June 23rd
Traveling to Hershey, PA for the National Club Professional Championship is not an easy (or direct) road – think “Planes, Trains & Automobiles”. For the next week I will be carrying the bag for Bellingham Golf & Country Club’s Head Professional, Mike Montgomery, during his first trip to the NCPC. My quest to carry Mike’s started in August of 2010, when Mike carried my bag during my unsuccessful bid to qualify for the U.S. Amateur. Turnabout is fair play, so I’ve heard. Let’s see…Pullman in August for ONE day, versus Hershey in June for SEVEN days. Fair or not, it will be fun!
To start the week off, Delta lost Mike’s clubs somewhere in Cincinnati. Well, at least our rental car has Ohio plates. Speaking of rental cars, I was in such a hurry to leave Washington D.C. that I didn’t notice the car rental company had not filled the tank – I ran out of gas somewhere between Gettysburg and Harrisburg. Luckily a friendly white-bearded man with a horse and carriage helped me out. In return, I had to help with a barn raising.
I digress (sorry, I do that a lot). Mike’s clubs should be here today in time for a practice nine. No tee-time today for us – we are just going to get the lay of the land (Hershey C.C.’s East and West courses will be used for the Championship this week) and chart some holes. Mike and I have complementary games, so I know what our game plan is leading up to Sunday’s opening round.
Preparing for a tournament is a personal thing and everyone has their little quirks. Our quirky exchange last weekend went something like this: Monty: Did you look at the weather forecast? Looks like chance of rain & thunderstorms. Me: I guess you get to hold the umbrella this time. Don’t be packing that Tour bag and making me carry two styles of rain gear, 14 gloves, 4 dry towels and an umbrella. Monty: How do you actually wear rain gear when it is 90 degrees and raining? Me: Good point. Let’s go with umbrella, dry towels and 14 gloves. Monty: Perfect! Me: Oh by the way, don’t make a bet that your “caddy can hit a hooded 4-iron out of the bar and hit a pelican” during any kind of rain delay we might endure.
Unfortunately, some of the best quotes from Monty cannot be divulged to the web for general consumption. All kidding aside (just kidding), I will do my best to give everyone some perspective on what it is like to prepare for and play in what is essentially the biggest tournament of Mike’s career.
Thank you, Tony Dear, for letting me post my random thoughts for a few days!
June 24th
Our second practice round was a long, long day. We endured a ninety minute rain delay and extended our round to just under 6 hours. Today was the East Course at Hershey C.C. – this course is a long 7,000 yards (rains last night and no fairway mowing this morning). All but the 16th green are elevated approaches to convex greens. We hit a lot of Drivers and 4-irons today.
The East Course is in fine shape and will prove to be a great test of golf to these sweater folders (er, PGA Professionals) trying to vie for 20 spots in the August 2011 PGA Championship at Atlanta Athletic Club. Our practice round group today was a nice mix and consisted of Ryan Benzel (Pro Golf in Lynnwood), Jim Gormley (Palos Verdes C.C.), and Kyle Kelly (Tamarask C.C.). Monty and Jim traded stories about how they met their wives (they were both assistant pros and gave them their respective lessons); those are BRAVE men.
Monty and I see Hershey C.C. as a great place to hold an event like this (multiple courses, nice clubhouse with pavilion and absolutely wonderful staff). During the rain delay, Monty and I hung out in the Media Center (yes, someone is actually covering this event) and also had a great chat with the most important people in the club, Craig the locker room attendant & Tim the shoe man. Craig is the former Hershey High School golf coach and noted what a great home-course advantage the East Course is – yeah, no kidding.
The only really funny thing that I can repeat to the plebs today is from a Pro two slots down on the driving range this morning: “I’m waiting on my new wedges; I didn’t know we needed conforming groves for this event.” Really? This guy is a PGA Golf Professional – amazing.
We are just about done fiddling with the clubs that will be in the bag this week. I told Monty if he wants to carry this many clubs, I think Ian Woosnam’s caddy is available. I’m looking forward to a lighter bag in round one on Sunday.
Gotta go, we are headed to the Player’s Party tonight.
James Hawley is a former D-I college player, making several (unsuccessful) attempts at local Monday qualifiers for TOUR events over the last 20 years. James is currently in his 15th year of trying to play all of the Top 100 ranked U.S. golf courses and in his 3rd year as a member of Golf Digest’s Course Ranking Panel. James is by no-means a professional writer, but has written at least several hundred words on the subject of golf. Follow James on Twitter @hawleywoodgolf.com
