It sounds like heaven but wound up feeling closer to an endurance test until the final putt dropped: playing golf non-stop for 24 hours.
Seven golfers recently signed up for the quest, which was deliberately timed for the night of a full moon that turned out to be both a supermoon and lunar eclipse. Teeing off at 10am on May 26 and finishing at 10am on the 27th, the septet completed anything between 110 and 128 holes at Brisbane’s Victoria Park Golf Course, toiling on with nothing more than brief stops to eat, drink, change shirts or socks and catch their breath.
“I turn 50 this year and the plan was to go to Iceland or Scandinavia and play for 24 hours, but COVID took care of that,” said Lachlan Begg, who first floated the ambitious concept. “So I thought, Why not save $10,000 or $15,000 and do it in Australia at night? I also heard Victoria Park Golf Course was closing and thought, What a fitting farewell to the golf course.”
Victoria Park gave its support and, as a volunteer with children’s cancer charity Redkite, Begg had a logical beneficiary to weave into his mission. In all, they raised more than $26,000 with donations still coming in.
Originally set to include four golfers – Begg, Chris Burgess, Brandon Mitchell and Adam Thompson – the quartet attempting to go the full 24 hours became seven when PGA professionals Tim Lynch, Anthony Newey and Tim Porter jumped on board. On top of that, 23 more golfers joined in sporadically for a varying number of holes.
There were, of course, logistical issues to navigate. First was the field of golfers already booked in to play at Victoria Park. ‘The Magnificent Seven’ didn’t want to put a halt to the usual golf operations of the busy complex, so the first 18 holes took closer to four hours than the three they’d budgeted for. And come nightfall, their golf took on a completely different complexion. Pace of play was no longer an issue in the dark but adjusting to fluorescent balls was not easy. Some didn’t work (they used 82 balls in all), others malfunctioned, while they didn’t travel as far as regular golf balls.
Begg’s brother-in-law Peter Aitken flew in from Melbourne to act as support crew, while Victoria Park leant its support wherever possible. The ‘all-nighter’ golfers set up headquarters that they came to know as their 19th hole and would break there briefly after each 18 to savour a beer (zero-alcohol ones in this instance).
“We’re golfers, so we kept with our traditions.”
After a quick attire change, back out they went. They played the first two rounds in daylight, three rounds in darkness and most of the final 18 in morning light. Scores were kept on the back of a flattened carton of Heineken beer known as “The Computer”. The numbers drifted north during the nighttime rounds, although Porter shot a remarkable seven-under 58 in his final lap.
There was not a golf cart in sight and each were smart about limiting the weight of their golf bags to cover Victoria Park’s hilly terrain. Begg used a lightweight travel bag aboard a push buggy and left his umbrella and wet-weather gear at their 19th-hole headquarters. He went further, though, carrying only five clubs: driver, 6-iron, 9-iron, sand wedge and a putter.
It was certainly no walk in the park, with temperamental fluorescent balls and fatigue rearing like an ever-present spectre the longer the night went.
“Between 3am and 6am was the worst,” says Begg, who clocked 55 kilometres. “It was just ongoing and we were getting tired. Fortunately we had different people come and join us throughout the 24 hours, including Ian Healy for two stints.”
Indeed, the former Test wicketkeeper’s second visit came at 3am before his shift on breakfast radio.
Meanwhile, the unreliable fluorescent balls would on occasion ‘go out’ – sometimes mid-stroke on a putt. Others didn’t stay round, or the internal light would die straight after impact. “We gave a free drop on that one,” Begg says. “We also found the fluorescent balls finished 30 to 40 metres short of where you’d normally be.”
The six rounds were completed about 30 minutes before the full 24 hours was up, so they pushed on for a few more holes to maintain the integrity of the 24-hour concept.
You might be wondering how soon afterwards these intrepid golfers ventured back onto a course. Well, after finishing at 10am on the Thursday, Begg and Thompson were at Wantima Country Club on the Saturday morning, albeit in a cart.
“And Thommo had 39 points and won the comp!”
Will they pull the all-nighter again?
“Absolutely,” Begg confirms. “And I’d invite other clubs to participate as well.”
Until July 31, our readers can continue to donate to Redkite in the name of the “24 Hour Golf Challenge” at redkite.org.au
