John Riegger Opens With 70
 

John Riegger completed his first round at -2 and is T14. Another solid start for a guy who can get it done. :salut:

In the afternoon times, Jay Williamson opened with birdie at the first. Nice start!

These guys are good!

:eyes:

Jeff is one birdie machine... Wow 657 yd par 5 and what else a '4'

Some good golfing by all so far.

May they go low and then lower...

The beat goes on . . . still -5 through 15 . . . this is like one of my prom dates . . . well not exactly.

Two holes left still -5 . . . TOTE THAT BALL ACROSS THAT GOAL LINE!!! STICK IT IN!!! STICK IT IN!!!! UHHHHHH!!!!

Jeff has some great stats...but what I don't understand why they change the page and the stats went bye bye...

Missed only a couple of greens and fairways...

You Da Man......

cool stuff!
 

It's pretty cool to see Jeff's name on the front page leaderboard :salut:

Jeff Hull In At 68
 

Just talked to Jeff. He's in at 68, -4, with four birdies and no bogies. Including fringes, he putted for birdie 16 times. I told him the scorecard on the TOUR website had him at -5, and he said "The scorer in our group got it wrong."

He also told me that he would post when he could "find a place to get my computer hooked up," but that access was limited in this locale.

With the afternoon times still on the course, Jeff is currently T5.

Great round, Jeff. Not bad for a guy who has played in only one other PGA TOUR event -- and that way back in the early 90s!

"My Motion is better now."

I'll say.

:notworthy

Solid Start
 

I just got online and was thrilled to see the support. I got off to a great start today and hit the ball real solid. I played smart and took advantage of some oportunities and putted well. Thanks again for the support and lets see if we can keep this party going!!!

P.S. I am not sure I want to be bucket's prom date!

That would be a wise choice....go stag...:eyes:

Great score Jeff:salut: . I (and other LBG fans down under) will be following you on the net and wish you all the best for the rest of the tournament.
Go Jeff!!!

Congrats
 

Great round Jeff....stick to your game plan...it is working well. Rest up tonight and good luck tommorrow. One shot at a time...enjoy the moment...and who knows what may happen. It worked nicely for a young man from Iowa at the Masters last weekend:)

And One More Thing...
 

...about Jeff's great opening 68:

It was one of only three bogey-free rounds.

For the record, the first round scoring average was 73.192, five shots in arrears of Our Hero. In a field that includes 35 PGA TOUR winners, that says a lot.

:salut:

:occasion: =D> Well played Jeff.:notworthy :headbang:

Keep it going :3gears:

Well done Jeff!!! Keep it going we are all rooting for you!
Alex

GO JEFF GO!!!! :rambo: :rambo: :rambo:

Great round Jeff-but don't forget my clubfitting next time you're in orlando!!
Keep it going.

I must say it was pretty cool watching the Golf Channel last pm and seeing the name "Jeff Hull" scroll across the bottom . Do it again!

Great playing Jeff and John. Keep it up today and thru the weekend. Good Luck!

Keep it up Jeff. Great playing - having fun watching yhe leaderboard.

Bogeyless
 

Yoda,

When I saw Jeff's scorecard yesterday that was the first thing that jumped out at me...... no bogeys!! I'm not sure people realize how difficult that can be to do! My career round is 65, and I think I can remember every round I've played with no bogeys. It just doesn't happen that often.

CG

Even so far today. 1 shot back of Huston. Ahead of Kendall, Byrum, H. Haas, Pappas, Chalmers, Kraft, Gossett, Barnes, Molder, Yoledo, Damron, Dickerson, and McCallister. Not too shabby, eh?

Bummer Jeff, scorecard looks like it was a bit rough out there today.

Well you got the bad round out of the way...Go low tomorrow..

Oh, by the way the fact you are a club pro and are competitive is pretty impressive... Go Low...

Good Luck...

