Golfing 101 at Castlecliff

Three golf crazy Whanganui brothers may well be in need of their end goal after organising a rather unique fundraising challenge.

Castlecliff Golf Club manager/professional Rodney Donaldson has roped in younger brothers Jack, 18, and Ryan, 16, to hep fundraise to buy a defibrillator for the club.

Fortunately all three are reasonably fit given the challenge of playing 101 holes in a day. Rodney Donaldson said they would tee off at 5.30am as a threesome on Sunday, December 15 aiming to finish the 101 holes on the 11th green 13 to 14 hours later.

"Going by the club stats it's a par 405, 50km-60km journey taking us up to 14 hours - well that's in our heads, anyway," Donaldson said.

"I'm on a 1 handicap at the moment, Jack's on a 6 and Ryan a 7 and people can enter a sweepstake calculating how many birdies we get between us, how many over I will play, how many balls we lose or just sponsors us per hole. Our sister didn't want to be part of it, she's not crazy enough.

"We are aiming to raise $2500 for the defibrillator and to build a box to encase it. We haven't had any deaths out here at Castlecliff while I've been here at least, but we have had to call an ambulance on occasion. It can take up to 15 minutes for an ambulance to get out here all going well, so a defibrillator is essential if we need to ensure people live until medics arrive."

Donaldson said he and his brothers were hoping for a 14-15C slightly overcast day for their challenge.

"That would be ideal. Hopefully it's not a scorching hot 25-30 degree day or we will be needing a defibrillator ourselves."

Donaldson said the public is welcome to come and watch on the day.

Iain Hyndman
Whanganui Chronicle 5/12/19