The U.S. Deaf Golf National Championship is in my home town this year and Kevin Hall was given an exemption to play in the tournament. I had talked to Kevin beforehand, and we scheduled a meeting becuase the shoot-out for the tourney was at my home course. I wasn't expecting much, a simple hi how are you doing. but Kevin totally exceeded my expectations. Kevin walked off the first green and knew who I was right off the bat. A little bit into the round, he told the other players in the shoot-out that I was a member there, and by the end of the round they were all asking me questions about the course, where to go, where the trouble is and so on. It was an incredible expierience. Mr. Hall is also and incredibly nice man. He was very talkative, and I was wondering what time Kevin would be teeing off the next day and he said he didn't know, but gave me his cell phone number and said call later and he should know. By the end of the day I was on cloud nine, I had met many new, amazing people, but in a sense told a pro what to do. I went back today and watched Kevin in the 3rd round and it was much of the same. Everyone had remembered me from the day before, Mr. Hall came up to me right off the bat and asked how I was doing. It was another fun day, and by the end of the round I was even riding in the cart with Kevin. I am going to go back tomorrow for the final round, before I have to go to a tournament of my own. If this event comes to your area in the future I strongly suggest that you go, there is no admission fee, and it was something that you will never forget. I will try and get some pics up here when I can. Thanks, Conor

This may seem ignorant, and it has very little to do with your story, but, in all seriousness, how exactly does a deaf person talk on a cell phone?

I talked to Kevin on the internet, but if you are asking about the tee time thing, it was his father's cell phone.

What course is it at? I am also in Illinois, and I had my tournament cancelled due to rain(it got 6-10 inches or rain, from what the guy said, totally unplayable) I hope you guys are dry, and I hope Kevin plays very well.
Rich

I am sure the text messaging on the cell phone would work just fine. There are other possibilities with today's technology.

I have been lucky enough to watch Kevin play, on more than one occasion. Back in 1997 I coached HS golf and we played Winton Woods HS where KEvin was the number 1 golfer. We had a pretty good team, we qualified for state in D2 the year prior. They were ranked #1 in the city and I made sure when I scheduled them it would be at a tough course (Coldstream CC). Well we beat them in the match, but Kevin shot 1 under or so for medalist honors. He wasn't long, he wasn't flashy, but his short game and putting was SPOT ON. Coldstream has tough greens for sure!

Last year I was golfing with a former player and we were arguing about KEvin Hall for some odd reason, just talking about how good he is and not climbing the ladder faster, I looked up (was playing Legendary Run) and said to Mike, well look over there, there he is bombing a 300 YARD DRIVE right now! We stared in awe.

I also saw him practicing all the time at Glenview GC a few summers ago. What a great swing, I HOPE HE MAKES IT!

Hey, it was nice meeting you at that course. I think I know who you are. Um, I played with Kevin Hall for those first 2 days of the tournament and he's an ultimate class act during that week at Far Oaks Golf Course near Fairview Heights, Ill. He can talk a little but does sign mostly but he has a Blackberry that he can receive all the messages and it makes his communications much easier when he needs to do.

I'm very glad that I got the chance to play with him and he played really well on this tight course that's rated at 73.8 with slope of 141. He broke my 4 round US Deaf Golf Championship record of 279 from 1997 with his 12 under par total of 276 also with my old record of largest winning margin of 18 strokes that I set 2 years later (with 281 total) but he did it winning by 25 shots in this tourney. I did not mind it at all since he was a great kid to be friends with and I'm sure anyone who's met him will feel the same way. I told him that I would be delighted to caddy for him in tournaments around my home area.

lolol sry but this cracked me up

Not ignorant....I was thinking the same thing.....

br61- can you fill me (us) in on who Kevin Hall is? Excuse my lack of knowledge but he sounds like a stand up guy. It sounds like you had a great experience.

http://www.silent-fox.com/bio.html

http://www.pgatour.com/story/9217869/

http://www.pgatour.com/story/9466509/

Not a problem, we don't really talk on the cell phone but we use one that has email or text messaging capabilities which makes it much easier for other person to get hold of us. My friends here use text messaging or email to get hold of me whenever they need me to play golf with them. Never fails to work. Best device are Sidekick or Blackberrys, currently I use Blackberry 8830 and it works very well.

vanquish007 offered more info on who Kevin Hall is. I can add this, while Kevin was playing for Ohio State University, he won 2004 Big 10 conference championship by 11 shots which is very remarkable in my opinion.

He just needs little bit more length and he has said so that he will work on it.

He told me a story about his PGA qualifying school experiences, I think it was in 2005, he was medalist in 1st stage of PGA q-school with 14 under par so his caddy(now ex) advised him if he wanted to do well in his 2nd stage that he will need to change his shot pattern to draw from his preferred shot of fade, and also to go up 1* of loft in his driver. He never got comfortable with it in his 2nd stage and played miserably, took him a while to get rid of those bad advices. It probably cost him his best chance at least to earn his Nationwide card.