Moore: Readying for 54-hole Chambers Bay Solstice marathon event Sunday
Jul 23, 2020, 11:22 AM
(AP)
From sunrise to sunset on Sunday, I’ll be playing golf at Chambers Bay – pretty much nonstop in the Chambers Bay Solstice, a 54-hole event that benefits First Tee of Seattle and First Tee of South Puget Sound.
Moore: Wishing the best to Kevin Calabro, who set the stage for me at 710
The event was supposed to be held closer to the actual summer solstice on June 20, the longest day of the year, but it was pushed back because of the coronavirus.
So here we are, playing on Sunday with a forecast of 83 degrees, which should make it even more interesting. Tournament director Dean Davison says I’ll be playing with nearly 100 other crazy golf marathoners.
It’s not like I’m running a marathon or competing in an Ironman triathlon or anything like that, but I admit to wondering if I’ll be able to finish.
Maybe you’re thinking, “What’s the big deal, 54 holes of golf? Come on Jim, a lot of people can do that!” But Davison estimates it will be 24 miles of walking. Even if you wanted to take a cart, you couldn’t at Chambers Bay because they don’t have any.
And if you have played even one round of 18 holes at Chambers Bay, you know what a hike it is. It doesn’t matter if you’re 63 like me, 36, 25, whatever age, I guarantee when you ask anyone who’s played Chambers Bay if they were tired at the end of their round, they’d say yes.
So we’ll see how this goes. I’ve been “training” by hiking trails in the Cougar Mountain Regional Park with my dog River, but I don’t know how I’ll hold up. Last Saturday I hiked nine miles and followed it up by walking 18 holes at Snoqualmie Falls Golf Course, a flat layout, and was bushed at the end. That was only 16 total miles and the Chambers Bay Solstice will be eight hilly miles more than that.
But it’s for a great cause. First Tee is a youth development organization that impacts kids’ lives by providing educational programs that build character and instill life-enhancing values through the game of golf.
If you’re interested in making a donation, please contact me at jmoore@espnseattle.com. If you’d like to make a donation per hole, that would be great – a penny a hole, a dime a hole, a dollar, whatever. I’m hoping to help out First Tee as much as I can. My kids were in the program for a few years when they were younger and really benefited from First Tee and enjoyed it.
In the meantime I’ll let you know how it went with a post on Monday.