in national news reports for three days, which didn’t bode well with the town’s golfing visitors starting to arrive. “A lot of media made it look like our town was levelled,’’ said Beachnau. “It wasn’t.’’ It was hard to ignore the vivid images in the television and print news coverage. However, Beachnau insisted, “None of our hotels were affected and virtually no damage was done on any of our golf courses. It missed all of our tourism aspects.’’ One course, we were told, they had golfers back on the course an hour after it had left the area. The tornado was dealt with aggressively by the entire community. “We had 1,500 volunteers come on the Sunday after the tornado,’’ said Beachnau, “and we raised a half-million dollars. That’s what can happen when people come together and work together. Our message is `We’re open for business.’’ Three weeks after the tornado, during our visit, we played 117 holes at eight Gaylord Golf Mecca courses, plus enjoyed plenty of fine dining opp-ortunities with govern m e n t a l and golf Ohio Golf Journal
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