Oakmont day 1
5 July, 2010
This day has been a good one! We arrived to the golf course a little after 7 this morning. I registered and then had some breakfast. This week is a bit different than other weeks, not only are there more spectators all week, there are also more coaches, parents, relatives etc. It is a busy week for sure.
So after registration Gustaf and I had some breakfast. We had already had coffee that we brought from the house we are staying at but there is always room for more caffeine!
Since neither Gustaf or I have ever been to Oakmont we decided that it was better that Gustaf walked the course in the morning to see it and to know all the carrys etc. So while he was doing that I was practicing away. I have to admit that when I first walked onto the putting green I was a bit intimidated, I had heard so much about how fast and ondulating the greens are. Well, they are but it is nothing that you cannot get used to. I love fast greens and this should be a great test of golf. The fairways are outlined by both bunkers as well as hazards, on some holes might be better to lay up, take the hazards and bunkers out of play and have a bit longer club in to the green, than to hit the driver. It depends on both how they set up he course for the day as well as how well I am hitting the ball that day.
My driver was a little bit everywhere today but my rythm should be back to normal in a couple of days. I played a practice round in the afternoon, and I started on the 1st hole. It is a downhill par 4 with bunkers on both sides of the fairway. There is a slope that that starts about 140 yards (I think…don’t have the yardages in front of me) from the green and goes all the way to the front of the green. The fairways are so slick that you can almost putt the ball all the way down there. The green slopes a bit awya from you at the back of the green, so unless you have a high shot that will stop at the front of the green that is fairly flat then you know you will be chipping from the back of the green.
We are staying with a wonderful family in the Fox Chapel neighborhood, it is beautiful here and tonight we went and had dinner at the Fox Chapel Golf Course (log on to Twitter or facebook and there is a picture there). I guess they had the Curtis Cup here a few years ago, it looks to be a really good golf course.
So now I am ready for bed. It has been a long day and it was very very hot also. I usually don’t drink Gatorade or anything but water on the course but I was downing a couple of Gatorades while out there. Tomorrow is suooosed to be equally hot or even hotter, and it is quite sticky and not a whole lot of shade here so I think tomorrow we will bring he sunbrella (umbrella that is made to have in the sun as well as the rain). It will for sure cool off at least 10 degrees!
Now I had a bit of a headache so I better get some rest. I have a teetime for #10 tomorrow morning at 7.22:) if I go to bed now then that means that I get about 7 hours of sleep.
Good night!
