Going 10 rounds at Victoria Park for Charity

HOW I COMPLETED MY 24 HOUR CHALLENGE

Round 1 | Round 2 | Round 3 | Round 4 | Round 5

Round 6 | Round 7 | Round 8 | Round 9 | Round 10

Scorecard | Key Stats

WITH SPECIAL THANKS TO

VICTORIA PARK AND THE ACUSHNET COMPANY

FOR THEIR SUPPORT OF THE CHALLENGE.

A tap-in for par on the 180th hole is all that I had left to complete the challenge. A challenge that was 4 months in the making, but one that would take a massive 24 hours to complete. In the end it was all a bit overwhelming. With a couple of cameras and video phones fixed on me as I holed out my last shot, I couldn’t hold back the tears. I raised my hands above my head and looked back at my uncle videoing me and said “This is for you, Mum.” I did it with five minutes to spare.

Sitting at home less than 36 hours after completing my marathon challenge, legs still sore and feet covered in blisters, I feel a sense of achievement like I've not felt before. I have completed what is easily the hardest thing I have ever done, and with it experienced the most excruciating pain ever in my life. But the pain is sweet and satisfying. After all, this was the whole point of the exercise; to put my mind and body through a gruelling 24 hour torture test and hopefully come out the other side in one piece.

This is easily the toughest thing I have ever attempted and it is an experience I will remember and treasure for the rest of my life. I am extremely thankful to all those who helped put the event together, especially Joel Grant from Victoria Park and the Volunteers from QIMR who collected money on the day. I must also not forget those who supported me during the day and night, by either playing a round with me or simply following me around the course for moral support. In particular I must thank my close friends Brendon Forster and Michael Keating, and my uncle Darryl, all of whom followed me for moral support during the night hours when I was struggling and at times pulled my golf bag when I lacked the strength to pull it myself.

I have documented the events for the day, including scoring statistics, food and drink consumption, and round duration, along with some highlights from each round. I would like to share this amazing experience with you...

My Inspiration

My mother was diagnosed with breast cancer in May 2011. She is currently undergoing chemotherapy with one more treatment remaining. The prognosis is good for her, she will survive this. She is a strong and brave woman, and was fortunate enough to find the cancer thanks to her self monitoring and having regular mamograms since the age of 40. Every two years she has been having her breast checked, but it was between checks that the cancer developed rather aggressively in a short period of time. In the space of a year, 5 lumps had developed, and with the invasive nature of the cancer had spread to her lymph nodes. The 5 tumours were not discovered until after the breast was removed, with doctors only previously knowing of two.

  

This should serve as a reminder to all women that it is never too early to get checked for breast cancer and the importance of regular checks.

The day begins - Friday September 23, 2011

At 4am and my alarm sounds on my phone sitting on the bedside table. I jumped straight out of bed and it was ‘GO TIME’. A quick shower and shave, a cup of tea and bowl of cereal, pack the car with all my gear and by 5 o’clock I was off to the course. A little nervous as reality started to sink in, I realized I was about to embark on the craziest thing I had ever attempted. I asked myself, “Can I really do this?”

I arrived at Victoria Park and there was little fuss. Nick Flaskas and Allen Hill were already in the shop; Nick having breakfast in preparation and Allen getting me all pumped up for the day. I unpacked everything out of the car, shoes, socks, clubs, food and water, and took it all into the golf shop. I put my golf shoes on and hit a few balls on the range to warm up, along with some very important stretching exercises of course. Nick joined me on the range to hit a few balls, and after a few easy swings we were ready.

Nick and I waited out the front of the shop and at 5:50am Richard Weatherhead rocked up. We introduced ourselves to each other; Richard, a regular to Vic Park, had donated $200 to QIMR to play a round with me. Anne, a journalist from ABC Radio, arrived just before 6am and we all made our way to the first tee.

A sign stood by the side of the tee notifying other golfers for the day of my challenge, with a polite request to let me through should they see me. We stood on the teeing ground waiting for the live cross to Spencer Howsen in the studio. With the morning news and traffic taking up the first few minutes, we finally went live on air around 6:07. After a five minute interview with Anne it was time…I hit my first shot and the challenge had begun.

