NEWS

Texan Barry Gibbons has played 705 rounds (and counting) of golf this year

By Tom Uhler
Published on
Texan Barry Gibbons has played 705 rounds (and counting) of golf this year

What is it about Texans and golf records?

A guy who lives in Austin part time and Connecticut the other part broke the Guinness World Record for most rounds of golf played walking in a year: 705 as of Thursday and counting.

Barry Gibbons, 57, and recently retired, you might expect, was featured Wednesday on NPR's "All Things Considered." Since January, when he took up his fantastical quest, Gibbons has logged 5,200 miles and almost 10.3 million steps -- comparable to walking from New York to L.A. and back "and then some," Gibbons told NPR.

 

 

Richard Lewis, a retired Dallas insurance executive who played his rounds at the Four Seasons Resort and Club at Las Colinas, set the record in 2010, walking 611 rounds that year at age 64.

Gibbons beat his mark on Sept. 18 in a round with his father in Denver and now wants to get to 850 rounds by year's end. But he notes on the blog his wife, Joy, set up to track his progress that he's heading back to Connecticut for Thanksgiving, which "may pose a problem."

He's been playing two, three and sometimes four rounds a day.

Both men lost more than 30 pounds during their quests, and trimmed their golf scores, as well.

So what is it about them?

* For starters, they both set up shop in a favorable location and climate for links.

* Both obviously have a fondness for golf -- and a challenge. ("The golf isn't the hardest part," Gibbons told Golf Digest. "It's the walking.")

* They both began their pursuit after they retired.

* Their friends and others thought they were slightly off kilter for wanting to chase this record in the first place. (Was that incentive to persevere?)

* They had a postal worker's determination and commitment to deliver even in the most inhospitable weather.

* Perhaps most importantly, they both had the support of their significant others.

This article was written by Tom Uhler from Fort Worth Star-Telegram and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network.