Around the country in 82 mini putts
The banter’s still strong, and the friendships remain intact, for three guys mini putting their way around New Zealand raising money for mental health.
Kyle Sutcliffe, John Middleton and Zac Roberts are on a mission to play the country’s 82 mini golf courses in 21 days. Travel weary after 5500km, the trio reached Hamilton on Tuesday afternoon.
They braved the cold and rain to play the Callum Brae course before caught up with them at Lilliput in Centre Place.
You would think after 70 odd courses they wouldn’t want to see another one, but with smiles on their faces they tackled the Ice Aged themed course like it was their first.
‘‘We are good...it’s been long, I am keen for a sleep-in. It’s a holiday without a sleep-in. I think the latest we’ve slept in is maybe
7.30am,’’ Roberts said. ‘‘Towards the end of the day if you are having bad rounds it gets a bit hard but the next morning you are excited to get to the first putt.’’
They’ve currently raised over
$6000 for the Mental Health Foundation, which is more money than kilometres travelled so far.
And luckily they haven’t suffered any injuries.
‘‘I think the sorest thing is definitely John’s ego from the amount of courses he’s lost,’’ Sutcliffe said.
At the end of the trip they’ll get someone to count up all the scorecards in their campervan glovebox to decide the overall winner.
‘‘The winner of the day’s golf gets the single bed upstairs [in the campervan] and the other two have to spoon together on the bottom. So far I have not been in the single bed,’’ Middleton said.
The group, named Par Four, started playing mini golf before lockdown, as a way of getting together and keeping their spirits up.
All three at times have struggled with some form of mental health, but they found getting together on a Thursday for some friendly competition was great for taking a break.
The idea to travel New Zealand developed when they were in lockdown together.
And what makes a good mini golf course? They admit it’s subjective.
‘‘There are about four I can think of straight away, Greymouth, New Plymouth, Tauranga and Rotorua are good courses,’’ Middleton said.
They all agree a long green, whether it is nice and flat or bumpy, is better than a short green.
‘‘Callum Brae, that was good, a beautiful course, John won his first one out of 70,’’ Sutcliffe said.
And their fastest time around a course is 19 minutes.
The trio have funded the trip themselves, with a bit of sponsorship for food and drinks. They have had generous supporters along the way with all but one course letting them play for free.
‘‘A guy at a cafe´ close-by did see that we paid, so told us he would pay our fee and add a donation to our fundraising.’’
The trip is planned down to the minute largely due to Middleton’s effort, however it hasn’t allowed the lads to do much sightseeing.
‘‘It’s a great way to see the entrance and exit of a town,’’ Roberts said.
We left them with 16 holes to play. Sutcliffe with the early advantage looking like he’d get the single bed for the night.