Southern Hills CC

Today was my first time getting a look at the Southern Hills CC, the course which we will be playing our first and third day for Q school. Southern Hills is a three year old course and was designed by Mr. Pete Dye. It's a great course and you really don't feel like you're in Florida because of all the hills you have go up and down. It's also tucked away in the woods and almost has a homey feeling for me. This morning Barry and I arrived at the club just before 10 and weren't able to tee off until 2:30. Fortunately they have a great practice facility with an 8 hole par three course, all holes ranging from 80-130 yards. We worked on our short game for a good hour or so, played the par three course, rolled some putts, then hit balls on the range and even had a chance to play a game of pool in the men's locker room before finally teeing off at 2:20. I feel like I was able to get a good feel for the course and feel quite comfortable on it. It sets up well for me as it's a ball strikers course and long positioned tee shots are rewarded. You never really have too much pressure off the tee either. As a matter of fact earlier this week a fella I play golf with from time to time who has been trying to play in some Champions Tour events let me try a driver he wasn't hitting too well. The Taylor Made R7 460 TP, it has a graffaloy platinum shaft and I will be using it off the tee for Q school. It is a great golf club and because of it's size I rarely have to go at any tee shot or even worry too much about misses. My misses are now in the fairway and when I hit it right I'm better than before... This will be a great addition to my bag and will give me a boost while playing in this Q school. Anyways, back to the course... the greens are fairly slopey but not up to standards with a Pete Dye design, they are more subtle. Today the greens were a lot slower than what I would assume we would play in the Q school, they just have them ready to be cut way down. Once they do that the slopes will be more of a hassle and I will have to navigate to the hole a lot smarter because I won't want to be caught above any holes on these greens... I also know that the Canadian Tour loves to place their pins in the trickiest of spots to drive you nuts. Tomorrow I will be practicing on the Silverthorn CC golf course where we will be playing tuesday and thursday. I'm told it will be the course were we will be doing most of our scoring, it's a 6900 yard course and the greens are in great shape but flatter in comparison to Southern Hills.

JS