30 courses in 30 days: Looking Back

After 30 days of chasing a little white ball around large pieces of land, I have finished a trip that involved myself golfing 30 courses in 30 consecutive days around Manitoba. So like I did in my intro piece, I will answer 10 questions about the trip that you may have.

1.You have to be sick of golfing, right?


Uhh..nope. Honestly, the golfing itself was the only thing keeping me determined to finish the trip. The process of getting up at the crack of dawn, and driving all over the place was getting a little hard to take, but I would think about getting onto the course and that would get me rejuvenated again. It’s amazing how addicting golf is when you hit a good shot. I would think of those good shots that I was sure I was going to hit and I was ready to go.

2. How good are you at golf after this trip?


Yeah..about that… I always had hoped in the back of my mind that by the end of this trip, I would be 10 times better than I was when I started. Unfortunately, as of this moment, I’d be lying if I said I was even 2 times better than I was when I started. I do have some theories as to why this is.. but the basic answer to the question "Why didn't I improve" is because that's just how golf works.

3. How was the weather?


I don’t think I could have been any luckier with the weather than I was on this 30 day stretch. I golfed all my rounds in the morning/afternoon, and it only rained 4 times. 3 of the times, it was a light drizzle and could easily be played through, while just once was it pouring so hard that my shoes were filled with water. More on that later. But the craziest span was the week of August 16, where on the Monday I was golfing in a 41 degree humidex and by the 22nd, I was golfing in 9 degree weather and clearly seeing my breath.n

4. How much money did it cost?


Believe it or not, I golfed for free 3 times and was given a half-off discount once. So there’s 100-plus dollars saved right there. Add to the fact that green fees at some small town places (Morris, Elm Creek) were ridiculously cheap and the trip didn’t end up costing as much as I originally thought. The final tally has not been added up yet but I’d estimate that with all the green fees, food, gas, hotel,..we’re looking at around $1500.

5. Best Course?


I know it’s kinda biased because a) I have a cottage out there and b) I’ve played there 5-6 times before but the Granite Hills Golf Course in Lac Du Bonnet was the best course I played on the trip. Every hole is different and with the presence of Lake Lac Du Bonnet plus the walls of granite around some fairways, it makes for a gorgeous setting. Even if you have no golfing experience at all, I suggest you walk or ride this course just for the scenery. Just an all-around fun experience.

6. Any crazy stories?


Well I golfed with a whole bunch of funny and unique people, which I will feature in the book, but the craziest story actually didn’t even happen on a golf course. It happened on Highway 8 and involved myself and a police officer. And to save some time, here is the story in less than 20 words…


Pulled over Speeding, officer writes ticket, officer comes back, dramatically yells “Fuck it” and rips up ticket, walks away.


If you still don’t understand what happened, just ask me. The story is better told in person anyways.

7. Best/Worst round?


My best round was an 82 in Deloraine. Now it was kind of a shorter course than most I played, , but in the words of the police officer from the question above ..“Fuck it”. An 82 is an 82 and I’m pretty proud of it.


Now for my worst rounds. There were 2 times that I didn’t break 100 but I have legitimate excuses as to why I screwed up so hard.


Beaches Golf Course in Grand Beach was not even a golf course. I mean, yeah, there were some tee boxes and some flags waving around, but it was like I was playing in my backyard or at the park right beside my house. The greens were like fairways, the fairways were like the rough, and the rough was like a god damn jungle. But being the honest man that I am, I kept my score and it came out to like a 113. I’d like to see anybody break 100 on that course. There’s a story behind why it’s in such poor shape though, so I hate lambasting them. It will be back to a normal golf course in a few years.


Another weird occurrence. On Day 19 in Morden, I came within 2 inches of a hole-in-one. And right as I tapped in for the birdie, the skies opened up and the next stretch of holes from 12 through 18 was a bloody downpour. Needless to say, my round went down the tube. Again, I challenge anyone to hit good shots in one of these downpours onto greens that were quickly turning into giant puddles. But as stated earlier, honest Kevin kept his score and it turned into a 105.

There’s good rounds, there’s bad rounds and then there’s atrocious rounds, and these 2 were really the only atrocious rounds I had.



8. Any freakouts?

By freakouts, do you mean tossing my club like a javelin into the bush? That was probably my worst one in La Broquerie on Day 25. That freakout was a culmination of golfing for so long and realizing that I wasn’t getting any better. Give me credit though, the freakouts used to be a lot worse 2-3 years ago. I guess I'm finally starting to mature a bit....

9. Would you do it again?

If somebody else wanted to drive me around and then wake me up when we got there then by all means I would do this again. Like I said, all the travelling killed me but the golfing kept me going.

10. What’s next?

For the next 4 months, I will be gathering all the information that I got and will be placing it into a book that will be a documentation of the trip for my Independent Professional Project at Red River College.