225 Hole Challenge - Completed!

As the dust begins to settle and the sting from the sunburn begins to ease, we are able to look back on what has been an incredible few days.

Back in 2025, when Neil came to me and said we should be doing something to commemorate Marston Lakes Golf Club 25^th anniversary, I knew it had to be something special.  So along with all the other brilliant activities throughout this year, I suggested a challenge, 25 rounds of golf in two days.  That’s a total of 225 holes of golf and approx. 50 miles walking.  When I proposed this to the rest of the Jubilee Committee, most people thought I was mad and suggested doing this over three days instead, but I stuck to my original plan and started plotting how this was to be achieved.  The dates were set, Tuesday 23^rd & Wednesday 24^th June, all that was left was to find someone to agree to do it with me.  Drayton Park Golf Club PGA Professional and former Lea Marston staff member Simon Dainter agreed straight away. 

So, after months of talking about it, posting about it on social media, discussing it with members at other competitions, the day finally arrived.  But what we didn’t expect was for the weather to deliver the hottest week since the mid 1970’s.

However, we didn’t let this perturb us, so armed with a vat of sun cream and more water than on the shelves of Tesco, we arrived in the hotel car park at 4.30am on Tuesday 23^rd June, excited if not a little anxious for to what lay ahead for us.

Once a few photos had been taken, first tee shots were hit at 4.45am and our epic two-day 225-hole adventure was officially underway.  We started at a good pace, with the first 9 holes being completed in 50 minutes.  We did plan to have a yellow ball competition, each of us using the yellow ball on alternative holes, to see how far we could get it round before losing it.  This however didn’t last long, as I manged to unfortunately lose it on the 4^th hole of the day.  Much Simon's amusement. (he made sure this was mentioned in this blog)

The pace, however slowed as the sun started to burn through the clouds and the temperature started to rise.  By midday, Simon, myself and the Senior match who were out on the course were starting to sizzle.  Another 27 holes were completed by 5pm, which left 9 holes to complete our first day target of 114 holes.  We finished this by 7.30pm and as we limped our way back down towards the pro shop, we realised what we had let ourselves in for and what was in store for us tomorrow.

After an early night and a lot bandaging of blisters, our alarm clocks woke us at 3am in preparation for a 4am start, the plan being to start as early as possible to try and beat the heat.  But by 8.30am the sun was out the temperature was once again raising on its way to 35 degrees.  As were the donations.  By this time, we had already smashed our initial £800 target and were well on our way to an incredible £1,500, which really helped to keep spurring us on towards our goal.  Eventually, at 6pm we were left with just a single 9 holes to go.  With a gallery of friends, family and club members all walking with us, we completed the challenge with a birdie for Simon and a par for myself on our 225^th and final hole.  With a sense of relief, exhaustion, and an overwhelming sense of pride and achievement we headed back off the course for the final time, with an unbelievable £2,500 in donations.

The day after, with donations still rolling in, we were able to count up our scores.  We took 1817 shots in total, which is 317 over par.  We had 20 birdies between us (Simon getting a few more than me) and total raised, as it stands, £2,750.  This will be split between Dementia Caring, a local Tamworth based Dementia charity and the MLGC Jubilee fund.

From both Simon and I, we cannot thank everyone enough.  Everyone who came out and supported us on the course both days, walking with us, bringing us water or snacks really did help keep us going.  All the messages of support and good wishes on social media, we loved reading everything and hopefully you will all enjoy the YouTube video (link at the end of this blog).  Finally, we both wanted to say a huge thank you to everyone who has donated.  We have been completely blown away by the support and generosity you have all shown.  We set a target of £800.  This has been completed obliterated with a total of £2,750 and counting, over 340% more than we hoped for.  This will do incredible work for all the charities involved.

At the end of the challenge, we were both asked if we would do it again.  We both agreed it would be a yes, but maybe we’d pick two days where the sun didn’t shine!

YouTube Video Link –

https://youtu.be/87AHLCd9xys?si=h1UtwaNznZeGAdXv