Ding ding ding, Round 1

We walked down the fairway, Nick, Rich and myself, as if it were just another game of golf. Except this time I wasn’t too fussed with my score, rather the speed at which we play. We had a few people following, in particular a close friend of mine Brendon who caddied for me in several tournaments in the past, but this time he didn’t pull the bag. He knew I wanted to pull it.

A soft bogey to start with, followed by seven pars and a birdie, we completed the first nine holes in a little over an hour, me with a score of even par. It was already warming up and the jumpers had come off. A bottle and a half of water and a protein bar consumed in the first 9 holes, I knew that nutrition and hydration was going to be paramount if I was to make it through the day.

One of the maintenance staff, Tyson, from Vic Park was following the group in a cart. He was just getting a feel for what he would later, as he was assigned the task of following me through the night for company and security.

The final nine holes were completed without fuss, though Rich was forced to leave after 14 holes due to work commitments. I managed two more birdies and finished with a bogey for a one-under-par total 62 on the short but undulating Victoria Park layout. One round down…nine to go, and I was feeling good. It was 8:22am and I was ahead of schedule.

Round duration – 2 hours 22 minutes

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KEY STATS FROM THE DAY

8:37am - Round 2

I restocked the golf bag with bottles of water and Gatorade, and was handed a food pack by Joel containing two apples, two bananas and a chicken wrap from the Caddy Shack. Joel Grant is the marketing guru who helped me put the event together, but he certainly outdid himself by arranging all the food and drinks I wanted (more like required) for the day. As it turned out, this was easily the most important thing he was able to arrange for me for the day, as clearly I had underestimated what I would require.

I played the second round on my own, in amongst other golfers on the course who were kind enough to let me through at times. Although I got off to a good start, it didn’t take long for the body to begin to fatigue. It was hot and I was wearing long pants and a dark coloured shirt and sweating profusely.

It was 9:40am when I finished the first nine holes and I ran back to the pro shop to change my clothes. I changed into shorts and a light-weight pale blue shirt, put on a fresh pair of socks and immediately I felt refreshed.

My scoring in this round was not so good. I made a couple of bogeys and a double-bogey on the back nine and finished the round 4-over par. Halfway through the round I could feel the swing begin to fatigue, but I couldn’t worry about that. I just needed to make sure I kept my fluids and food up.

Round duration – 2 hours 1 minute

10:46am - Round 3

I strolled back to the first tee and the social play on the course was starting to build up. A group of 4 was on the tee waiting for the green to clear; it’s a par 4 of 284 metres, slightly downhill and reachable for the tee shot. The gents allowed me to play through and the group at the green called me up. Brendon didn’t follow me for the second round but had hung around at the Caddy Shack, doing some business, waiting for me to come through after my second round. He followed me to the tee but was about to leave to go to work, not before watching me hit my tee shot. I teed up my ball and with 4 guys standing on the green looking back at me to see where I hit it, I fired this thing straight as an arrow directly at the centre of the green. Only one of the guys on the green saw the ball in flight as the other three covered their heads with the hands, turning their backs to me hoping the ball didn’t hit them. The ball landed just feet from the flag, missing all the players and rolling through the back of the green. This was easily the best shot I’d hit for the day, but there would still be more to come. Brendon had the biggest smile on his face after watching this shot. He loved it, and on that note wished me luck promising to catch up with me later.

1:31pm - Round 4 and the ‘Hot Streak’ continues

Seven and a half hours into the challenge and I was hitting some pretty good shots considering how much golf I’d already played. I had just played the previous round without any bogeys and I started the 4th round in similar fashion making a nice birdie on the first. I was really enjoying my time with Kris, who continued to play with me and had said he would stay until about 3 or 4pm before going to work.

I followed my birdie on the first with five consecutive pars, and then hit a 3-wood on the par-4 7th, a 245m downhill hole with a huge bank up the left side and drop-off on the right side of the green. For safety I’ve aimed left of the green, struck the shot pure, landed it about 20 metres left of the green using the slope to perfection with my ball bouncing down the hole to within 30 feet of the hole. I sink the putt for eagle. I finished the front nine 3-under par without any bogeys.

