One could describe the passing of the T-6 weeks barrier as entering the final lap; the home stretch before completion. In reality, the sense we have as a group is that we're only just getting started. We had a 'committee' call last night where some final details were planned out and agreed.
We have our sponsorship emails written and ready to hit inboxes around the world. This means that if your email address is known by anyone in the group, you'll get a beg for some of your money. We shan't apologise for it. The financial target we have set ourselves is punchy, to say the the least, and, whilst we do have some matched funding avenues from various employers, extracting the maximum benefit from these schemes is only possible with the generosity & support of our friends, family & colleagues. Our sponsorship page is www.bmycharity.com/golfathon and anything you can spare would be gratefully received.
Publicity is the next hot topic - I mentioned previously about our contact at The Telegraph and Dave was able to confirm that their initial coverage will kick off following our practice day on 18 May (venue tbc). We are hopeful that this will accelerate the interest in what we are attempting, plus boost the support in terms of equipment, supplies and even cold, hard cash. There are a couple of other avenues to explore and these will be followed up over the next week.
Practice - you may remember, way back in the depths of winter, we had some grand ideas about an iterative and escalating practice/training schedule, building us up nicely to the main event. The harsh reality of a myriad conflicting events & commitments has led us to a new position of 'Ah, feck it - we'll be ok' - we are going to get together to play some golf on the 18 May, but it won't be 72 holes and, in all probability, it won't be 54 holes either. I am expecting to do 36 holes at a 'fresh' pace - to have a slight element of practice, we should be aiming for 2.5-3 hours per group. Time will tell if that is feasible.
Finally, the topic of equipment was raised, particularly what we would need for the two (or more) rounds we'll be playing in the dark. We are still hopeful of having an enthusiastic & generous sponsor to assist with night golf gear but, in the eventuality of that avenue not coming to fruition, we've drawn up a list of items to beg, steal* & borrow to get us through those holes.
And so what lies ahead? Well, I am back off to the US next weekend (with at least one round of golf to enjoy - did I mention it will hopefully be at Pebble Beach!) &, on my return, we have the practice day. The big kick-off creeps ever closer....
I am the Part-Time Golfer
*this is a figure of speech, clearly
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