Local driving instructor, Shaun Wilkinson, alongside his Wife Debbie and Son Tristan are currently 5 rounds in to the Macmillan Longest Day Golf Challenge where they will be playing 100 holes in one day. We caught up with Shaun to find out why he’s decided to undertake this mammoth golfing challenge….
‘This will be the fifth time I have done the Macmillan longest day, but Debbie’s and Tristan’s first time and the first time doing 100 holes (really don’t think Debbie and Tristan know what they’re in for lol). I started doing this back in 2012 after we lost my dad to cancer. We had not heard of Macmillan before then but the support they gave my mum and the wider family was brilliant. My Dad had an aggressive form of cancer so his fight was very short six weeks from diagnosis to losing him, so for the whole family it felt like it I hit out of nowhere. That’s when Macmillan got in touch. They talked to us all – especially my mum, offering advice and help with arrangements, help with financial matters and answering questions we had. They were just there which meant the world to us. This is our way of giving back and saying thank you to Macmillan whilst remembering my Dad’.
I caught up with the family on the 4th hole of their 3rd round whilst they were still quite fresh considering they were up very early this morning!
Following the event, Shaun had this to say….
‘We are broken in every sense of the word.
What a day it was though – we teed off at 04:30 and the course was covered with a heavy dew so wet feet quite early on!! We did make excellent progress completing 4 rounds before any other golfers arrived. Then the sun came up and things changed (not for the better) – the temperature skyrocketed, it was very humid and uncomfortable, sweat started flooding which didn’t help the wet feet, and blisters ensued.
It wasn’t all doom and gloom – the staff were amazing. Andy brought us some ice water up to the 3rd green, Debbie supplied us with water and ice bags as we passed the club house and informed golfers of what we were doing. I would like to thank all the golfers that stood aside to let us play through, the ones that applauded our shots over the water on the 9th and special thanks to those who gave us cash donations as we were playing. I didn’t get their names but they know who they are and it was really appreciated.
As the day progressed it felt like the sun was six foot above us, coupled with the growing blisters, aching backs and legs – the pace was starting to slow. We started circling on the on the 6th, 7th and 8th because the pace had slowed significantly with blisters, the breeze up there was better and we didn’t want to get in the way of other paying golfers. We let a few golfers play though as we took some much needed rest under some trees.
We eventually finished around 6:30pm – all our phones and watches had died and the 9th was our 100th. Then came the very slow painful walk back to the cars.
All in all it was an epic journey with highs and lows, the course was excellent and the staff and golfers on the course even more so.
Myself, Debbie and Tristan would like to thank Barlborough for allowing us to do this events it holds special significance for our family, and everyone involved made this the best year yet’.
Macmillan is a fabulous cause helping families who have to deal with this dreadful disease, so if you are able to support Shaun, Debbie and Tristan with a donation to their epic 100 hole challenge, please follow the link below – they will be very grateful for any amount.