Saturday, August 18, 2007
Wyndham Pro-Am
I was lucky enough to play in the pro-am at the Wyndham Championship on Monday. These events allow four amateurs to rub elbows with a pro for a day. One of my amateur partners was a neighbor, and the other two were from Dallas and Chicago. We were paired with PGA TOUR player Jerry Smith of Phoenix.
Although I managed to play some of the worst golf in several years, I enjoyed the day. We had caddies, always a nice touch, and Jerry turned out to be a nice guy who was easy to talk to, even when he got lots of doofus questions about Tiger Woods.
The recent hot and dry weather has made it tough for the greens staff at Forest Oaks. The rough was thick, the fairways were reasonably full, and the greens are clearly on the edge. If the greens went 12 hours without water, they would be lost for months.
Forest Oaks isn't the toughest course around, but the pros are taking advantage of the necessarily soft conditions to shoot low scores. As long as the Wyndham has an August date, you can expect courses to dump water on their course and pros to shoot at pins as a result. That's just another reason to work toward a spring date, when all the grass varieties will flourish without being drenched with irrigation.
Although I managed to play some of the worst golf in several years, I enjoyed the day. We had caddies, always a nice touch, and Jerry turned out to be a nice guy who was easy to talk to, even when he got lots of doofus questions about Tiger Woods.
The recent hot and dry weather has made it tough for the greens staff at Forest Oaks. The rough was thick, the fairways were reasonably full, and the greens are clearly on the edge. If the greens went 12 hours without water, they would be lost for months.
Forest Oaks isn't the toughest course around, but the pros are taking advantage of the necessarily soft conditions to shoot low scores. As long as the Wyndham has an August date, you can expect courses to dump water on their course and pros to shoot at pins as a result. That's just another reason to work toward a spring date, when all the grass varieties will flourish without being drenched with irrigation.