On the 11th hole I received a phone call from the ABC studio wanting to do a follow-up interview to see how I was going. I decided to plug my earphones into my phone so I could walk and hit shots while I spoke with them. The interview went well, however I was distracted somewhat and 3-putted the 12th hole for a bogey. I managed 28 holes without a bogey until this point, which was the longest stretch for the day by far. I had one more birdie on the back nine for a 2-under total of 61.

By the end of the round Kris had to leave to go to work. He played 27 holes with me and had been great company. We’d spoken about all kinds of stuff to keep my mind occupied, and to keep my mind off the heat. Rounds 3 and 4 were during what I believe was the hottest and hardest part of the daylight hours. I had been sweating profusely and on several occasions had filled my hat with water, tipping it over my head in order to cool my head. I could really feel my head burning. I had also applied 3 layers of sunscreen over the last three rounds, making sure I didn’t get sun burnt.

Round duration – 2 hours 26 minutes

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4:14pm - Round 5 and it was “Go Go Gadget Speed Golf”

I was on my own again and because of the time of day there was hardly a soul on the course. I figured this was an opportunity to get well ahead of my schedule with this round.

In preparing for the day, I gave myself a timeframe to stick to in order to complete the 10 rounds in the allotted 24 hours. I figured that, with traffic on the course and other golfers joining me throughout the day, I could complete each ‘day round’ in three hours and the ‘night rounds’ in two hours. I had a practice round at night just two weeks earlier and managed to get around in 90 minutes, so I stuck with the fact that given no one else was on the course at night, I would be able to get around much faster than during the day.

I was already ahead of schedule for the day, as I was scheduled only to complete four rounds during the day. With another hour and a half of daylight, the race was on to try and complete another round before the sun went down, putting me a whole round in front of where I’d expected to be.

So off I went, and boy did I race around. This was my fastest round for the day, and I was a bit disappointed no one was with me for the front nine to witness the golf. From the 4th hole I carded birdie, birdie, birdie, eagle, birdie, which on the card reads 3, 2, 2, 2, 4. It was awesome golf.

Joel turned up in a cart on the 14th hole to watch the rest of my round as I race to beat the sunset. He watched me birdie four of the last five holes, which included what looked like a lip-out for a hole-in-one on the 17th hole. Joel and I laughed in amazement as my hot round continued. My final birdie on the 18th hole got me in just before dark, and with a score of 8-under par 55…my lowest score for the day, which included in it 9 birdies, an eagle, and three bogeys. It was an extremely surreal experience and a lot of fun too.

I was now time for a rest, because by this stage, I was completely buggered!

Round duration – 1 hour 35 minutes

6:29pm - Round 6 and the night golf begins

A 30 minute break after five rounds, I thought, was well deserved. I had played an extra round than what I had anticipated and was officially at the half-way point both in number of rounds and in time. Joel had arranged a meal for me as we sat in the Caddy Shack and spoke briefly about the day so far. Alicia from QIMR was there also, so too my next playing partner Georgia McKeon. They all watched as I scoffed down half a gourmet pizza, the only unhealthy food I happened to eat all day, but boy was it good.

Georgia and I made our way to the first tee, by now the sunlight had completed disappeared, and waiting at the tee was a cavalry of staff from Victoria Park with all of the night golf equipment. They had a golf cart and a truck rigged with lights to light the green and fairways for us, but after testing this out we felt it took away from the experience and decided not to use them.

We had two dozen night balls, glow sticks on the flag stick so we could see where our target was, and also some glow bands than we hooped around our wrists and golf bags so we could see where each other was and where we might have left our bags if we had to walk away from them. A couple additional bands also came in handy to put in the cup when putting, the idea being that it would illuminate the hole making it visible. I also had with me hundred of tees, because from me experience a couple weeks earlier in my practice round, I realized it was nearly impossible to find any tees after each tee shot. So after about 10 minutes of discussions about safety, the equipment, and also Tyson’s role in following us around for the night, we were ready to go.

I teed my ball up, giving it a love tap on my club just prior to initiate the light in the ball, and was ready to start the second half of my challenge. Everyone watched as I let fire with driver down the first fairway, none of them seeing these balls in flight at night. They were all amazed at the sight of seeing this golf ball fly through the pitch black sky; it was easier to see than a normal white ball during the day. The ball landed and rolled into the greenside bunker; by now a couple of the guys were laughing at how amazing this was, having never seen anything like it. I must say, if you ever get the chance to play night golf, give it a go. It is a real treat.

