100 in 15

100 in 15

So my brother wants to relive some memorable moments from his youth, and he’s invited me to join him. Back in the old days, my brother and his friend went to the Virginia Tech golf course one day and played 100 holes of golf. They started at the crack of dawn (5:30) and played until dark, walking every single hole. No carts were used. This feat was twice accomplished by them.

Last week my brother, now age 52 and as out of shape as me, started working on our plan. After deciding that Wednesday, June 24 would be our day, mission one was to get permission from a golf course to allow us onto their property at 5:30. Since he originally completed this quest at VT, he opted to try there. Back then, the VT course was 18 holes, but thanks to a pressing need to put big time donors and Katie Couric up in fancy digs, they erased the back nine and replaced it with a Hokie Stone Taj Mahal.

My brother engaged the VT nine-hole course clerk in a discussion about our little project, and he was flatly rebuked. Such a project is not possible. He was told that it is against university policy. That’s when my brother invoked his alumni-ness, and immediately the clerk… restated the university’s position. That’s when my brother threatened to withdraw his financial support of the university. If affected by his threat, the clerk remained calm and restated the university’s position. That’s when my brother turned and left.

It’s always important to have a Plan B.

That’s when my brother called me and we began brainstorming. We quickly settled on what we affectionately call “The Home Course.” Surely, they’d let us complete our quest. After all, we had grown up on that course, and I had initiated a blog dedicated to saving the course from greedy development. Furthermore, I thought it’d be cool to take pledges from friends and give to some charity. Perhaps, my brother suggested, we could even get a local newspaper reporter we both know to cover the event as a comical human-interest story: “Two large out of shape middle-aged men chase little white balls all day.” Maybe we could even get friends to join us for parts of the day, a gallery of sorts. It could become an event, drawing publicity for the beleaguered course and drumming up much-needed business.

So armed with a newfound hope, my brother went over to The Home Course. The course is undergoing a transition, and I fear for its future. The airport commission, which somehow owns part of the course* and leases it to the city (owner of the course), recently decided to rip down almost every tree around the course. Trees that were old when I was a kid were unceremoniously axed and dragged away. Now the course looks like a denuded plant, stripped of its charm and personality.

At the “clubhouse,” my brother spoke with a clerk. As he unveiled his plan, the clerk informed him that it was against company policy to allow guests onto the course that early. The course opens for play a 7am, and we were welcome to play 18 holes for the regular price as long as we purchased a cart. However, we could walk the 18 as long as we bought the cart. He also said that the management group did not allow all-day play for one price. Instead, however, he offered us a deal-$9 for each additional 18 holes with a cart. So, I don’t know if it’s still possible. $58 will get us 72 holes. $75 will get us 108 holes. Having to scratch together that much money will certainly put the kibosh on making this a charity fundraiser. Maybe the charity should be us. Maybe we can get people to sponsor us and ply us with food, water, and G along the way. Maybe it’s possible.

Stay Tuned…

*I’d be curious to find out how the airport commission came to own the land inside the golf course. I vaguely remember the farm that occupied the space where the course is presently located. I don’t recall the airport owning the land back then. Did the airport buy the land? Did they condemn it and take it over by eminent domain?