GREENVILLE — Seven and a half inches of rain in a 48-hour period has temporarily brought golf to a halt, but the golf course restaurant, The 19th Hole at Turtle Creek, remains open seven days a week and ready to serve the public.

While standing water, saturated ground and flooding along the creek have made the golf course unplayable, owners want area residents to know the restaurant is open for business even when golfers cannot get on the course.

“The restaurant is open,” said Bill Slade, co-owner. “We’re open seven days a week during the summer.”

The restaurant continues to serve both lunch and dinner customers, with the evening business holding up despite the golf course closure. The owner said the restaurant has also been seeing an increase in its lunch crowd.

Sundays have also been drawing customers to the restaurant, which closes earlier on Sundays, at approximately 4 p.m.

The message to the community is simple: You don’t have to be a golfer to come out and enjoy the restaurant.

Keeping the restaurant busy is especially important following a difficult stretch of weather that has taken a financial toll on the golf operation.

The course recorded approximately 7.5 inches of rain in 48 hours, leaving portions of the property underwater and other areas unable to absorb additional rainfall.

The back portion of the course has been particularly hard hit, with the creek overflowing its banks. Standing water is also present on the front portion of the course.

Before golfers can return, the rain must stop, and the course must have time to drain. Workers will then face the job of removing debris washed onto the property, mowing grass that has continued to grow, and preparing the course for play.

The latest round of wet weather has forced numerous cancellations. Golf has been shut down since Tuesday, including league play. A school match was canceled, along with a scheduled outing, night golf, and the club championship.

The cancellations represent a significant financial loss for an operation that had already dealt with difficult weather earlier in the season, including the loss of most of Memorial Day weekend and a stretch of extreme summer heat that kept some golfers away during the afternoons.

Even though golfers have to wait for conditions to improve, the restaurant does not.

The 19th Hole at Turtle Creek has continued serving customers throughout the course closure, and the owners encourage local residents to stop in for lunch or dinner to support the business during the weather-related interruption.

The golf course also continues looking toward better days ahead. Improvements include work on a majority of the sand traps, while future plans call for adding more cart paths. Additional cart paths would allow the course to remain accessible during some wet conditions without carts damaging the turf.

Another important event on the calendar is next month’s Aim for the Handicap golf tournament. The course will host the fundraiser for the third year, with 100% of the proceeds donated back to the program supported by Dr. Jo Geiger of Dayton.

For now, Mother Nature will determine when golfers can return to the course.

But residents don’t have to wait for the fairways to dry before visiting.