In the Green Zone, there is so little grass on the course golfers must carry their own: swatches of artificial turf for all shots except putts.

"I guess we'll always hit the fairway, right?'' Petr quipped as we made our way to the first tee, fake grass in hand.

There are a few unusual club rules:

A ball can always be repositioned one club length, as long as it isn't nearer the hole. When putting, a player is allowed to remove large rocks from the path to the hole, but cannot use the putter to groove a trail in the hard soil to the cup.

Any ball hit over one of the concrete blast walls is considered lost - the player must replay the last shot and take a penalty stroke.

At least the layout is simple. The shortest hole is a 15-yarder, with the tee box being a sand bunker. The longest hole is 90 yards, a straight shot to the green.

During our swings on the second hole, prolonged bursts of gunfire could be heard - perhaps from a practice range private security guards use, maybe from fighting. Either way, there is nothing like the sound of a .50 caliber machine gun to disrupt a swing.

I've played golf all my life but rarely in the past decade. Petr claims he has not swung a club in the past six years, but he is also a tremendous poker player and his graceful tee shot on the first hole indicated I might have been taken in by a ringer.

There was no money on the line in this year's Open - gambling is forbidden in Iraq under military rules. We don't fall under those guidelines, but we respected them out of sheer cheapness. Bragging rights back in the office would be payment enough.

On the third hole, I let out an anguished yell as my putt bounced off the exposed top of the baked bean can hole, robbing me of par.

"This is Baghdad golf,'' Petr reminded me. "You just got to deal with the consequences. It is what it is.''

Petr was forced to take his own advice when his putt lipped out on the sixth hole, costing him a birdie.

As we closed out our nine-hole round, both Petr and I were certain he was a stroke ahead. Yet, when scores were tallied, we ended in a tie: a humbling 12-over-par 39.

We agreed the only proper thing is to meet back in Baghdad in a year's time for a second edition of the Open.

Another golfer on the course, Clifford McDaid, a security consultant from Northern Ireland, smacked his tee shot 30 yards beyond the pin on the third hole. The ball hit one of the concrete blast walls and bounced back to within only a few feet of the cup.

"It's Baghdad rules, mate,'' he said to his golfing partner. "This is some crazy golf.''