By Tiffany Williams
Editor
Taking a year off to golf and tour North America for some may be considered a vacation for most people. However, that is not the case for Jonathan and Cathie Weaver who are trying to break a world record for playing the most golf courses in one year. The current record is 383 courses. On the Putting Kids First Tour their goal is to play 420 and they are on pace to play 460.
Jonathan asked “Doesn’t everyone want to take a year off and play golf. Our family and friends thought we were crazy until we had the launch party.”
They recently stopped in Ponoka and played at the Ponoka Community Golf Course and the Wolf Creek Golf Course.
As they play they want to raise one million dollars for Ronald McDonald House. They are achieving this in a variety of ways. Warrior Custom Golf has provided them with a set of clubs for each course they play, which they will donate to Kinsmen Clubs or RMH. The courses let them play for free and make a donation to RMH. Karbon Golf will provide RMC a $4 donation for every shirt they sell and a few different other creative ways, such as Jonathan’s mother donates $1 for every birdie they make.
“If I was going to take a year off you have to come up with something,” said Jonathan. “We decided to play golf and the goof off tour wouldn’t have raised much money and we want to raise money for a really good cause.”
They decided to raise money for RMH because as a child Jonathan had a friend who was receiving treatment at the RMH and he went back a second time and there was no room for him. RMH pays 100 per cent of the administration costs so they know that the money they raise will go directly to helping children and supporting their families. Also, because they are going across North America they wanted a charity that was applicable everywhere.
The couple have been married 12 years and are both avid golfers. In 2007 Cathie played 125 times and Jonathan played 115.
As soon as they got married Cathie knew that Jonathan had this idea.
“He always said he wanted to take a year off to play golf,” she said.
“This all started 14 years ago when I bought Cathie a set of clubs. I told her my crazy idea, I begged her to play and she gave me permission two years ago when she got laid off.”
They both feel that they are learning a lot about themselves and each other during the tour.
“You’re allowed to get mad but not allowed to stay mad and you have to learn to laugh and laugh at yourself. For example our bus got stuck in the mud and we just had to get it out we couldn’t stay mad,” said Jonathan.
They started April 1 in Victoria and will tour until March 31,2009. They will be in Canada from April 1 to Sept. 31, in October and November they will be in South Carolina, then to Georgia, Florida, Mississippi, Alabama, New Mexico, Arizona, California, Nevada and Oregon.
They play about nine courses a week and average three hours per 18. For the record they need to play 18 hole courses that are 6,000 yards.
When they started to plan the trip there was no record but when they called back to Guinness World Records six months before the tour, they were informed Glenn Turner from the United Kingdom at set a record playing from April 1, 2006 to March 21, 2007 raising money for the Rhys Daniels Trust, which provides housing for families whose children are sick (almost the exact same as RMH).
They also write reviews for Golf Canada and take approximately 60 to 100 photographs of each course. On their few days off they make the pictures into a video and post it on YouTube. It helps them remember the courses when they need to review them and it is a great way to share the courses with their friends and family.
Jonathan thinks that some days his game gets better but then again some day’s it’s worse. Another good thing he thinks about playing so many courses is you don’t moan about bad shots and you just move on. He says that people always ask him if he gets tired of golfing or if they will quit.
“It’s not a question of if, but how. We have made too many promises to stop,” said Jonathan. “If you make enough promises to enough people you can do anything if the why is big enough.”
To follow the Weaver’s tour visit their website at www.golf400.com.