How Much Golf Can You Play in a Year?

Assuming you consider yourself a golf addict between icing your back, playing 36 holes a few times per year and playing 3 times per week for lets say the seven months of good golfing weather in Michigan and you play between 105 and 110 times per year. For most people that is a lot of golf and if you have the money at let's say $30 per round, you have spent over $3,000 dollars this year on golf and that does not include a lesson, a trip to a local retailer or a trip to the driving range.

Well, you are in no means anywhere close to accomplishing what a real golf addict did. The passion of Richard Lewis of Desoto, Texas was really stellar for the year of  2010. After he retired he did not sit back and get to honey do's or set back for a day of watching Jerry Springer but decided to play golf and I mean a lot of it.

I cannot imagine doing anything 611 times in one year but Lewis played 18 holes of golf nearly twice a day for the calendar year that ended last Christmas. That is a lot of blisters and a lot of time.


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A native of Desoto, Texas, located just outside of Dallas, Lewis set a Guinness Book of World Records mark for most golf played in a year.

Lewis, stunningly, played 611 rounds in 2010. How many times have you played 36 holes in a day? At one point he played 36 holes for 54 consecutive days and during another stretch played 54 holes for six straight days. Lewis began his golfing odyssey on January 1, 2010 and ended on December 31 and in between he played 11,000 holes of golf and at one point played for 285 consecutive days. That is a lot of chores that did not get done.

In all, Lewis played 348 of 365 days last year. If that’s not enough, he walked every round and teed it up from at least 6,500 yards. Can you imagine walking that many holes? Why he must be the invisible man.

“When I retired, I said, ‘I’m going to play every day,’” Lewis said. “People at work said you can’t play golf every day. When the new year started, I said, ‘I’m going to set a new world record.’”

Guinness informed Lewis the record was 586 rounds and it could be accomplished either riding or walking, a number that briefly startled, but never deterred, Lewis. Now you might be waiting for the punch line and here it is. Now 65, Lewis has always been exceptionally fit and he set out on foot to break the record. Shockingly, he never had any health problems. He never got sick, his back never ached, nothing. How many of us can say that?

Lewis’ handicap ranged between three and five throughout the year, with the quality of his scores rising or falling depending on the weather. He started 2010 with a 5 handicap. Lewis played a lot of quality golf and most of it was very consistent. "My motivation was to (improve), but you hit a point where you aren’t going to going to get much better,” he said. “My goal is to shoot in the 60s again. I did it when I was younger, but I haven’t done it (lately).”

Lewis’ lowest score during 2010 was a 70 and his highest was a 94 at TPC on Christmas Eve. Two people donated $2,000 to charity to play with Lewis for his 600th round and it was scheduled for December 26, forcing him to play 36 on Christmas Eve and Day during miserable weather.

Lewis’ late year struggles beg the question: did he ever consider giving up the quest?

“Honest to God answer, no,” he said. “I’m totally addicted. I look forward to playing every day.”
He went through 11 pairs of golf shoes and made more than 10 eagles but never an ace. Lewis capped the year off with a birdie on the 18th hole at TPC, the course’s toughest test. It was only the second time he ever birdied the hole.

Lewis loves his golf but do not expect him to do it again. “I’m tired after 18 holes now,” he said with a laugh.

The World Handicap Golf Championships.com Contributed to this blog entry.