Brian Quackenbush Golf

I’ve had a busy few days. Monday - Memorial Day for people with normal jobs - I got on the road at 8am to drive 5 hours to Rocky Mount, NC.

— off on a tangent —
Memorial Day weekend (and probably most holiday weekends) will henceforth be referred to as “Weekend Warrior Interstate Driver” days. For better or worse, driving 2-8 hours in a stretch is part of my job. I’ve seen the best and the worst. Holiday weekends are the worst. Within 15 minutes of the start of my trip, I was passed by a convoy of 5 cars going about 100mph and then almost rear-ended by an old truck going about 120mph. More than the normal number of drivers seem to throw patience out the window. Speeding, tailgating and passing on the right are a lot more common. I was happy to make it to Rocky Mount in one piece. So, please, for the sake of all the traveling mini-tour pros on the road, slow down, be patient and safe on the roads.

Back on topic. I got to Rocky Mount and played my practice round at Benvenue CC. This is a great, original Donald Ross design from 1922. The layout is challenging and the greens are tiny with a lot of undulation. They’re about to change over the grass on the greens from bent with a lot of poa annua to bermuda (Tif Champion). So, they didn’t do most of their spring prevention and the greens weren’t as good as they were the last time I played. FYI - their cost to regrass all their greens with Tif Champion is $61,000. That’s a lot cheaper than I would have guessed, but they do have very small greens.

I went off at 8am the next morning and just didn’t hit it well at all. I carded one-over 71 and didn’t make it through the Nationwide Tour qualifier. I seemed to stroke my putts well again but missed it close most of the day. So, I hopped in the car for a 3 hour drive to the TarHeel Tour event at River Run CC in Davidson, NC. I didn’t have time for a practice round, but was able to drive around the course and hit some practice putts. This was a nice change from my experience with the staff at Treyburn.

Got a few hours sleep and woke up for my morning tee time today. After a few shaky holes, I started to feel the swing shape Jack Lumpkin and I have been working on and hit it extremely well for the last 13 holes. It was another round of running the ball over the edges, though I can probably lay most of the blame on the greens. I don’t know what kind of stress they’re under, but they’re keeping them so wet that they retain footprints very poorly. My threesome was the 6th group off and the footprints were already bad on the first green. I had about 9 putts that wobbled enough to miss the hole or come up short. This must explain the high scores. 67 was the low round of the morning wave. The course is about middle of the road challenging and in good shape everywhere else. I would have expected lower scores from the entire field if the greens rolled better.

So, I’m sitting in my air conditioned room this afternoon recovering from a long 3 days. Over 8 hours in the car, 2 practice rounds and 2 competitive rounds in 3 days and 95 degree heat.