We took on the 100-holes-in-a-day challenge – here’s how we got on

“Well, yes, you currently have an aggressive calorie deficit.”  

It’s not even 7am yet and my playing partner Graeme Tomlinson – better known as his alter ego The Fitness Chef – is concerned about my lack of breakfast so far. 

We’re roughly 15 holes into our challenge of playing as many holes as we can in a single day to raise as much money as we can for Prostate Cancer UK as part of the charity’s Big Golf Race initiative, which encourages golfers to take on either a ‘Half Marathon’ of 36 holes in a day, a 72-hole ‘Marathon’, or the ‘Ultra Marathon’ of 100 holes or more.  

Graeme and I met at the launch event at The Belfry earlier in the year and decided that taking it on as a two-ball would not only combine our two large social reaches but also mean we wouldn’t have to take on the challenge alone.  

And where better to do it than Trump Turnberry?  

“Graeme,” I tell him. “We’re going to fall out pretty quickly if you carry on using phrases like ‘aggressive calorie deficit’.”  

It’s all light-hearted, of course. Mainly because Graeme has largely provided the fuel for the day, and we’re here to pull each other through this. 

We teed off at 5am on the superlative Ailsa. It’s a scorching hot summer’s day in July, with not a cloud in the sky nor a breath of wind off the stunning Ayrshire coastline, and we’ve had probably four hours’ sleep. (It stays light really late up here…) 

With the help of Turnberry’s incredibly accommodating caddie master team, we have opted to start and finish on the four-time Open Championship course, often ranked in the top-ten in the world, while playing the other 64 holes over the resort’s lovely second course – the King Robert the Bruce – and its short academy layout – the Arran.  

By 9am we’re seven holes into our second round and quarter of the way through the challenge. At this point it feels like we’re going to be done by lunch, but we know there’s a grind coming.  

In fact, it’s already started. Fuelled by bacon rolls and protein bars, we now won’t stop until 3:30pm. Have you ever played golf for seven and a half hours without stopping? File it under ‘would not recommend’.  

However, it did offer us the opportunity to cover off quite a few topics. Golf was almost entirely off the agenda when it came to discussion points, for hopefully obvious reasons, but we found a common ground somewhere between cricket and complicated love lives. I mean, what else do you talk about on these days?  

What it also does, though, is allow us a bit of breathing space. We have 25 holes to play and plenty of daylight left. So we feast on a huge portion of fish and chips and – just as importantly – two pints of Diet Coke in the clubhouse’s Duel in the Sun restaurant. And while this is more like Gruel in the Sun – does that work? – we can see the finish line in sight. 

Fed and watered, we even treat ourselves to a shower and a full change of clothes before we head back to the Arran to knock off seven more holes and leave just the Ailsa and the final 18. This, we soon discover, would be a gamechanger. 

With just one round to play and time on our side, it suddenly felt like we were in cruise control. That stunning stretch from the fourth to the tenth, which culminates in a little trip around the Turnberry Lighthouse, is just as spectacular in the warm evening glow as it is in the misty morning sunrise.  

But then what feels like jetlag starts to set in. We’ve turned and started heading back toward that mesmerising hotel which, at this point, feels like a mirage. The finish line is in sight, our hands are shredded, our legs are tired, and our feet are sore.  

But constant checks on our total amount raised keep us buoyed. We had smashed through our target of £2,500 around lunchtime, and the contributions are still coming thick and fast. It’s incredibly rewarding knowing that your suffering – for want of a better phrase – is helping such a worthy cause. 

We tap in our final putts on the 100th hole and collapse into each other’s arms. A job well done, and a pint well earned.

There are calories in beer, right? 

Useful tips 

Are you taking on a similar challenge like The Big Golf Race? These are our two best pieces of advice… 

Alex: Take plenty of socks! Change them as regularly as you possibly can – but minimum after each of your five and a half rounds. This sounds like such a small, insignificant thing – but you’re going to have to just trust me on this. Keeping your feet fresh is a gamechanger.  

Graeme: No surprises for guessing what my advice will be about! As you’ll be teeing early it’s important to eat something before your start. This could be anything quick and easy like a bagel with eggs or yogurt and fruit. Keep a stash of protein bars in your bag. It’s key to eat as soon as you feel hungry to keep energy levels up. Protein bars will be better than cereal bars because they fill you up. To stay hydrated make a point of drinking at least a litre of fluids per round, even if you don’t feel thirsty. Try to stop for one decent meal at some point if you can. It’ll give you a rest and recharge for the rest of the day. 

With thanks to… 

Graeme for keeping me sane and laughing throughout, as well as all the protein bars. (Visit the Fitness Chef website to check out his incredible work!)

The team at Trump Turnberry for allowing us a free run at their golf courses in order to complete the challenge. (If the Ailsa isn’t top of your golfing bucket list then what are we even doing here?) 

Callaway Golf, for supplying us with enough golf balls to get through the day. (We didn’t lose all of them, honest!)  

And, most importantly, to any of you who helped us smash our original £2,500 target. It is very much appreciated and every penny helps save lives through an incredibly worthy cause. (You can, of course, still donate if you missed us the first time round…) 

Now watch the Big Golf Race video!

We made a short film of our Big Golf Race challenge that you can watch in the player below or over on the bunkered YouTube channel.

Alex Perry is the Associate Editor of bunkered. A journalist for more than 20 years, he has been a golf industry stalwart for the majority of his career and, in a five-year spell at ESPN, covered every sporting event you can think of. He completed his own Grand Slam at the 2023 Masters, having fallen in love with the sport at his hometown club of Okehampton and on the links of nearby Bude & North Cornwall.

Associate Editor