GOLF: PHILIP REIDon how what started out as beer talk at the 19th hole after a round of golf became a plan of campaign for two golfing buddies: to play a round of golf every day for a year – 365 rounds – all around the world
THE TWO adopted Kiwis have been barrelling around the byroads of this island of ours in a borrowed car for the past couple of weeks with just over a fortnight more ahead of them. Jamie Patton and Michael Goldstein – corporate lawyers by profession, golfers by inclination – are on an odyssey which is so fanciful that, firstly, you’d question their sanity and, then, you allow the green-eyed monster of envy to creep into your psyche.
What started out as beer talk at the 19th hole after a round of golf became a plan of campaign: to play a round of golf every day for a year – 365 rounds – all around the world.
The first shot was, naturally enough, hit on January 1st at Kauri Cliffs at Cape Kidnappers – a famed course in New Zealand overlooking the Pacific – and their golfing escapades since then have taken Patton – originally from Scotland – and Goldstein on a journey of discovery through New Zealand, Australia, the United States, Scotland and, now, Ireland.
Eight months and a bit gone, just under four months to go.
England, Wales, England (again), Dubai, Singapore, Australia (Perth-Melbourne-Tasmania) and a return home to New Zealand for a month-long finale in December all lie ahead to complete the globetrotting golfing itinerary for the wanderlust duo.
In a brave move which only two 25-year-olds could make, both gave up their jobs as corporate lawyers to embark on their globetrotting – with any money raised going in its entirety to The First Tee (New Zealand) – which has seen them use a wide variety of accommodation, ranging from couch-surfing in strangers’ houses (as word of their travels was picked up by followers on their website www.puregolf2010.com) to staying in bed and breakfasts, and, on occasions, in luxury five-star hotels (on invitation only!).
Since arriving in Ireland on August 27th, Patton and Goldstein have played Royal Belfast (“a real treat”), Portadown (where Jamie’s father hails from), Ardglass, Royal County Down (“the most magnificent links in the world”), Portstewart and Portrush in the North before moving on to Donegal – Ballyliffin, the Glashedy and the Old, Rosapenna, Narin and Portnoo and Murvagh (yesterday) – in an anti-clockwise swing of the country that will see him play some of Ireland’s finest links and parkland courses as part of their odyssey.
“We’ve had so many different highlights on what has been an inspiring journey so far,” said Patton, who plays off a three-handicap to Goldstein’s two.
“Apart obviously from playing some of the world’s top courses, the best part has been meeting so many people along the way and sitting down at a dinner table in the homes of people who two days previously you didn’t know from a bar of soap.
“It’s been a privilege really.”
And, in confirming the idea was about more than just to play golf, there’s a concession from the duo that the first pint of Guinness in Ireland was one of the noteworthy events of the trip.
If you set out with the aim to keep cost as low as possible – hence the couch-surfing aspect to the road trip and Patton’s assertion they’ve only had to pay for four nights’ accommodation – there were surely times when the “I” was not dotted or the “T” crossed?
And, sure enough, the path has not always run smoothly for Patton and Goldstein.
Yet, through it all, they’ve successfully managed to keep to the plan of playing a daily round of golf (hitting over 37,000 strokes between them and travelling over 35,000 kilometres) even if there have been a few close calls.
So far, some of the problems which have arisen include snapping a car key in the ignition in the early days of the journey in New Zealand but, more threateningly, when lightning rolled in over South Carolina on June 6th (Michael’s birthday, so easily remembered) and the course they had originally intended to play was closed.
The hastily arranged fall-back plan was to jump into their van – aptly called “Dodgy” – in which they had travelled around the States to play in Hilton Head instead, only for the vehicle to seize up some 30 miles short of their destination.
They got there (courtesy of a tow truck) and then played a round in torrential rain (but no lightning) to keep on track in their quest to play each and every day.
Dodgy was purchased on their arrival in the States and was resold – the wonders of eBay – for a slight profit before they travelled across the Atlantic to continue their marathon.
The number and quality of the courses which the pair have played in their travels is quite honestly jaw-dropping.
Cypress Point. Riviera. Pine Valley. Quaker Ridge. Bethpage. Winged Foot. Kiawah Island. Muirfield.
St Andrews – and, of course, the Irish leg of their journey has taken them to our own famed links and parkland courses, with the likes of Lahinch, Ballybunion, Old Head, The European and Portmarnock all pencilled in as stop-offs in the coming days and weeks.
The germ for the idea in the first place came after Patton and Goldstein’s hockey team took an end-of-season golfing trip to Cape Kidnappers.
It was Goldstein who first suggested resigning from the day job to spent a year playing golf.
Two weeks later, they sent out some letters to golf clubs outlining what they proposed to do and, from the positive responses, decided to go for it.
“We thought that if we don’t do it, we’ll kick ourselves. If it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work,” recalled Patton.
Well, it has worked; and the only down part, as both men conceded, is the time spent away from family and friends . . . on that front, though, Goldstein’s girlfriend is due to hitch up with them this coming weekend, while – rather timely – another golfing friend, Bart de Vries, is also due to join them for a segment of the trip.
As a physiotherapist, de Vries will be most welcome as the golfing buddies have started to get some aches and pains from the amount of golf being played and, possibly, also the time spent on the road in the car which was loaned to them on their arrival in Scotland – where Patton has relations – and which must be returned before they head onwards to Dubai in November.
Any regrets about coming up with the idea in the first place and then going out and living it? None, on both fronts.
“For instance,” said Goldstein, “we’re playing Ballybunion next weekend after meeting a guy in New York . . . one of the best parts of all this is meeting up with the locals.”
As for the links golf which has been their staple since arriving in Ireland, Goldstein quipped, “It’s doing my head in, it’s so tough. There’s no such thing as standing over a shot and not thinking about it. The turf and the style of golf is quite different, you’re hitting it into sand dunes as opposed to hitting a tree (on parkland).”
While having the golfing time of their lives, the two friends decided to give it an underlying meaning by also raising funds for The First Tee – a global youth initiative using golf, which has a strong Irish section – and have set a target of raising NZ$100,000 (€56.000).
The pair continue the Irish leg of their odyssey by playing Co Sligo today before moving around the coast – and occasionally inland – finishing up in the Dublin area on September 22nd before heading across the Irish Sea to Lancashire and then down to Wales where they will take in the Ryder Cup.
Their journey won’t finish until their 365th successive round of golf on December 31st, with a series of fundraising initiatives back home to coincide with their arrival back in New Zealand for the final leg. By then, they’ll be among the most travelled of all golfing tourists. Somehow, corporate law won’t be the same again.
Irish Leg Itinerary
The proposed itinerary for the rest of the Irish leg of PureGolf2010
Today – Rosses Point
Tomorrow – Carne
Thursday, 9th – Doonbeg
Friday, 10th – Lahinch
Saturday, 11th – Ballybunion
Sunday, 12th – Killarney
Monday, 13th – Waterville
Tuesday, 14th – Dooks
Wednesday, 15th – Old Head
Thursday, 16th – Mount Juliet
Friday, 17th – Druids Glen
Saturday, 18th – The European
Sunday, 19th – Baltray
Monday, 20th – Portmarnock
Tuesday, 21st – The K Club
Wednesday, 22nd – Royal Dublin.
