Just kidding. I'll bet I made you look though.
After hearing a few horror stories I made it out to Rustic to take a look. While there was very significant damage, the course can definitely be put back together again . . .
Back story . . . Rustic sits near the mouth of a narrow canyon which extends over twelve miles back into the mountains, and serves as the main drainage for the entire area. The fires of October 2003 burned every thing in the entire drainage to the ground, and things arent anywhere near back to normal. When it rains, there is little foilage to hold the water or soil, so all the water comes rushing down the canyon. From New Years Day to last Tuesday, the area received around a foot of rain. Apparently, when it rains it pours, and beginning last Thursday it really poured, dropping almost two more feet of rain by Sunday Morning. The usually arid wash became a powerful river, tearing out trees, bridges, and everything in its path. To give those of you who have been there an idea of the volume of water, some of the "Brad Klein Estates" behind the 4th green flooded as a result of water flowing over the cinderblock wall seperating the course from the neighborhood.
Here is a brief description of the good, the bad, and the ugly, in reverse order:
The Ugly: The course lost quite a bit of infrastructure. All the narrow bridges either washed out or were almost completely buried in mud. Even the very large bridge near the 11th tee (a county bridge I think) was down, with much of its foundation gone. The irrigation lines which crossed the wash were washed out, and some other irrigation lines were damaged, along with a water line and some electrical. (Apparently the Fish and Game required the intallation above ground where these crossed the wash.) Additionally, some cart paths which were near the wash were washed away or damaged.
From a golfer's persective, very little of the damage to the infrastructure has much to do with how the course plays (or will play.) A pain for the course, and very expensive to fix I am sure, but I'd rather they lose pipes than greens. I've never been a big fan of the small bridges anyway, as they tend to clog things up-- hopefully the regulators will now allow RC to use dry dirt crossings instead of the bridges, and things will flow better next time.
The Bad: Large portions 4 through 7, including the 4th, 6th, and 7th greens are under quite a bit of sandy silt. The first fairway on 6 is full of debris and sand, as are large portions of the landing area on 5. The wash which bisects 5, 6, and 7 is now quite a bit wider and deeper. This whole lower part of the course looks pretty bad from a distance, and it will take a bunch of work to get it cleaned up, but on closer inspection one can see that most of the crucial elements (greens, tees, fairways) are still there. I imagine that they will have to regrade some of it, and reseed, and I dont know what if any environmental restrictions they will have on cleaning up the rest, but it is definitely fixable, if they are allowed (and choose) to do so.
The (relatively) Good: Compared to the front, the back nine was spared. Some bunkers have some water, there is some scattered debris, and there was some erosion on the wash sides of Nos. 11, 14, and 18, but every else looks fine. Playable even, with no mud and fairly firm turf (sand is amazing.) The work that Gil and Jim did above No. 13 last year must have done its job, as there was no river down No. 13 like last year. Same goes for 10. The water seems to have been contained in the new bunkers, which was the plan I think. The erosion on 11, 14, and 18 consists of the wash eating into part of the fairway just past each holes respective landing area. The look is quite dramatic and the super-long hitters will have a little more to think about if they try to cut corners.
Another positive is that the crew is out in full force trying to get things cleaned up. I even saw a few cooks out there with shovels today. Seems to be a mix of hand labor and large equipmment, and it looks as if they are making progress. The county was also out there to fix the water line and the big bridge, and to dig out the very bottom of the wash.
The course is going to look much more dramatic when it gets up and running again. The wash edges are much more abrupt, much of the brush is long gone, so one can now see how close the white sandy wash is to certain preferred lines of play. I think the look will be much more intimidating.
My hope is that the management will do what it takes to make things whole again. This will entail involving the designers in any big decisions and major design changes (if any) that need be done on the course. Cleaning it up will take a fist full of dollars, and any fixes will cost a few dollars more, but I hope they look at it long term and do it right.
I'll try to get some photographs up at some point.