than 45,000 hectares, the golf course was still standing, and while large swaths of trees had been torched along its perimeter, only one structure — the washroom on hole 16 — had been destroyed.
Talking Rock opened on time for this year’s golf season on April 17, with the destroyed washroom reopened that same weekend. It’s as good of an outcome as could have been hoped for when the golf course’s season came to an early end amid smoke and flames last summer.
“As the days went on post-wildfire, we were able to get safe access back to our facility, we were able to assess the damage that we had received and see just how fortunate the golf course got in the grand scheme of the wildfire,” Bell said.
The course looks different post-wildfire, particularly on the front nine, where holes that used to be surrounded by forest now have large clear-cut areas adjacent to them. Bell said roughly 150 hectares of burned Skwlax te Secwepemculecw (Little Shuswap Lake Indian Band) land is now being harvested.
But despite the loss of trees and the aesthetic of being in the middle of the woods on some holes, Bell said the course plays the same as it always has, with trees still guarding the greens, and no changes to how a golfer should approach each hole.
Holes two, three, four, five, 14 and 15 are where golfers will notice the most fire damage, and are asked to take a lateral and stay out of fire-damaged areas as thesy are being rehabilitated.
Partially melted golf balls scattered in the burned areas are a reminder of just how close the wildfire came to destroying Talking Rock Golf Course.
“But the course itself, the tee boxes, the greens, the fairways are in fantastic shape,” Bell said, adding the golf course was able to do a full aeration last year.
Bell said discussions of rebuilding the Quaaout Lodge that went up in flames in May 2022 are on hold for now while the community focuses on getting houses rebuilt and people back into their homes. He said concerns about the golf course paled in comparison to concerns about the community’s safety during the Bush Creek East wildfire, adding it was heartening to watch the community’s response to the natural disaster.
“The whole North Shuswap region really came together in a difficult time,” Bell said. “Many of our employees and community members had lost their houses and there were just far more important topics to be discussed at the time.”
Golfers will soon notice efforts at Talking Rock to replant some of the trees that were lost.
“There’s plans to bring back life and nature to our region, so golfers can anticipate some changes and some re-beautification going on,” Bell said.
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