Georgia hits her tee shot and we were off. It was as we were walking down the first fairway that it became apparent to us both how much more difficult it was to negotiating the hills and slopes on the golf course. It was nearly full moon during my practice round, but on this night it was close to New Moon so it was pitch black. The wrist bands provided a bit of light for us to see where we were going, but even still we had to really focus on where we were putting our feet. It was just another part of the challenge.

Georgia and I finish the first three holes in good time, but on the 4th tee we are met by a cameraman from Channel 7. There we stayed for about 45 minutes while he conducts an interview and gets a number of clips of me hitting balls and walking around my bag, trying to piece together a sequence to go on the news the next night. That was definitely an experience I will not forget, however it did take up some precious time and had put me back to only being about 9 holes ahead of schedule. So without further ado, we were off again.

The round was completed in just less than three hours, the longest round for the day, and now I was only 30 minutes ahead of schedule. Georgia really enjoyed the experience of playing golf at night and I was happy she was able to be a part of it whilst also supporting QIMR.

Round duration – 2 hours 52 minutes

9:30pm - Round 7

My good friend Michael Keating was waiting for me as I played the 18th hole of round 6. I’ve known him since I started work at RQ in 2004 and he caddied for me during pennant seasons for several years, along with a couple of amateur tournaments. He was quick to help and wanted to pull my bag for me for the next round, and I couldn’t say no. I was beginning to feel pretty tired by this stage so a rest from pulling was just what the doctor ordered.

Again I restocked with food and drinks from the golf shop before making our way to the first tee. It was just me playing now and I wanted to make up time. Michael was now pulling the bag and we had Tyson following in the golf cart.

I was due to have another gentlemen join me during the night for a round. He arrived at Vic Park at 10pm and was brought out to the 7th tee by Sven, one of the shop staff, in a cart. I had never met Ben before, but we had sent messages to each other by phone in preparing for the round. I was impressed with Ben forethought to bring one of those LED lights that strapped around his head to light up the whole area around him. This was definitely a smart thing to do, especially with the severe undulations on parts of the golf course.

I explained to Ben two rules I had made for the night golf; the first being that if the light went out in ball after hitting it and you couldn’t see where it went, then you would simply replay the shot without penalty; the second rule was with reference to bunkers, allowing preferred lie if the ball lay in a footprint. Without delay we continued with the round.

I had gotten off to a rough start with the score for this round, but I managed to birdie the first hole with Ben, much to his delight. But the scoring went downhill again. It was during this round that I started to feel severe pain in my feet and legs. I could feel areas under both my feet and some of my toes starting to blister, and my body was starting to tingle in areas simply because I was tired. I also found myself yawning a lot.

We finished the round a bit before midnight and Michael said goodbye as he headed home. I was very thankful for his support and efforts in pulling my bag for the round. Ben had only played 12 holes with me and was still keen to play some more.

Round duration – 2 hours 8 minutes

11:50pm - Round 8

Another quick restock of drinks in the golf shop and I was ready to go again. This time, I had taken a Red Bull for the road, just in case. I figured I had three rounds left and pretty much had to complete them each in no more than two hours. I was tired and lacking energy so the hope was that a small can of Red Bull would help give me a burst of energy if I needed it, which I did on the 7th hole.

Ben and I were making reasonable time, but it is interesting to note that my mental arithmetic at this point in the night wasn’t too good. At midnight, I thought that I had five hours to complete three rounds, meaning that I had to complete each round in about 1hour 40minutes. Obviously I was wrong, but it wasn’t until the next round that I would figure this out.

Ben and I spoke about a number of things; I was curious about his golfing and personal background and was interested to hear that he was a Minister, or Vicar, if my memory serves me correctly. He asked me about my mother and how she was doing with everything she has been through, as he had heard in the lead up to the event my motivation behind the challenge. He asked what her name was, how tall she is, what colour hair, all just to get a picture for himself about the woman. But it was a simple question at one point during the night that had me completely lost for words…”What is your best memory of your mother?” I went blank. I couldn’t concentrate on just one, I had many! It was at about this point in the night that the realization of my emotions and what I was about to achieve had started to sink in.

