Golf's marathon round finally ends

Golfing gypsy Ricky Bartlett spent much of today in a spa bath, soaking any number of aching joints after an epic charity tour of the New Zealand countryside like no other.
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A day earlier he gingerly walked off the last hole at Paraparaumu Beach Golf Club on the Kapiti Coast to end a round few considered possible.

A three-putt for par on the 18th marked a full stop to Bartlett's unprecedented journey taking in every club in New Zealand which began 362 days earlier and finally drew to a close after 419 rounds, 7542 holes and 31,594 shots – all of them launched in the name of charity.

He had an understandably tired look in his eyes as he recalled beginning the tour with a three-putt for bogey on the first hole at Kauri Cliffs on August 1 last year.

Bartlett emerged from his extraordinary marathon with $50,000 to gift to a number of good causes, namely the SPCA, Cancer Society, Ronald McDonald House and Amnesty International.

And as far as he is concerned the money raised makes the year taken from his life a worthwhile sacrifice.

"I promised myself before I started that I would see it through to the end. I don't consider the money I've raised to be wasted. I set myself a goal and I wanted to do something worthwhile," he said.

Before entering the Paraparaumu clubhouse for a fully deserved refreshment, Bartlett, 40, admitted only to being "a little knackered."

"I do feel jaded and mentally tired. I need a holiday," said Bartlett, who left his job as a cricket development officer in the Horowhenua-Kapiti region before embarking on his journey in a campervan, in which he rested, cooked all his own meals, cleaned his clothes and plotted the logistics of ensuring his year as an itinerant ran as smoothly as possible.

The highlights were almost too many to mention – including rounds at The Hills Golf Club near Queenstown, and rounds at nearby Arrowtown, Waipu and Mangawhai in Northland, Manaia in Taranaki and Miramar and New Judgeford in Wellington.

The lowlight was definitely his visit to the Chatham Islands where the inhospitable terrain really tested his mettle.

"The golf course there was a shocker. It's just a flat farm. It's very exposed and open but what made it worse were the greens, they were so awful. You couldn't putt on them because of the sheep dirt, worm casts and long grass."

Adding insult to injury, the locals made Bartlett cough up with the $4 green fees, the only club from the 419 visited which didn't waive the fees in the name of a good cause.

Bartlett had some inkling of the magnitude of the challenge he'd set himself before embarking on the trip. A former English county cricketer who made his living in the middle order for Somerset in the late 1980s to early 1990s, he was a 2.8 handicap club golfer at Paraparaumu Beach a year ago.

Curiously, the daily diet of golf and more golf has seen his handicap leak out to 4.4. That will intrigue the many club golfers who finger a lack of playing opportunities, conveniently blamed on the three Ws – wives, weather and work – for preventing them from getting better.

"The biggest thing I've learned from this, is that it doesn't matter how much you play, you need to practice," Bartlett said.

"I need to practice my short game. It just doesn't seem to work very well. I know what I should be doing but the execution needs to be practised. "

Conversely, his long game is now reliable.

"My driving has just evolved and I'm hitting the ball much better off the tee, not so much further, but certainly much more consistently and straighter."

He said he was a far more sensible golfer than a year ago.

"I'm a bit more conservative and no longer go for the miracle shot like I used to. I had to finish every hole on this trip and you didn't want to be chopping away in the woods and coming out with a 14 or something ridiculous like that."

The past year has not dulled Bartlett's enjoyment of the game and he intends putting those lessons to good use.

The clubs will be stored away, but not for long.

"I'll be back here at Paraparaumu next Sunday playing with my mates. I want to keep going because I feel like I'm now a better golfer. I still love the game."

- NZPA