Community lifts up Renville County golf course damaged by baseball-sized hail
RENVILLE COUNTY, Minn. -- The damage from last Friday's hailstorm is still being felt in Renville County. Crops, cars and homes took a beating as large pieces of hail pelted the area for several minutes.
Just north of Buffalo Lake, the hailstorm made it look like someone took a weed whipper to the crops. It shredded fields of green, along with fairways of green.
Mike and Laura Knodel own Oakdale Golf Club. They were hosting a tournament when the storm hit.
"And then all of the sudden, it went haywire," Mike said. "We blew the horn to get them off. Some of them got caught out there in it."
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And it was the wrong storm for golfers to get caught in. The hail was so big, it became dangerous.
Parts of the course look like divots from a golf club, but it's actually damage from baseball-sized hail. The Knodels actually saved some of the hail in an ice cream freezer.
"We've never seen anything like that. It was just crazy watching it. It started as small hail, and it kept getting bigger and bigger, and heavier and heavier," Laura said.
The baseball-sized hail fell for about 5 minutes. And when it was done it left behind a trail of destruction. The greens took a pounding as did vehicles caught in the storm. Luckily, no one was hurt.
"You can't even put words to it. You really can't," said Kyle Schaufler, clubhouse manager. "Soybean fields are wiped out. Sweet corn, even the field corn."
But over the weekend, volunteers showed up by the dozens to help the Knodels and their crew get back on track. Even other golf courses offered up their equipment.
"It's amazing to see. The support from your competition to a point. But everyone works together," Kyle said.
Close to 100 volunteers worked sun up to sun down, picking up debris and getting the course up to par.
"It seems like whenever you have tough times, people pull together. Like you said, some of them aren't even golfers. It's just neighborhoods. Coming together," Mike said.
Oakdale Golf Club is getting close to being done with cleanup and they hope to reopen by Friday.
