WORCESTER, Mass – On Tuesday, July 25 Patrick Koenig planned to golf at the International in Bolton and Brae Burn CC in West Newton and then attend a Red Sox game at night.
“It sounds like an all-world day,” he said.
Actually, for Koenig, it wasn’t actually anything out of the ordinary, except for attending the Sox game. He’s been playing 18 to 54 holes of golf nearly every day this year while trying to break the Guinness World Record for playing the most different 18-hole golf courses in 365 days. Playing the same course more than once doesn’t count.
On Monday, Koenig, 43, of Laguna Beach, California, played Worcester Country Club, his 325th course since Jan. 3 and this fall he expects to surpass the world record of 449, set by Jonathan and Cathie Weaver of Toronto, Canada, in 2009.
“It’s a culmination of a lot of effort so it would be very satisfying,” he said. “It would mean a lot at this point. I’m excited.”
His goal is to play more than 500 courses by the time he finishes at Chambers Bay Golf Course in Washington on Jan. 2.
“It’s mostly because I love golf courses,” he said, “and I love the experience you get when you play golf with somebody new and they’re excited about doing it.”
Koenig used to live in Seattle and while he attempts to break the world record he’s raising money mostly for the First Tee of Greater Seattle, but occasionally for charities in the communities he plays. In 2018, he left his job in software sales in Seattle and played 405 courses and raised $20,000 for the First Tee of Greater Seattle. He didn’t learn about the world record until he was halfway through. So this time around, he’s going after the record with what he’s calling the RGV Tour 2.0.
Koenig has logged more than 20,000 miles this year in a $150,000 Recreational Golf Vehicle paid for by one of his sponsors, Golf GameBook, a free digital golf scorecard and social app where he keeps his scores. He usually travels alone, but this week his sister, Jill Koenig, 41, a psychologist from San Diego, accompanied him and the week before in New York, his girlfriend, Rachel Alcone, was at his side.
Koenig’s sponsors pay his expenses, but he doesn’t receive a salary.
“I don’t want to make money,” he said. “I want to do it for the experience. If you’re a kid and somebody says, ‘We’re going to buy you an RV and you’re going to drive it around the country and play all the golf you want and we’ll pay for everything,’ you’re going to say no to that? What’s wrong with you?”
Koenig also has sponsors for his golf clothes, shoes, healthy diet and motorized golf cart. He usually walks when he plays, but on Monday he rode a cart at Worcester CC where he was the guest of member Mike Young. I played along with them.
An accomplished photographer, he takes pictures at each course and makes them available to purchase.
He’s played throughout the U.S., and in early July he traveled to Finland where Golf GameBook is headquartered and he played 10 courses in seven days in Finland and Sweden.
Koenig’s scores have ranged from 67 to 91. He carries a 2 handicap, but he’s modest about his golf game.
“I’m good enough to know that I’m no good,” he said.
He was the No. 1 golfer on his high school team in Fort Wayne, Indiana, but he didn’t play in college.
“I’m a recovering alcoholic and that was in the middle of my seven-year drinking career,” he said.
Koenig said from age 18 to 25 he was a “wildly, enthusiastic alcoholic.” He’s been sober ever since and he gets his highs on the golf course, not the 19th hole. He enjoys being a role model on social media for others.
“They know they’re an alcoholic but they haven’t admitted it yet,” he said. “So they kind of reach out and I can kind of inspire those people to see what I’ve got in my sobriety.”
Most people driving RVs camp out for a week or so at a time, but Koenig moves on nearly every day. He sleeps in his RGV in golf course parking lots, Walmart parking lots or driveways of people with whom he’s golfed. His RGV has a bed, shower and electricity. He even installed a mat on the roof so he can hit balls off of it for fun.
Over the past several months, Koenig has seen just about everything on the golf courses he’s played. In Hilton Head, South Carolina, an alligator hissed at him. At the men’s only Bob O’Link Golf Club outside Chicago, as he and his playing partners finished the ninth hole they witnessed a man stop eating his lunch and urinate on the nearby front lawn. The man even waved to them while he was in full stream.
The worst weather he played in was a downpour at Royal New Kent Golf Club in Virginia in June. It rained sideways for 12 holes and he had to convince the superintendent to let him play the back nine in order for the round to count toward his total. He played alone because no one else wanted to brave the elements. That was one of 22 consecutive days he played in the rain.
Koenig said his family and friends support his attempt.
“They know I’m doing something I love,” he said. “They know I’m passionate about it and that’s what you want in life.”
On Wednesday, he’s scheduled to play George Wright and Hatherly CC. On Thursday, he plans to play Dedham Polo and CC and Hyannisport and on Friday he’s set to play Granite Links and Belmont CC.
Unless someone offers him a lot of money to try to break the record again next year, he plans to return to golf course photography.
To donate to the First Tee of Greater Seattle, visit Koenig’s website, www.pjkoenig.com.
http://www.pjkoenig.com/rgv-tour-20-schedule
(PHOTO CREDIT: Bill Doyle)
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