Storm damages trees at country’s first golf course for those with disabilities

The cleanup continues at an Akron, Ohio, area golf course after severe storms Aug. 10.

The Cleveland Clinic’s Challenge Golf course on Flickinger Road in Lakemore has been closed since a thunderstorm Monday morning toppled numerous trees at the course.

Michelle Gant, director of outpatient therapy services at Cleveland Clinic Akron General, said no one was out on the course when the storm hit and there were no injuries.

The bulk of the damage was to trees along the fairways and on the edge of the course.

The driving range situated across the street was spared.

Gant said they plan to reopen the driving range Aug. 12, but it will take more cleanup before the golf course can reopen.

Willie Yacknow, manager of the Challenge Golf program, said no structures on the course were damaged.

Some 20 or so trees were either toppled or severely damaged.

Yacknow said some of the trees that were impacted are over 100 years old.

When the storm hit, Yacknow said, it didn’t appear too bad at first, but they couldn’t initially see the extent of the damage because of the torrential rain that was falling.

Once the rain stopped, he said, they immediately realized this wasn’t a typical storm.

One large tree fell not too far from the clubhouse.

Yacknow said it is hard to tell if the damage was from the wind or a small tornado, but he did note some of the trees appear to have been twisted by the wind.

The National Weather Service has said it plans to send someone out to the course to assess the storm damage.

When it opened in 1992, it was the first golf course in the nation designed specifically for persons with disabilities. 

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Storm damages trees at country’s first golf course for those with disabilities