ADVENTURERS
like a true caddie, he peeled the pages apart to give me my yardage – 194 yards. “Come on, one more good swing,” he said. He could sense
for the journey back to the fence that Sean climbed over four hours earlier, our driver read us a Hagen quote about his marathon. “Scores? I’ve forgotten. We weren’t trying to break any records. We were just lucky to go that far. We did it for fun.” The driver could tell that beyond battling for scores, we were now bat- tling just for enjoyment. After towelling ourselves down, we headed to the short sixth at Royal St George’s. Larry was very wet. He now wore a “borrowed” club towel around his shoulders under- neath his jacket and looked more like a linebacker than a golfer. He teed up his ball on the 150-yard par 3 and found the green. With raindrops cascading off his clothing, he rolled in the 20-foot birdie putt. We were instantly remind- ed why we were there: fun! More fun came on the short 10th hole. By this point, I had ruined four gloves and was gripping with bare hands. They slipped, and I topped my drive, My ball tumbled straight and barely reached the fairway. Neil, a St George’s lifer, had used the same yardage book, complete with detailed notes and annotations, for years. When he pulled it from his pocket, it was practically pulp. I felt bad for him, but
CARRY ON The walk to hole No. 20 of The Hagen 54 at Prince’s Golf Club.
were greeted by staff from the club, complete with smiles, warm coffee and sandwiches. We needed all three, inthat order. While the pro at Cinque Ports escort- ed Larry, an author from Vermont and one of my playing partners, to the shop to loan him some “better” waterproofs, the rest of the group headed down the first fairway to the furthest point south of our day. This is where Hagen and Barnes started their journey. If the weather had been similar on their day in 1920, we probably wouldn’t have been playing 54 holes on this day. After the opening hole at Cinque Ports, we turned north to play the sec- ond hole. Neil, our loyal forecaddie, informed us we were now about to play 19 holes into the wind in the rain. As we boarded one last mini-bus “Neil, our loyal forecaddie, informed us we were about to play 19 holes into the wind in the rain.”
my energy level as we passed the 12- hour mark of our “loop.” Like magic, I summoned whatever energy and grip I had to send the ball with my six-iron towards the perched green – to two feet. We played 54 holes in a little over 13 hours. After a quick – who am I kidding? – long shower in the lodge, I sat with a pint of Guinness. I thought about Hagen and Barnes doing the same loop over 100 years ago. I thought about the sunrise we enjoyed as we started. I thought about the laughs and the sausage rolls. I thought about the friendly members, scattered through- out the day, each with a unique story and smile to share. I thought about the bus driver’s words of wisdom and Neil’s poor yardage book. Ultimately, now warm and sitting comfortably, I thought about the fun we’d had, walking in the footsteps of “The Haig,” all 39 000 of them, accord- ing to my Fitbit.
GOLF DIGEST SOUTH AFRICA 29
MARCH/APRIL 2026
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