Edison Club pro plays 171 holes for charity
REXFORD, N.Y. » Mark Twain wrote ