[golfgnome]

Chris and I got to the course about 10:30 for a 1:30 start. We had a nice breakfast and really took our time getting ready for the day. It was really nice outside, nice temperature and no wind. We knew there would eventually be some storms move in but we were hopeful that it would be later in the evening.

My warm-up went very well and I was really "on" every aspect of my game. I was as prepared as I could be. About 30 minutes before tee time it started to rain, nothing heavy just a light rain. The radar was showing a pretty big storm moving in from the west so we all figured to play some golf then get called off the course. I was prepared for this so no big deal.

I will never forget being announced on the first tee: "Now on the tee from Watkinsville, California....excuse me, Georgia, the current Georgia PGA Player of the Year, Jeff Hull." I have teed off in big events before but never announced like this and really never with so many of my friends and family around. I stayed with my routine and hit a pretty good tee shot up the right side. As I walked off the tee box I said to Chris that the tee shot was certainly different. He laughed and said lets go.

Without going into detail on every shot, I was striking it well. Through the first 4 holes I had 3 birdie putts inside of 15 feet. Unfortunately I was 1 over par because I 3 putted from about 12 feet on number 2 because it was really fast. I barely touched this downhiller and it went about 5 feet past and I missed it.

On number 5 the rain really started to come down hard and a 450 yard uphill par 4 was dead into rain and wind. I hit a pretty good 5 iron into the green but it came up a couple of feet short and plugged in the bank. I asked for an official and while we were waiting they suspended play. We all figured that this was probably the end of the day because it was really bad and the greens were collecting water.

After about 45 minutes there was a break in the rain and they resumed play. BIG MISTAKE!!!!!

By the time we got to number 7 it was really coming down and the wind was picking up its intensity. When we got to number 9 there was a group in the fairway waiting to play. It turns out they were looking for a ball because they could not get their tee shot over the tall grass because of the conditions. The 9th hole has a forced carry of 240 yards. Normally this is no big deal, but when there is a 10-20 mph wind and rain in your face it makes it a little more difficult.

While we waited we called for an official because the tee box had become saturated with wated. We figured they had to suspend play because of unplayable conditions. We waited 45 miutes on the 9th tee and all they did was make a poor attempt to squeegy(?) the tee box. We fianlly finished our front 9 in a speedy 3 hours and 45 minutes in a downpour.

The back 9 did not get any better. In fact I hit a 5 iron into the 10th hole on my 3rd shot that came up short. Normally it is a gap wedge or even a lob wedge. Chris and I were totally drenched and this was not much fun.

At this point every fairway was casual water. The only place to get relief was in the rough on a slope, not very appealing. We were running out of dry towels, energy and patience!

Finally at sometime after 7:15, 6 hours into our round, they called play for the day while we were standing on the 16th tee. In my opinion, and that of every player out there, we played 10 holes more than we should have. We should have stopped play after the first weather delay. What was really frustrating is that when we got to the clubhouse there was not one official around to tell me when we needed to be in position in the morning. I had to find out second hand.

At this point I was 5 over par and not playing that poorly. By the time I got back to my room, showered, went to dinner (I had not eaten since 10:30), dried off my equipment and went to bed it was about 11:00 and we had to get up at 5:30 to be on the course at 7:30. This was not the experience that I had hoped for.

This is a summary of the first day. To be continued.......