Canadian golfer Chris Adam completed an incredible 812.5 rounds of golf in a single year, putting himself into the Guinness Book of World Records.
Adam achieved the feat in 2012, playing every round at his local The King Kamehameha Golf Club in Waikapu, Maui, Hawaii, where he moved to a few years prior. The former University of Manitoba basketball player first set out to surpass the previous record of 611 rounds in a year, set by Richard Lewis in 2010.
That total was reached by October and, with still two months of the year remaining, Adam opened considerable daylight between his score and the previous record. It is difficult to see anyone taking his world record any time soon.
40 Holes a Day
Adam’s official total (submitting 812.5 rounds of a claimed 850), which was verified by the club’s director of golf Rick Castillo, saw him average 40 holes per day. On one day, he played 10 rounds of golf – possible if you manage to fit in 18 holes in just 43 minutes, as reported by Golfweek.
“Most of the time I was pretty psyched,” Adam is quoted as saying. “There were so many times when I said, ‘I hate this. Why am I doing this?’
“When you get in a downward spiral, you hate it. Then you go back up and get back into the love affair.”
“I think people had a hunch I was crazy before,” he added. “This just confirmed it. It does take a little OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) to do something like that, but I was just a man on a mission to play golf.”
Lowered Handicap
Practice makes perfect, as the saying goes, and Adam’s handicap certainly benefited from playing so much golf. From beginning 2012 with a 9 handicap, by the end of the year, Adam had lowered it to 0.7, closing in on becoming a scratch golfer.
His handicap could well have been even lower than that had it not been for a series of injuries in the closing stages of his challenge. Adam played through pain in his shoulder, wrist, elbow and back in December, by which time he had already cleared the previous world record total. Adam also suffered broken toes on both feet.
Rather than putting his feet up, it was Adam’s wife, Diana Scott, that encouraged him to get out onto the course and continue to push his number up.
“It was fabulous to see someone you love so much pursue and fulfil a dream,” Scott is quoted as saying. “I don’t know how he did it. I wish I had his drive and discipline.”
Playing Through Groups
To complete his challenge, Adam did have to commit one of golf’s cardinal sins…playing through groups, and he was often met with contempt.
“People would snap at me,” he admitted. “I remember one person swearing at me like a soldier, saying, ‘Who the (expletive) do you think you are? This is not your (expletive) course.’”
Some members of the club, who were in the know of Adam’s world record attempt, were more than happy to make way for the Canadian to play through. Luckily, most of the time Adam had the course almost exclusively to himself with two-thirds of the club’s membership living out of the area, playing only in season.
Adam’s working patterns also made it possible to dedicate his days to playing golf. In the morning and afternoon, he would be zipping around the golf course and, in the evening, would join his wife in working at an ice cream shop.
“He’d make cones in the morning sometimes and then help me out at night,” his wife said.
Unofficial Record Claims
While Adam holds the officially recognised Guinness World Record, in 2016 Barry Gibbons from Texas, USA, is claimed to have played 878 rounds of golf over 21 different courses. Anyone who breaks the 812.5 rounds set by Adam certainly deserves to be recognised.
Regardless of whether Adam does hold the record for the most rounds of golf played in a year or not, the achievement is undoubtedly a great one.
