We establish our own goals in life. We ascribe meaning to events, people and places that few others will ever care about. We live and die with 99.99% of the world never knowing our name, our impact, our face.
So on Friday, June 17, I set out to finish the second of 30 items on my "30 Before 30" list knowing that it held a large amount of meaning for me.
I had no idea if it was physically possible to walk 100 holes of golf in one day but I was going to try.
I made some Facebook posts, put a sign up at Bear Creek Golf Course in Forest City and asked some others for donations...in the end I raised over $300 for the American Cancer Society.
To be honest, though, the thrill of this day was only because I had placed a lot of meaning on this goal. There was also a thrill in not knowing if I would be able to complete the day.
I began playing at 4:40 in the morning in darkness. The grass was extremely wet with dew because of the humidity.
I played the first four holes with a glow ball and managed to make all bogeys in the darkness.
Oh, I should mention my established "rules" for the day:
- I have to walk from tee to green for 100 holes at Bear Creek Golf Course...only accepting a shuttle cart ride from the 500 yard walk from hole 10 to 11 and also between a couple other long distances between tees.
- I have to break 90 in all five full rounds from the white tees.
- I have to play the entire 100 holes in a single day.
- I have to play the entire 18 holes at Bear Creek for the five rounds and can play the last 10 holes on the front nine.
In order to keep my bag as light as possible, I only carried 11 clubs in a Ping "pencil" bag that is very light and has no stand. I also only carried 3-4 golf balls, a few tees and a bottle of water. I would reload with golf balls and drinks when I passed my vehicle.
As I finished my first round, my parents came to shuttle me from 10 to 11. I had played the front nine in under 1 hour and felt great. The only issue was how wet the grass was...it was causing me to have trouble gripping the club as my glove got wet.
My mom and dad brought me a breakfast sandwich and followed me as I played #10 and then shuttled me from 10 to 11.
I saw a person walking when I got to #16 and told her about my plans for the day. She kept walking around the back nine and I played my last 3 holes of the first round thinking that I was easily going to finish 18 holes of golf well before I would normally be arriving at work for the day.
I ended up shooting 81 for the first 18 playing it in 2 hours and 12 minutes. Walking!
Rounds 2 and 3 went very well...I changed my shoes after round 2 and in round 3 I started thinking about how I was going to handle the chaffing issue. The answers ended up involving baby powder, compression shorts and Vaseline...fun stuff!
I shot 84 in round two. I made my first birdie on hole #3 of round 3 with a 2 and shot 84 in round three as well.
My co-workers and dad had lunch with me from Noon to 1 pm in the clubhouse and then I headed back out to the golf course. My dad had played part of the morning rounds with me and he continued to play with for a few more holes.
During round 4, the chaffing was getting pretty bad and it was making me walk a little funny. In round 4, I also noticed that cramping could be an issue at some point as my legs were starting to get a little twitchy.
I played my best round of the day with an 80 in round four including three birdies in the round.
As I finished round four, I simply had to take a break to shower, rehydrate and put on compression shorts.
It was getting really difficult to walk and on #18 I had a minor cramp in my calf muscle.
I went to my parents house to shower and then sat on the couch for a 15-minute rest. My mom was telling me to just play the front nine to finish and my dad finally said, "Josh, let's go to the course before you fall asleep."
It was good that my dad was there to push me along!
Round five was a blur. I would hit the ball without caring, put my bag on my shoulder and saunter to the next shot. The golf was definitely not very fun at this point and I was getting very sore and extremely tired.
A couple friends joined me during parts of round five and the final 10 holes. I shot 88 on the final full round that included a 9 on hole #17 with my swing getting very goofy.
The last ten holes were a struggle but I was so happy that I was almost done! I knew that I was going to make it and incredible my pace had barely slowed down at all throughout the day.
For the final 10 holes, I only carried four clubs along and didn't even use my bag.
All five of my rounds were played in under 2.5 hours even though each round felt successively slower.
As I finished my 100th hole of golf at around 8:30 pm, I "fake collapsed" on the green for the picture above.
I walked back to the clubhouse and entered the dining room to a round of applause and lots of questions about my day.
I sat up at the bar and a couple people were nice enough to buy me a beer and my dinner - buffalo wings and onion rings!
I was grateful to the people who had donated to the American Cancer Society. Grateful for the friends who had played with me during the day. Grateful to my parents for their support and encouragement. And grateful to all my friends on Facebook and Twitter who had shown an interest in what I was doing.
I drove to my parents house to fill them in on the end of my day and ended up falling asleep on their couch.
We establish our own goals in life. We ascribe meaning to events, people and places that few others will ever care about.
But we care about our goals. We place great emphasis on random things. How our lawn looks or how good our golf game is. The kind of clothes we wear or the color of the cars we drive.
I felt a strong sense of fulfillment based on a day of my own making. A day of my own imagination. And that is a truly magical thing...in fact, it is what life is all about.
Enjoy the ride (but not in a golf cart),
Damm
If you would like to donate to my efforts to raise money for the American Cancer Society, click here.
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