When Mother Nature Doesn’t Cooperate

It’s tough when Mother Nature won’t cooperate when you’re trying to run a national championship. Administratively, it takes a lot of juggling around people and times. On Thursday, we suspended play soon after all the players with afternoon tee times (also known as the afternoon wave) had teed off. We had players on every single hole on the course. We brought them back Friday morning to finish their rounds. We had the players in place with their referee, walking scorer and standard bearer. Getting the players to their respective holes is a well-planned event that ends with a roll call. Play is officially resumed when the players hear two toots on the air horn.

With respect to the competition, the players all need to play the same hole locations. That means the holes for the second round could not be cut until all the players completed the hole for their first round. The course setup crew waited until the last group went through the hole, then gave them time to get about one hole ahead before following along to set up the course for round two.

Here is fellow staffer Genger Fahleson setting out the tape to find the second-round hole location on the 18^th green. As you can see, she has more daylight than we did the other morning.

As an equal opportunity blogger, I need to show you back nine hole cutter Brian Ford. Brian is on the grounds staff here at Pine Needles and has been around for about two years. In this photo, you can see that he is lining up the hole cutter to assure the hole and flagstick will be straight. This is actually a fine art and takes some talent. It’s not as easy as one might think.

Once he has it lined up, he starts hammering away. Due to the proximity of the 18^th green to the first tee, Brian had to wait until the players had finished teeing off. The hammering can make quite a racket after the hole is cut and the liner inserted. The top inch of the hole is painted white to make it easier for everyone to see especially those watching on television. You’ll want to read the definition of hole and note the liner must be sunk "at least 1 inch below the putting green surface unless the nature of the soil makes it impracticable to do so".

The whole process is precise and takes talent by the hole cutter. You wouldn’t want him to splatter the paint around the hole. Good job Brian and "Intern Matt"!

You’ll be able to see their fine work on TV.

Let’s hope for better weather and getting the second round in on time.

Wendy Uzelac

USGA Director of Regional Affairs, Midwest Region