VALDOSTA — After months of preparation, South Georgia Classic week finally began Monday at Kinderlou Forest Golf Club.

Nationwide Tour golfers began rolling into Valdosta on Monday. About 50 of the players were at Kinderlou for the first day of practice. The first players were on the course relatively early Monday morning. The course and the practice area had golfers on it from the morning until it was nearly dark.

Since the Nationwide Tour was off last weekend, many golfers went home and spent Easter with their families. The majority of the golfers who made it to Kinderlou on Monday live within a few hours of Valdosta, most in Florida.

Most of the remaining golfers will arrive today, but players do not officially have to be registered until Wednesday morning.

The golfers will have another day of practice today. They will also have a junior clinic this afternoon. Pairings for Wednesday’s pro-am will be announced tonight.

The 72-hole tournament begins Thursday and continues through Sunday’s final round.

On Monday, Nationwide Tour golfers got a chance to play the Kinderlou course for the first time. One comment each golfer had: the course is long. At 7,781 yards, Kinderlou is the longest course the Nationwide Tour will play this year.

“It’s a tough course,” Gabriel Hjertstedt said. “It’s long, and the greens are undulated. You’re going to have to hit some good, quality shots to get birdie.”

“It’s really long, which is what I had heard,” Jason Enloe said. “It’s going to be a good test of golf for us this week.”

“It’s definitely going to be an advantage to hit the ball long,” Dave Rummells said. “It’s going to be a very competitive week. I don’t think anybody is going to run away with the tournament. You won’t see anybody shooting 12- or 15-under. I think single digits (under par) will probably win it.

“I don’t hit the ball that long anymore, so for me, the (490-yard) 18th is two good woods.”

Nevertheless, there was plenty of praise for the course, designed by PGA Tour star Davis Love III.

“It’s a good course. It looks tough,” Hjertstedt said. “I’ll be interested to see what the scores are.”

“I’d heard good reviews of the course,” Brenden Pappas said. “I live in Ocala, and a lot of our members have come up here and played, and had a lot of good things to say about it.”

“The course played good,” Enloe said. “It’s in great shape. It seemed real nice.”

“It’s a pretty good golf course,” Rummells said. “Davis Love III is a decent friend of mine, and he did a good job. There’s maybe a couple of holes that were a little hard, but overall, I think it’s a really good golf course.”

Plenty of golfers also wished the temperature would warm up. Temperatures stayed in the 50s most of the day, with a low of 47. Most of the players wore jackets, and those who didn’t were at least wearing long sleeves.

“The weather is supposed to be real poor the next few days, but it’s supposed to warm up for the tournament,” Enloe said. “I hope it does, because I’m tired of this cold weather.”

“With it being this cold, the course is playing longer than it would if it were warm,” Rummells said.

The area around Kinderlou Forest looks different, thanks to all of the temporary additions the Nationwide Tour has made.

There are now grandstands around four greens. Signs for Nationwide, the Tour and other event sponsors line the roads and different spots around the course. Scoreboards have been put up in several locations around the course, including the 18th green.

This is the inaugural South Georgia Classic, and the first-ever Nationwide Tour event played in the area.