Natural disasters happen. Are you prepared?

In 2022, the United States experienced 26 natural disasters — winter storms, wildfires, drought, heatwaves, floods, tornadoes, cyclones, and windstorms — that left 474 fatalities, millions of displaced residents, thousands of shuttered businesses, and $165 billion in damages in their wake.

An aberration? Hardly. It was the eighth straight year in which the U.S. felt the impact of 10 or more separate billion-dollar disaster events. Hopefully, you and your facility were not in the path of one of those life-altering occurrences. But the statistics certainly point to natural disasters as part of our new normal.

All of which begs the question, asked with new urgency: Are you prepared?

That’s the question that Bettina von Ruexleben, the CEO of Vivid Club, which considers itself a “mindshare” and “collaboration platform,” helps answer for clubs and their management teams. In dire situations, Vivid Club advises clients that preparation is critical to successful outcomes.

“The most effective preparation starts with taking advantage of others’ experience in similar situations,” von Ruexleben says. “While this may be your first such event, it’s highly likely that it’s not the first for the private club industry.”

Vivid Club advocates an integrated preparation and response program. Yellow-flag issues focus on advance preparation, while red-flag concerns address last-minute actions.

Yellow-flag considerations:

• Identifying and locating resources that can swing into action quickly and efficiently when a threat is imminent.
• Relocating heavy equipment that may be needed after a storm or flood event.
• Establishing alternate and back-up communications capabilities and processes to ensure that you and your team can respond efficiently and in a timely manner.
• Acquiring knowledge about successful strategies, such as maintaining constant communication with your team (including contingency plans for cellular and power disruptions) and members who may have loved ones on the premises.
• Identifying and securing support from local trades and repair specialists to accelerate your recovery.
• Communicating to stakeholders that you are prepared and locating stores for medical, communications and recovery equipment.

Red-flag considerations:

• Positioning and staging resources in support locations to enable ready and safe access.
• Securing fuel storage locations to ensure ready action.
• Placing empty Dumpsters and rubbish collection resources in optimal locations.
• Securing and storing emergency recovery tools for cleanup and recovery.

Preparedness not only safeguards people and property, it also fulfills the ultimate servant-leadership duty of being a conscientious steward of the facility. Those who operate and maintain golf clubs and courses are entrusted with enormous responsibility, which is felt most acutely in desperate times. Doing one’s duty accrues multiple benefits:

• Reduced risk to your club or facility. Property and liability insurance (skyrocketing in price) is a factor of the actual value of the assets multiplied by the risk factor assigned to your club. Reducing risk through dutiful preparation may positively affect your insurance rates.
• More immediacy to your emergency response. In desperate times, minutes matter. Being well prepared with staff members who know where to find mission-critical equipment and tools can make all the difference. This immediacy can also increase safety margins for you and your teammates.
• Reduced recovery time and costs. Costs in a recovery economy escalate many times over. Those searching for solutions after the emergency pay a premium for their lack of preparation.
• Reduced stress and anxiety. Preparing for the worst may not be comforting, but one usually sleeps better when prepared.

The long-serving motto of the global Scout movement is one that comes to mind in this context: “Be Prepared!”

“Prepared for what?” Scouting founder Robert Baden-Powell was asked.

“Why, for any old thing,” he replied.

More than a century after the Boy Scouts of America was founded, in an age of record-setting natural disasters, those words ring loud and clear.