Stage 2- Weekend
 

Jeff
You made the cut...you are playing the weekend...congratulations...you should be very proud of yourself.
Round 2 was not what you had planned for ...but that's done. Saturday is a new day and you are starting fresh...two good rounds on the weekend and let's see what happens. Enjoy the weekend...you are at a place where most of us will never experience....competing with the best in golf. Good luck and happy hunting for those birdies.:)
HG

The gnome (what the hell is that all about anyway) lives on! I bet Jeffy takes it DEEP tomorrow!

Chicken Wangs Barley Sodas and BIRDIES!

Go get 'em Jeff!!!!

Something going right in Jeff's head... bogey followed by birdie ( hole 6 and 7)....bogey followed by birdie (10 and 11) .... Tiger Woods does it.... Jeff Hull does it!!

Now the fun starts - Keep it up Jeff. Currently T1 for sand saves!!!! 1/1 :)
Jay ( tied 42 with Jeff) and John ( T23 at -2) had solid rounds too....

Great Going
 

Well done Jeff. I really enjoyed following your rounds on the internet and hope to see you to see your name up on the leaderboard in many more tournaments to come. Hope to see you in the field for the early season tournaments in Australia next season. I can offer to carry your bag. :happy3:

Workin' Man
 

Congratulations to Jeff Hull on a tremendous accomplishment. To 'come off the bench' -- no, make that to come out of the grandstands! -- and make the cut in Nationwide Tour event (one that included 35 PGA TOUR winners) is really special. :occasion:

For the record, Jeff fired rounds of 68-76-77-79=300 on the longest course ever played in PGA-sanctioned event. And, I might add, under some of the toughest conditions. Here
is an exerpt from the pgatour.com's story:

"With the par-72 Kinderlou Forest Golf Club already playing at 7,781 yards, the last thing the 70 players who made the cut this week needed to see on Sunday were wind gusts reaching 35 mph. But that is exactly what they got, with the windy conditions forcing the stroke average to 75.229 during the final round. "

I'll let Jeff tell more about it in a post of his own, but I can assure you that they were brutal. There was only one sub-70 score on Sunday -- a 69 by winner John Kimbell -- and a glance at the weekend scores tellls you all you need to know about what the players were up against.

As usual, regardless of conditions, putting told much of the tale. Winner Kimbell also led the field in putting, averaging 26.8 putts per round. Our Hero averaged 30.5. Jeff's figure included an average of 2.0 per GIR on Friday (32 total) and 2.2 per GIR on Sunday (34 total). Unless you're nailing those Par 5s in two -- tough to do when they are averaging over 600 yards! -- that doesn't make for many birdies.

Welcome home, Jeff. You worked hard...

Now, get to work! :)

Good show Jeff.

Going to do this again, soon are we?

Well done Jeff.:salut:
i played two rounds this weekend -very similar weather here that you got -IT WAS BRUTAL.

Jeff Hull is my G.O.L.F. Hero!!!

Bring my PUTTER!!!!

A Very Positive Experience
 

I told Lynn last night on the way home that I was going to post on the week at Kinderlou Forest on The Nationwide Tour. I would first like to thank everyone on this site for your support and encouragement before, during and after the event. I can't express what that means to me.

Overall I have come away from this event with many more postives than negatives. On the plus side I:

:dance: Shot a bogey free 68 in round 1 and saw my name near the top of the leaderboard
Was 1-under par through 47 holes and in great position to make a move
Gutted it out in round two after a bad start and needing to par 2 very tough finishing holes to make the cut (especially after missing an easy up-and-down followed by a three putt).
Never lost my composure and stayed positive the entire week. Nerves were never an issue.
Other than not being as long as many players out there, I can hit the ball with as much precision as they can.
Learned how these players prepare and practice before an event, especially what the caddies do in the practice rounds.