After the 9th hole, which was actually his 21st hole, Ben headed off and I finished the round by myself with Tyson following. It was at this point that I decided to start jogging between shots to make up time. I can remember climbing up the hill to the 13th green, I nicknamed this ‘Heartbreak Hill’, because this thing was a beast. I reckon that I could have touched the grass with my nose as I pulled my bag up this hill. As I climber it for the 8th time I can remember thinking to myself “only two more to go!” The rest of the round was pretty straight forward from there and quick to complete.

Round duration – 1 hour 48 minutes

1:56am Saturday - Round 9: So close but yet so far

Kris had finished work and come back to Vic Park to follow me around for a bit, catching up with me at the 14th green. He was keen to give this night golf a go too so we decided he’d join me for the next round, but as I was jogging between shots he had to make sure he would keep up. As mentioned in the last round, my mental calculations were somewhat off and I thought I was running behind schedule and needing to finish the final two rounds in three hours. It wasn’t until Kris pointed out my error that I realized I was wrong, and in fact had four hours. This was quite funny because by this stage I was in agony and couldn’t quite walk properly. I was glad there was only three hours left, it meant I was close to the finish, but now that Kris had corrected me it was like the world was going to end…”Great, I still have four hours to go.” Not as close to the end as I thought.

It was around 2:30am when Kris and I reach the 7th tee, and at the same time two carts arrive from the shop with Brendon returning and my uncle Darryl (Daz) joining as he had just finished work. These guys would follow me for the rest of the challenge, by foot. At 3am Nick Flaskas was due to join me again to play out the remainder of the morning, but I was supposed to be starting the 10th and final round at this stage so he decided to walk instead of play.

At the end of the front nine Kris had to leave. He ended up playing 36 holes in total with me during the day, with nine of them being at night. When he left, it was now just me playing by myself but with Tyson, Brendon, Nick and Daz following me. My uncle is a real character, with a dry sense of humour very similar to mine, which came in handy for the rest of the morning. With comments like “Come on Josh, what’s your bloody problem?” and “Can’t walk ay, anyone would think you’d be playing golf all day”, he really kept my spirits alive. When he told me a guy at work told him I was “Crazy and wouldn’t get the 10 rounds in”, it served as great motivation to get through the last two rounds.

At 3:51, I complete the penultimate round. One to go!!!

3:58am Saturday - The final countdown

I was completely buggered. No longer could I walk properly, my strides were half their normal length and I couldn’t jog. My feet were aching like I had never felt before. I could feel a number of blisters on my feet and was afraid to take my shoes off because of the swelling. I was tired, exhausted...just absolutely spent. But I still had one round to go and I was so close.

I don’t remember much from this round. I guess I was just so focused on each shot because by now my swing was tired and I was miss-hitting quite a number of shots. Brendon and Nick were keen to hit a few shots during the final round simply to experience night golf for themselves, but they didn’t play out too many holes. They were both quite happy to hit a couple of drives and a couple iron shots, maybe finishing out a three or four holes though very mindful of my need to finish the round in around two hours. They certainly didn't want to hold me up.

By now I had given Brendon my scorecard so he could record my scores. If I didn’t do it every hole I couldn’t remember what I had.

I was extremely happy to finish the 13th hole. I had climbed Heartbreak Hill for the last time. After playing the 14th hole, there was enough sunlight for me to use normal golf balls again for the final four holes.

Allen Hill came out to the course to watch my final few holes, catching up with us at the 16th green. He had his camera out taking some photos and video of me completing the last couple holes.

The final hole. Hole 18, my 180th for the day. It was starting to sink in. I struck a pure 9 iron straight at the pin, but it came up quite short though it was on the green. I walked up to the green carrying only my putter, my eyes starting to water. I hit the putt from all of 40feet from the hole, and it came to rest six inches from the hole.

As I walked up the length of the green to my ball, I reflected on the last 24 hours and the fact that I was about to complete my challenge. Then I thought of why I was doing this. I thought of Mum, and my emotions were getting the better of me.

With a tear rolling down my cheek, I tapped the ball in for a par on the 180th hole at 5:55am on that Saturday morning. I had just completed the toughest challenge of my life.

Round duration - 1 hour 57 minutes