33: Marathon Golfing (1874-2019)

By Davy Crockett  For more than a century there has been a “sport” involving combining ultrarunning with golf. No, this isn’t a joke. In 2016, Karl Meltzer of Utah, who has more 100-mile trail wins than anyone, set a world 12-hour speed golfing record of 230 holes, covering about 100 kms in the process. This created attention in ultrarunning circles, and we were left to wonder, how long has such a thing been going on? Running my local golf course What has been called “Marathon Golf” is the art of playing as many rounds or holes as possible in a certain amount of time, usually a day (24 hours), recording strokes for each round. Golf purists have despised this activity over the years. Ultrarunners are amused and fascinated by it. In 1923 a marathon golf frenzy spread across America and again in 1934 several athletes were contending furiously for the world record. How many miles is covered by playing a golf round? It depends on the length of the course of 18 holes. Today's courses average about 6,500 yards. When I run every hole of my local 7,000-yard golf course straight line using a GPS, the distance comes to about 5.5 miles. Today for the average course, an average distance for a round is probably about five miles. Years ago, before golf technology improved, average courses were shorter with a length closer to 4.5 miles. There were, and still are, very short nine-hole courses where playing 18 holes could be as short as 3 miles. Birth in Scotland It is believed that marathon golfing was born in Scotland on a bet. In 1874, an Aberdeen Scotland golfer, W. G. Bloxom, wagered that he could play twelve rounds, 180 holes, on a short 15-hole, 2.3-mile course, and then walk ten more miles, all in 24 hours (about 38 miles total). He won the wager. Musselburgh Links. One of the world's oldest golf courses Bloxom found something he was very good at. Next, he played 16 rounds (96 holes) of the Musselburgh Links nine-hole course, for about 35 miles, against Bob Fergerson. They started at 6 a.m. and finished at 7 p.m. Bloxom averaged a score of 40 for the nine-hole rounds and won five pounds. While the Scots were perfecting their marathon golf skills, a golfer in Canada also wanted to golf an entire day. On June 19, 1906, Canadian, Leveson Gower, of the Ottawa Golf Club completed seven rounds (126 holes) in one day, starting at 3:45 a.m., finishing at 7:30 p.m. His average score was 97, and he covered about 32 miles on a very hot day. English point-to-point matches Maidstone Littlestone-on- Sea In 1898, two English golfers successfully golfed a 35-mile cross-country hole from Maidstone to Littlestone-on-Sea. A wager of five pounds was placed that it couldn’t be done in less than 2,000 strokes. T. H. Oyler and A.G. Oyler took up the wager and a student at Cambridge served as the umpire to keep score, “although if he knew the large amount of monotonous work attached to it, it is very doubtful if he would have accepted it.” The golfers took clubs with them along with about a half-gallon of balls that were newly painted, carried in a bag. Progress in the morning across fields was slow with hazards of hedges and ditches. After lunch, they played the road rather than across fields. But the balls tended to roll into the ditches on the side of the road, so they returned to the fields and woods. They stopped for the night and were back at it the next day. While on a farm, the owner demanded to know what they were doing on his land. “We’re playing golf.” He replied, “I just request you to leave as quickly as possible.” Difficulties include strong winds and a high fence that took five strokes to get over. On the third day, one of the golfers explained, “Twice our ball hit a sheep and we were frequently in small ditches, but could generally play out.” The challenge was accomplished in 1,087 strokes, 17 lost balls, and 72 penalty strokes. One critic stated,