The format this year for the Mountain State Golf Classic is a slight change from past years.
Normally played on three different courses over three days, this year the final two rounds will be played on the Cobb Course at Glade Springs.
Last year, round two was also at Glade Springs. but the rounds were played at Stonehaven before heading to the Cobb Course for the final round Monday.
No big deal, right?
In years past, the championship flight has played the blue tees on championship Monday with the remainder of the field playing the white tees.
Sunday, everyone will play the white tees before returning to the normal format Monday.
So, how could that be a big deal you ask?
Well, a good portion of the leaders had to do some deep thinking on when they last played the white tees on the Cobb Course.
“A member-guest tournament before I turned pro. A long time ago it seems like,” Jude said when asked the last time he played from the white tees.
Thanks to playing high school golf at Shady Spring and spending countless hours at Glade Springs, Perry and Duncan are not that far removed from the white tees, but it still will cause some extra thinking.
“It has been a long time. I would say high school golf, honestly,” Perry said, laughing.
“Me and my friends have played a couple of times from the whites, just playing for fun. I play it sometimes because I know in this tournament you have to play from the whites at times,” Duncan said.
The main issue for the big hitters, which includes many on the top of the leaderboard, is can they fight the temptation of trying to get too greedy Sunday.
“A lot of the way that George Cobb designed it is, A to B and B to C. Normally you are laying up, but you will just be laying up with shorter clubs,” Jude said. “You will have a different club that you are hitting off of the tee, but you will be hitting it to the same spots.”
There in lies the tricky part if you are not very familiar with the proper distance to the ideal landing area on the par-4 and par-5 holes.
An overzealous tee-ball on No. 1 bounces into the left rough taking birdie out of play and making a big number possible right off the first swing.
Hole No. 4 is a short par-4 that can be reached from the tee. However, push the tee shot a little right and a wooded area will again make par an adventure.
With out of bounds lurking left on No. 10, an extended tee shot to the right will find more woods and could possibly bounce down over the hill.
Too much mustard on the tee ball at 11 will find the water hazard.
“I went out there last week with my dad and practiced as little bit. It will be a lot less drivers,” Perry said. “A lot of people think if you move the tee box up, it is going to be easier. At Glade, when you move the tee box up, it takes the driver out of our hands. It could go either way tomorrow.”
Coming down the stretch, the correct distance for tee shots will be crucial on 14, 15, 16 and 18 where disaster waits for bad tee shots.
On the other hand, if a player does find the correct distance, there will be plenty of opportunities to score and shoot a low score.
“It should be a lot of fun. A lot of wedges and a lot of birdies out there. You should be able to get it going since it is a lot shorter,” Duncan said.
Jude agreed, but also added a key component to playing the Cobb Course. Life is miserable if you get far off the fairways.
“It will be different. It could show some eagle looks and some short birdie looks. I just need to keep it between the trees,” Jude explained.