On the negative side:

:BangHead: My putting still needs much improvement, especially in the 5-15 foot range. The only difference between me and them is this area.
I need more precision around the greens. When I chip or pitch it to 4-6 feet on a tough shot they are inside 3 feet consistently.
:sleepy: I need to step up my training program. Unfortunately I ran out of gas mentally and physically toward the end of each round. There is a huge difference between walking a tournament and using a cart, and I am in good shape.
:naughty: I did not stay within my game plan. Usually this is the best part of my game but the course and conditions got the best of me and I started to "press" a little. Trust me, you can get out of rhythm pretty quick on a 7700 yard course with 30 mph winds. I need to stay within my game.
:naughty: Steering is the number one malfunction in the golf swing and I was guilty at times. Always remember the club's target is lowpoint and the ball's target is the fairway or flag. Aim your machine and drive the clubhead through the ball!

I also learned some interesting things about tour stats, some of them don't mean that much. Driving Distance, for example, is only tested on 2 holes each round. Hit it perfect all day and miss one of these holes and your distance is lower. I played with Garrett Willis the last day and I hit it with him all day. He was 35th in distance and I was 65th, go figure.

Usually I would say that fairways are very important, but not on this course. There was no rough to speak of and many holes it was more advantageous to miss the fairway. Many of the holes had doglegs with fairways sloping away from the dogleg, this caused many balls to run through the fairway into the "rough". For the most part I hit it where I wanted to.

Greens in Regulation is a very important stat. However, when a hole is cut 3 or 4 paces from the edge of a green, your best play may end up on the fringe. I hit some really good iron shots that ended up just off the surface, but I was still putting with a good chance to make. In fact I had a couple of chips that were easier than if I had actually been on the green putting. On the last day I really tried to hit as many greens as I could. On the front 9 I hit 6 greens, one green I could not reach because of a poor drive, one green I hit the top of a bunker and it rolled back in, and one green I hit the exact shot I wanted, it hit the middle of the green and rolled off the back. So I played 8 of 9 holes exactly like I wanted to and shot 3 over par because....

PUTTING IS THE MOST IMPORTANT STAT ON TOUR!!! Every player I talked to said the same thing, everyone can hit the ball well, its the players that can get it in the hole who win. The real difference between my 68 on Thursday and my 79 on Sunday was putting. Sure the conditions were much worse on Sunday but I had 28 putts on Thursday and 34 on Sunday hitting fewer greens. In fact, the last three rounds I missed a lot of makeable putts that I made in round 1. Give me a 72 or 73 the final round and I would have been thrilled. I played like it, I just did not score like it.

I must have been good luck to other players because I played with the low round on Thursday (64), one of the low rounds on Saturday 68 and one of the low rounds on Sunday (72). What really separated these players was their ability to get the ball in the hole. There was no fear of missing, only the desire to make the putt. I really learned alot this week and had a great time doing it. It only makes me want it more.

The most important thing I learned this week is that there is no substitute for the love and support of your family and friends, during good times and bad. I certainly was blessed to have had this during the week, I will never foget the experience.

In the words of Al Davis, "JUST WIN BABY"!!!

Awesome post! You rock dude!

Job Well Done
 

Jeff

Thank you for sharing this experience with us...what an excellent post of your overall analysis, I liked that you stressed the positives. The putting stat is where it's at...if only we spent more time on the practice green than on the range. It must be so different in the heat of battle too... to trust that putter. Imagine if 5 foot and in was automatic.

Thanks again...and by the way when's the next tournament for you on the Nationwide?

Unfortunately this was it for the year. We only have two events in the Georgia Section and I failed to qualify for the one this week. As Lynn said, it's time to go to work. I have other events throughout the year so I will keep you posted.

A terrifc report and great learning experience.
I followed Willis and Damron during a practice round a couple of years ago and Willis is very strong and hits it long. Great to see you could keep up with him.
Same old story - work on the short game if you want to improve your score.

And the Journey continues...
 

Thanks for including us on the tour!

Recap
 

Jeff, what a great recap of how you played. Should be required
reading for all who want to play the tour. Sure appreciate your
taking the time to present your thoughts and experience. I would
have shot a zillion under the conditions. You are on my hero list.
Donn Kerby

Jeff,

Thanks for the update; it makes fascinating reading.

Regards

Sean