The Nationwide: Kinderlou Forest

If you’ve ever been in a situation where you know you’re good, but having to do beyond your best every week may not even be good enough- welcome to the Nationwide Tour. And while the title sponsor may be on your side, you’re on your own out here.

The Valdosta tour stop is the seventh in the 28-stop schedule, and this is the longest course on tour. Kinderlou Forest (( the 18th fairway is pictured, thanks to me)) is just shy of 8,000 yards long.

Think about it.

If 1,700-something yards is a mile, we’re looking at just under five miles of walking every day to shoot as low as you possibly can- and you still may not make the cut.

156 guys are trying to end up here for the weekend. There are a few names that your golfnik may know of: Remember Tag Ridings, Tommy “Two Glove” Gainey, Casey Wittenberg, Len Mattiace ((yes, the guy who almost won the tournament in Augusta, but lost to Mike Weir and cried in his post-game presser)), Marco Dawson, Dicky Pride, Bob May ((yes, the HQ reminds you it’s that Bob May- the guy who went toe-to-toe with some other golfer with the last name of “Woods” in some major)), Jason Gore, and Bubba Dickerson…???

Yep, they’re here…

And you’ve really got to aim at every flag you see, no matter what the hole is…

When the Top 25 get their tour cards for the next level after surviving an entire season of flooring it, you hope you can rest- even if it’s a little bit… and you can tell which golfers are the ones that you have to gun for every time out. Their caddies wear bibs with numbers ranging from “1” to “25” on their backs. It’s almost like being in some kind of extended spring training. The guys who are making the PGA roster have numbers. Everyone else is trying to keep from wearing a high number.

There are guys out here who are absolute bombers. One in particular, Brice Garnett was taking out his playing partners by thirty yards easily on the par-4's and par 5's. The 18th hole is a 484-yard par four ((and a half)) that Garnett cut into a 330/150 drive and approach.

Something is definitely wrong there... but one of his playing partners is known by the HQ- and not many others outside of New England. Geoffrey Sisk, or "Geoff" as the HQ knew him on the US Pro and New England tours, is still going at it at the age of 45. He made 16 cuts last year on the tour and cleared almost $94,000. But that was only good enough for 66th- or 41 spots south of the PGA Tour.

He had a good front side on Thursday- birdieing the 17th ((his 8th)). The 17 green ((pictured, thanks to me)), literally, has three separate looks to it. Round One's pin was front left. If you overshot, you were on the back terrace and would have to putt downhill to save par. If you were short-right, you had to go over a swale to get to the short-left third- and hope you could get it close.

Geoff was the only one to get it close to go four-under on his front. He gave some back on the last nine he played... actually, he gave them all back... finishing with an even par-72. He's now in a log jam at 53rd...

"I've committed to a swing change," he admitted after the round. "At 45, I'm still flexible, but it's a lot more difficult to do this now. I have been pleasantly surprised." He drove the ball well, but a few shots went wrong. Sisk won't make any excuses, though.

"I love this course," he said, "even if it doesn't suit my game. But there isn't a shot out here that can't prepare you for the PGA Tour. You have to work the ball from right to left. You have to work the ball left to right. It's a great tournament."

But he did go into some detail about what life is like out here. He's got two daughters and a family back home in Massachusetts. He's only on a conditional status these days. As of this round of golf, he doesn't even know if he'll be in the next tourney in Athens.

"It does get lonely sometimes out here," Sisk said. "You're calling home every night seeing how your family is. There is some camaraderie out here with the guys. You try to eat healthy, but after a round ends at... what time is it now, 7:30...? You just want to go back to the hotel."

He does see flashes of brilliances in his game with this new experiment of a shoulder turn with a tighter coil, and that's what he's building on...

Sisk is also a wine guy... I asked him what kind of a wine the Nationwide would be.

"Either a Maiden or an Alta Gracia," he says. "Those are really great wines that are in their second bottling. They're the second growths from their vineyards. They're not as big or bold, but they're just as good."

Not that he doesn't want to eat Prime Rib on the PGA Tour, though.

Galleries are, really, few and far between. The largest gallery ((moving)) was in the neighborhood of sixteen for Valdosta State grad Brent Witcher. He went off in the last group of the day and had plenty of Blazer support with him.

But his day fell apart on the front nine ((his back nine))... four straight bogeys had his finish at a one-over 73.

"It seems to be a continuing number for me," he admitted. "It's not a good number at all, but I felt I played better than that."

Having all the Valdosta State support made him more comfortable playing the course, but like everyone else, you like coming back to a course where you made some noise in college...