First Tee Golf nuts
‘We played five courses,
in five countries in five days’
Bob Warner and Andy Norris golfed across Britain in a camper van
We played four rounds in a day last
year for the Macmillan longest day and
decided to do something even bigger this
year. first, we decided to increase it to five
rounds in a day. But then we came up with
the idea to do that for five days in a row... in
five different countries.
It sounded easy. But it tested our mental
and physical powers to the limit. Not
surprising when you consider we played 25
rounds, walked 125 miles (no buggies) and
travelled over 1,000 miles.
a lot of people thought we were bonkers,
but we saw it as a once-in-a-lifetime
challenge and never wavered after coming up
with the idea. We started at dawn at concra
Wood gc in the republic of Ireland, drove
overnight to Belfast, got the ferry to stranraer,
played in scotland before heading to Wales
and finished in england. It was gruelling.
We’re just about catching up on our lost
sleep, having mustered three hours a night on
average as a result of teeing it up from dawn
➔
‘A lot of people
thought we
were bonkers
but we sAw
it As A oncein-A-lifetime
chAllenge’
22 is sue 327 Todaysgolfer .co.uk
until dusk to make the most of the light.
We virtually lived on cereal bars, bacon
baps and energy drinks, and didn’t have the
time or energy to eat properly. We can’t
believe we actually went to Ireland and didn’t
have a single guinness – practically a crime!
some of our stats included:
n Balls lost: 110 (including 40 on day one!)
n Hours of sleep in the week: 15
n Hours playing golf: 82
n Distance walked: 125 miles
n Plasters used on blisters: 22
n Distance travelled: 432 miles by car; 104
by ferry; 525 by motorhome. 1,061 in total
n Most used club (excluding putter): We
played two rounds with just an 8-iron and
putter to save carrying our bags
Andy (left) and
Bob celebrate
after their 25th
and final round.
n Food & drink consumed: 60 cereal
bars; 16 bacon sandwiches; 54 energy drinks.
n The golf: 2,450 shots (Bob), 2,469 (andy).
It was all very surreal. obviously we’re
proud to have done it, but at times, often
during the fifth day when we hadn’t eaten
properly and were tired and physically shot
to pieces, we questioned our sanity.
for one round we were so tired we just
used an 8-iron and a putter to save weight.
Thankfully our bodies coped pretty well and
we avoided injuries, but we were extremely
relieved to reach the final green on the final
day. We finished at our local course, Three
locks gc in Buckinghamshire.
after that there was a surge of emotion,
adrenaline, relief and achievement, especially
as it was shared with our family, friends and
sponsors. We’re hoping to raise £10,000 for
two charities, the seve foundation and
cancer research uk (Bob’s sister-in-law, like
seve, lost her battle with a brain tumour). so
we were driven to succeed, and we did.
Their five-day trek across Britain
Day one
concra Wood gc,
co Monaghan, Ireland.
Day two
Hilton Templepatrick,
near Belfast, N Ireland.
Day three
dunskey course at
Portpatrick, dumfries
& galloway, scotland.
Day four
llandudno Maesdu,
North Wales.
Day five
final five rounds at
Three locks, Bucks.
3
2
1
4
5