Golf nuts are a particularly unusual and rare breed. They take the game to extremes that leave other golfers dumbfounded.
Like the guy whose golf ball miraculously came to rest on a lily-pad in a water hazard at De Zalze golf estate in Stellenbosch. Rather than merely try to retrieve the ball, then drop it under penalty outside the hazard -as most of us would sensibly do - he slipped off his golf shoes and socks, and waded chest deep into the murky water to try to play the shot.
Another golf nut is the obsessive kind who chases after the most obscure golfing records, those that can be found in the Guinness publications. And SA has a world champion in that field in Heinrich du Preez from Pretoria.
Du Preez, who has a website for golf fanatics like himself, called "Radical Golf", has been pursuing the most bizarre golf records for the past few years, and never seems to run out of outrageous ideas or challenges. He started off, like any golfing beginner would, not attempting to extend himself beyond his capabilities; but it has escalated from there to some extremely taxing pursuits.
It began conservatively, back in 2006, when he set himself the challenge of playing a round of golf in each of SA's nine provinces, from Limpopo to the Western Cape, in the space of five days.
Dakart? Heinrich du Preez with his custom-built golf cart
He possibly conceived the idea from reading about the two middle-aged American golfers who, the previous year, had played golf in all 50 US states in just 30 days, driving more than 17 000 km in the process. SA is a lot smaller to traverse, and not only did Du Preez accomplish the feat with half a day to spare, but he spent three nights in his own bed at home.At the time it was one of those mundane feats which most golfers could have achieved, given the time and the inclination. But he later reduced that record to a more impressive three days, and is now preparing to see if he can play all nine provinces in 24 hours, which seems unlikely unless he has a private jet at his disposal.
Yet nothing has so far stood in the way of breaking records for this 12-handicap from Woodhill Country Club in Pretoria. Six months after first conquering SA, our intrepid golfer went global, playing a round of golf in six continents in five days. In that attempt, which began with a round at the Woodhill golf estate, he used scheduled airline flights, flying to Europe, Argentina, the US, Australia and Thailand. Being a big man, and having to spend 73 hours in the air, covering 58 000 km, he flew business class, so that set him back R75 000 in airfares.
Golf is a game in which players are seemingly never in a hurry, but Du Preez has learnt how to get around a golf course in the least possible time, while also playing reasonably decent golf off his 12 handicap. In 2008 at Woodhill he broke the 21-year-old world record for the fastest round ever recorded by an individual golfer playing 18 holes.
Riding a specially modified golf cart with a top speed of 70 km/hour, he raced around the estate course in 26 minutes and 37 seconds, breaking the previous record by 32 seconds. He had a support team of 60 people, including 54 caddies strategically placed around the course so that all he had to do was hit the ball. His score for the day was 92.
"To break the record, I had a normal golf cart follow me around the course," says Du Preez. "This golf cart could get around the course in 27 minutes and 9 seconds without stopping. It set off five seconds behind me, so as long as I stayed ahead of it, I knew the record was mine."
He averaged two minutes playing a par five, 90 seconds on a par four, and less than a minute on the par 3s. That not only takes fast driving, but straight and long drives off the tee. He couldn't afford a wayward shot.
Speed records of various kinds are being broken all the time in golf. A group of 40 Americans set a mind-boggling time of seven minutes and 56 seconds for getting a golf ball around an 18-hole course. With a ball pegged up on every tee, and golfers waiting on every fairway and green to play the ball as soon as it stopped rolling, they all took turns to set a new world record.
Another popular record-breaking feat is to see how many holes can be played in a day, from first light to sunset. Gauteng golf personality and PGA professional Dave Usendorff once used to do these marathons three or four times a year to raise money for charity. He would average between 10 and 13 rounds in a day, using a cart with a driver. But Usendorff admitted that his body felt as stiff as a board the next day from all the bending down to tee up his ball, let alone the impact of playing so many golf shots over the course of a day.
So, then, what would it be like to complete seven consecutive marathon days like that? Yes, Heinrich du Preez has just done that, too.
At Pretoria's Wingate Park Country Club in January he played 100 rounds of golf in seven days, to break another world record. That's an average of 14-15 rounds a day. He had to play through busy fields of other golfers each day, which must have been a constant irritation, and he would play from 5 am well into the night - sometimes as late as 10 pm - in order to meet his daily targets. He suffered from blistered feet, and played many of his rounds barefoot.
But getting through the pain barrier has never been an issue with Du Preez. Last year he hit golf balls non stop for 24 hours, midnight to midnight, at a driving range in Centurion, a total of 15 011 balls, which shattered the previous world record. And he had to hit each one of them a certain prescribed distance in order to qualify for the record. Most golfers would be tired after 100 balls, or two buckets. Du Preez went through 300 buckets! His hands had to be taped up and bandaged with gauze to prevent them from bleeding.
All this prepared him for playing 100 rounds in seven days, without doubt his most remarkable record-breaking feat to date, and one that confirms that Du Preez is possibly the world's greatest golf nut.
Quote: Getting through the pain barrier has never been an issue with Du Preez. Last year he hit golf balls non stop for 24 hours, midnight to midnight... a total of 15 011 balls, which shattered the previous world record
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