I took up golf exactly 2 years ago after years of fighting it off. This past Saturday, I was fortunate enough to play where the PGA holds their tour Championship, East Lake in Atlanta. Um, that course is Fu*&ing hard as hell!

I have never claimed to be good at golf and every round I play I keep an exact score. I should also point out that I play very fast and never make someone wait behind me. I think that is important to point out as you might be thinking I’m holding up folks behind me with my method of counting every stroke. I don’t care about a Handicap right now, I just want my pure score so I can see when I improve. I’m still waiting for that to happen.

My first round 2 years ago was at Eagle’s Landing (another tough course) and I shot a 150 that day, exactly twice what my friend, Michael Tolcher, shot. This East Lake round was a 149 (go ahead and laugh out loud now) and I am not kidding. Hey, at least, there’s some improvement! I tried, really I did, but it didn’t matter. Usually, I play Chastain, Bobby Jones, or some other local muni course. My best score to date was a 108 (Bobby Jones) but I am usually between 110-125. The rough at East Lake was like hitting out of quicksand. When your ball lands it the rough, it literally disappears. On hole #1 I hit 2 trees trying to come out of the rough and had to dodge from getting hit with my own ball. Within hours of playing, my hamstring, back, feet, and every other muscle in my body was aching for Advil with a Grey Goose chaser. That doesn’t usually happen after a normal round of golf.

Playing East Lake makes you appreciate what these pros can do. At East Lake, you have to walk the course with a caddie. I HATED that part of it because a 149 golfer is about 15 miles of hiking. I’m more of a cart guy…kind of set up the mobile office and enjoy the day with food, drink, iPhone, etc. I know that walking is the way golf was intended to be played, blah blah blah, but walking sucked. I can definitely tell you that I have played areas of that course that Tiger has never even seen other than maybe when taking a leak.

A rare bogey on Hole 6...from Tee to Green. Shocking.

Playing East Lake was an unreal experience and I’m sure I set a new course record and made Bobby Jones roll over a few times in his grave. You can feel the history reeking in that building and soaking that up is an experience I hope you can experience if you are a golfer. Just don’t have the tee time right after mine and you should be ok.

Barnes has been cast in a scene opposite David Duchovny and Demi Moore in the upcoming movie, THE JONESES. The Joneses, which also stars Demi Moore, is in production now and will be released in 2009.