Cold and Windy Florida!

I arrived at the Innisbrook resort south of Tampa Bay on Monday afternoon. I was staying onsite again, it is a big complex, it has 72 holes of golf on four championship courses, 28 lodges with 600 guest suites all privately owned and are hired out when the owners aren't here, swimming pools, tennis courts and a wildlife preserve. We were playing on the Copperhead course, which is more like a course you would expect to see in South Carolina rather than Florida as it has elevation changes and is tree lined. Each of the lodges are named after a course from the UK, I was staying in Muirfield and the weather was like Scotland in March for most of the week, cold and windy.

Tuesday morning I went out to practice, Reps from all sorts of companies associated with golf are usually on the range or the putting green. I ordered some new luggage from Club Glove as mine is getting worn out, they have the best travel bags and most of the players use them, you have to make sure they have tags on though as there are a number of stories of players getting to hotels and realising they have another players bag! I also had a new Adams hybrid made to replace my 3 iron, I tried a number on the range and then took the one I liked best onto the course to try.

I played a practice round with Todd Hamilton and Brandt Jobe, my caddie Ron was happy sharing stories with his old boss Todd, they were friends before they worked together and still are. We were brought off the course when we were on the 10th fairway by a marshal who said a thunderstorm was close by. I had some lunch and practised my putting and still no storm had arrived so I went back out onto the course, I only managed two holes before the heavens opened!!

On Wednesday I walked the holes that I didn't get to play on Tuesday, as I was unable to get on the course as there was an all day Pro-Am. I spent the rest of the day practising and decided that my new hybrid would go in my bag for the tournament.

I played in the last group of the morning tee times on Thursday with James Driscoll and Derek Lamely, we managed to complete our round with rumbles of thunder in the distance, within half an hour of me signing my scorecard the players on the course had been brought off due to lightning. They went back out later in the afternoon but still didn't finish their round so my second round was delayed to allow them to complete their first round and play their second. My tee time moved back to 3.20pm and I only managed to play four holes before the horn went to end play for the day for more lightning and torrential rain that lasted all night. I had played well so it was a shame to come off but I hoped that the wind would drop on Saturday morning and give me a good chance to make the cut.

I woke up Saturday morning to the sound of the trees moving and the wind howling, the wind hadn't dropped, it had got even stronger. We had to be in position on the course at 7.30am, after a quick breakfast in the clubhouse I made my way to the driving range for 6am as I expected it to fill up fast as most players like longer than an hour to warm up. It was pitch black when I got there and they had big lights powered by generators on the back of the range so we could see what we were doing. I went through my usual routine, chipped and putted and made my way to the shuttles to take me over to my hole. I played well, but my good shots didn't go close and my slightly bad shots were terrible, the downside to play in very high winds! I was disappointed to miss the cut and had to make my way back to Lakeland.

Sunday I spent all day relaxing and watching TV, I also downloaded an English voice for my new Tom Tom Sat Nav unit to make me feel more at home. At the moment I am 10th reserve for the Arnold Palmer Invitational, so it looks unlikely that I will play. I will update the site if I get in. If I don't play in the tournament I will spend the week practising and preparing for Puerto Rico and enjoying some home cooking.

***Just wanted to let you know that I got in to Bay Hill! I am playing with Jim Furyk and Charlie Hoffman.***