FORSYTH - Greg Foley has seen plenty during years of mopping up after rain storms that turn Stevens Creek into a Highway From Hell on the Hickory Point Golf Course.

He's seen flooding that has washed up rail road ties, beach balls and gobs of corn stalks and sticks. Then Sunday, four days before the first round of the Michelob Ultra Duramed Futures Players Championship was to begin, he saw a hazard rarely spotted on any golf course.

Foley, Hickory Point's course superintendent, saw carp swimming along the flooded 15th fairway.

Even a novice knows a golfer can't be expected to perform while worrying about stepping on a big, ugly fish. That's an unplayable lie in anyone's book.

Unfortunately, it's the kind of thing Foley is dealing with this week thanks to a waterlogged spring that has mercilessly played havoc in grain fields, residential basements and on the beautifully manicured playgrounds we use for golf.

Given the unpredictability of our weather, no one can say for certain how hard Mother Nature will grind her golf cleats into what should be a fabulous four-day golf tournament this week. But anyone with a stake in the game is nervous.

What Foley finds in his rain gauge this morning will tell a lot because, frankly, the Hickory Point course is beyond the point of total saturation.

"We've had nine inches of rain this past week," said Foley, who is somehow able to maintain a recognizable level of optimism despite rising water and increasing stress. "We had six inches of rain that went from last Tuesday into Wednesday. It just dumped on us.

"Then we recovered, and I thought we were in pretty good shape on Friday afternoon.

"Then we had three more inches on Saturday and the water jumped out of its banks. It was as high as I've seen it in the eight years I've been here.

"Just when we think we're in the clear it jumps up and smacks us in the face again."

Futures tournament officials were on the scene Monday, surveying the course and making preliminary judgments about changes it may order if portions of holes are unplayable.

Christy Barks, director of tournament operations, was on the course Monday morning calculating provisional plans based on "what if" weather developments. At least one of them is both urgent and critical and means that almost certainly No. 15, the long par 5 that bends along the creek, will be reduced to a par 3. (Because the front nine and back nine are flipped for the tournament, we're talking about tournament No. 6).

"We want to make decisions based on the rain we've gotten and what we know might be coming," Barks said. "We want tournament players to be able to play a practice round on the tournament course as it's going to be played."

And that means not switching a hole from par 5 to par 3 part-way through the tournament.

"Because we can't switch (a hole) in mid-stream during the tournament, if (No. 15) floods, we couldn't play golf on Saturday and Sunday. So we have to consider what the future outlook is."

Some decisions Barks hopes will not have to be addressed.

One would involve the pro-am tournament on Wednesday. If the course was too wet to accommodate carts, for instance, the pros could still walk and play a practice round. But I can't see the amateur golfers lugging their bags around both nines.

Another would be an adjusted schedule if a round is completely washed out. In that regard, it should be noted that Barks has been a good luck charm.

"Knock on wood, but we haven't had a round washed out in three years," she said.

Meanwhile, Foley is bracing for the worst and hoping for the best. And he and Barks have a fine working relationship, which makes it easier to fight through any difficulties.

"I can't complement them enough," Foley said. "They are just a great staff to work with."

"In general, I am ecstatic with the way the course is compared to what it could be looking like," Barks said. "It has challenges when the creeks come up, but you couldn't ask for a better group of individuals to work with to get the course in top shape."

So we'll have golf this week, Lord willing and the creek don't rise.

Mark Tupper can be reached at mtupper@herald-review.com or 421-7983.