World Of XXVII - Day 1 (Morning)

Our two leaders, Smooth and Turtle, arrived at about 4 a.m. after watching Turtle's son play in an Alabama high school football game and then driving 5 hours to Panama City. Zeke (no kidding, a great Alabama redneck name!) rushed for 80 yards on offense and had 15 tackles on defense in a losing effort.

Seven of us gathered at about 7 a.m. on Saturday around the breakfast table for cereal, dry cereal for the lactose intolerant, coffee and more (man) hugging with Smooth and Turtle. On a guy's golf trip, the perfect number of players is either 8 or 12. The worst number of players is 5 or 7. Nine is not great but you can make do with 3 threesomes. Invariably, the "World Of" has a prime number of golfers. The weather was cooperating. It was supposed to be in the mid- to high-70s with no chance of rain.

Day 1 is 36 holes at Camp Creek, a Tom Fazio-designed golf course, about 10 minutes from the house. The course is built in a wetlands area and has an Audubon certification for environmental sensitivity. Unfortunately, it is not that sensitive to golfers. Fazio moved a lot of dirt and sand to create a "dunescape" feel to the course. The golf course plays 7,159 yards from the championship tees with a course rating of 76 and a slope rating of 156. Smooth was nice enough to let us play from the blue tees that are 6,689 yards with a course rating of 73.5 and a slope rating of 146. According to the starter, the person that walked off the yardage had short legs because the course seems to play longer, especially with the Fazio-signature elevated greens that add one club to each approach shot.

The threesome of the Big Man, Stinger and Arnie teed off first. Turtle, Smooth, the Mouth and I followed. My teammate and cart mate was Turtle. Turtle was wearing his signature bucket hat (he brought 3 hats, but the other two got soaked with Budweiser in his trunk), the Mouth was wearing his brace on his ugly, bowlegged right knee, Smooth was typically low key in dress and demeanor and I was resplendent in my Ian Poulter plaid shorts. We play a simple two-man game for $5 per player using the low net score for each team. Since it is the "World Of", of course, one player plays blind (without knowing his partner). Arnie was the lucky seventh player today. We all use Smooth's handicap to determine how many strokes we receive. Smooth is a +.7 meaning that his handicap is below par and each of us gets one stroke more than our USGA handicap index! There is also usually a $2 Nassau bet in each group.

On a Saturday morning we almost had the golf course to ourselves. Because of all the bantering, reloads and looking for balls in the wetlands and dunes, it took us 4 1/2 hours to play the first round. We even got gently rousted by the course marshal to pick up the pace of play at one point, which is embarrassing. I hit the ball reasonably well, but the course is a little too tight for me and I had 3 or 4 penalty strokes for lost balls, and I shot a 93. I made a number of pars to go with the bogeys and double-bogeys so I was a pretty good teammate for our bets. The star of the morning round was Arnie. Arnie is an 8 handicap and shot a 76. Luckily, it turned out that I was Arnie's blind (figuratively, not literally) playing partner and we won the morning bet.

There was some controversy in our foursome. On two holes, the Mouth hit the ball into the woods/wetlands area and the ball was unplayable. The area is not staked as a hazard or out-of-bounds and "World Of" local rules would generally be to drop the ball in the fairway somewhat near where the ball came to rest with a one-stroke penalty. However, the Mouth pointed out to the Rules Official (his partner Smooth) that the ball was embedded (of course it was, it's wetlands!) and he was entitled to a free drop without a penalty stroke. The Rules Official confirmed the Mouth's interpretation of Rule 25-2, the "embedded ball" rule, and we played on (no one would ever impugn Smooth's integrity or his knowledge of the Rules of Golf). However, this reminded me of the Tiger Woods "loose impediment" ruling at the Phoenix Open. Sometimes the spirit of the Rules of Golf and the strict interpretation of the Rules of Golf are in conflict, but a good litigator needs to play within the rules and seize those kind of opportunities. [See Editor's Note below]

At lunch we caught up on the Ryder Cup from Wales. Day 1 of the Ryder Cup (Friday) was a washout. The first group only played about 8 holes before the course was so saturated with rain that play was canceled for the remainder of the day. It must have been a surprise to the USGA and the R&A that it might rain in Wales in early October. Instead of playing a links-style course with loamy soil that drains no matter how torrential the rain (I think there are a few (hundred) in Wales), the "powers-that-be" (I think this was an R&A only decision) chose Celtic Manor, an inland American-style course that could not withstand a sun shower or two (I am sure it had nothing to do with money). Also, what was Corey Pavin thinking! The Americans' rain gear and golf bags were "rain resistant", not "rain proof" so the Americans were soaked while the Europeans stayed relatively dry. Who knew it would rain in Wales? The American players went into the merchandise shop and purchased their own rain proof rain gear at retail prices. By lunchtime on Saturday in Panama City, the second session of the Ryder Cup was completed. The U.S. had a 6 to 4 lead, but the outlook for the Americans was bleak. There were six matches still in progress at nightfall and the Europeans were leading all six!

Editor's Note: Upon further reflection I think that the Rules Official may have erred on the "embedded ball" rule. Rule 25-2 provides that "[a] ball embedded in its own pitch-mark in the ground in any closely mown area through the green may be lifted, cleaned and dropped, without penalty, as near as possible to the spot where it lay but not nearer the hole. The ball when dropped must first strike a part of the course through the green. "Closely mown area" means any area of the course, including paths through the rough, cut to fairway height or less. (emphasis added). I have to question the Rules Official as to whether the wetlands area off of the fairway and rough is a "closely mown area"?