Golf: 300 holes in one day! Golfers around New Zealand facing long days on the course for charity

Frazer Bond is attempting to do in one day what many golfers might accomplish in a whole year.

The Aucklander is aiming to complete 300 holes at Gulf Harbor Country Club on December 22 as part of the Longest Day Challenge fundraiser, with all proceeds going to the Cancer Society.

Golfers all around the country will be testing their endurance with many taking on 72 holes throughout the day. This year, the longest day of the year falls on Thursday December 22, but participants can play on any day in December or January that suits them.

Bond, 31, raised more than $5000 last year after completing 200 holes in a single day. Shortly after which he decided to go bigger in 2022 – 100 more holes to make it almost 17 full rounds.

“It’s more golf than most people will play in a year. I’m pretty good at doing a few rounds quite fast already, it’s just more the mental side to keep going,” he told Gold Sport.

“I’m doing it at Gulf Harbor Country Club and as any golfer will know it’s a bit of a walk. I choose to do it in a golf cart and it takes me about 58 minutes to do 18 holes around here. I do have someone driving the cart who was with me when I did 200 holes last year. And we have a good system worked out to keep it moving as quickly as possible.

“It was 12 hours to get through 200 holes and that’s when I thought ‘I’ll do 300 next year’. And about two days later I thought maybe I shouldn’t. But it’s for a good cause.”

Golf New Zealand Chief Executive Dean Murphy said the sporting body was proud to be supporting the Cancer Society’s sporting-based fundraising effort, and encouraged golfers across New Zealand to get involved wherever they could – either as playing fundraisers, or encouraging teams on their grueling fairway journeys.

“Playing four rounds of golf in one day requires a huge effort but it’s worth doing to raise funds for such an important organization like the Cancer Society,” said Murphy.

Frazer Bond’s Longest Day Challenge page

For Bond, who is a NZPGA full member and plays off a zero handicap, it means he’ll need to start in the dark on December 22, but he has a solution for that.

“I’m going to try for 5am. I think I’ll be playing the first six holes in the dark but I’ve got light-up golf balls so I think this year I’ll give them a crack. As long as I keep it straight the first few holes I should be able to keep it in play.

“My best round I got one-under and my worst round was 15-over par. My fastest round was 55 minutes. I think I lost on one round eight balls but that was the second to last round and I was absolutely cooked at that stage.”