Let’s go play golf. If you have ever read my blog you know that I play. I played growing up, I played in high school, I played in college, and I play any chance I get now. I love the sport and I breathe for the competition and the challenge that every round brings. I love watching it on TV, reading about it in magazines and books, and going to tournaments to see the pros hit shots I can only dream of.
One of the things that might shock the average player is that when I play I walk. I carry my clubs too. Most players, however, will take his or her clubs, throw them on a golf cart, grab a siz pack of beer, and head to the first tee. I take my game a lot more serious than that. I actually cannot tell you the last time I rode on the golf course. I loose so much from the round when I ride. You do not get the chance to one, get a sun tan, but two, to get a true feel for the course. Walking also lets me prepare for my next shot and to think about my last shot. Oh yeah, and I do not drink when I play, either.
But there is a golf course that is opening in the outback that does not give that luxury. This golf course, The Nullarbor Links, will be opening this year just in time to host its first event in October. The golf course runs all down the Eyre Highway and has some of the biggest sand traps in the world. This course started “over a few beers” about five years ago. The guys that thought up the course wanted something out of the ordinary for their next round of golf so instead of trying to find it they built it.
But what makes this course so special? Besides the fact that it lies on the coast of one of the most beautiful countries in the world, it is 1,365 kilometers long. Or for those of us not on the metric system, just over 848 miles. Yeah, not feet, yards, of acres; miles. The golf course actually covers two time zones, measures more than the entire length of Great Britain, and travels through 18 towns. It is obvosuly the longest course in the world, and has taken many years to make right. But, being that it is so long it offers something for everyone. The course, if you were going to make the trip down there to play a round, will take you four days to complete 18 holes.
The cool thing about this course, outside the fact that the course is so long, is that the scores are going to vary so much. How many times have you played four days in a row and played well all four days? Well, now you don’t have a choise. They claim that you can play the course in three days, but I think that would risk a speeding ticket and some missed birdies.
I want to see how players take to this course. It will not be accepted under the regulations of the PGA, but I want to see the creative ways people can get their round in. Will some people drive a car from hole to hole? What about a helicopter to the next tee? I want to see the first person that walks all 18 holes. Think about that though. If you were going to do that you would have to do it the “right” way. You could not get a hotel, you could not eat in a restaurant between holes; you would have to treat it as a normal round of golf.
I am excited to see this course open and unfold. Anyone want to go play a round?
