The longest day for the Donaldson's

They were tired and half drowned, but the Donaldson brothers completed their 101 holes in one very long day of golf last Wednesday.

Castlecliff Golf Club manager/professional Rodney Donaldson was joined by his teenaged brothers Jack and Ryan to attempt the feat of playing 101 holes in a single day as a fundraiser to buy a defibrillator and box for the club.

The event was rescheduled a couple of times, originally intended for December 15 before bad weather saw the club's tournament schedule revised, and then initially planned for today before ultimately going ahead early on Wednesday morning due to Jack and Ryan Donaldson having weekend work commitments.

Unfortunately, the wet weather that saw continuous cloud bursts all week were still in full force on Wednesday, with the brothers having to wait until 6.15am to tee off instead of the planned 5.30am.

"We had two long stops that were about 30-45 minutes long each, due to being absolutely drenched," Rodney Donaldson said.

"So we came in, showered, got redressed before going back out in slightly better conditions."

The breaks came after the completion of 23 and then 47 holes respectively.

"The last stop finished at 1.30pm and we played 54 holes non-stop to finish the 101st hole at 7.05pm to the applause of about 20 people that came out to watch us finish," said Donaldson.

As well as the very tough wet weather, the brothers would have travelled between 50-60km in their continuous circuit around the 18 greens, which collectively would have added up to a par 405.

The pre-round estimation was completing the course would take then 13-14 hours, so for the brothers to hit right around and sink their balls in 12 hours, 50 minutes on top of two lengthy breaks in bad weather is quite the achievement.

The goal was to raise the $2500 for the on-course defibrillator and construction of a box to encase it.

Jared Smith
Whanganui Chronicle 23/12/19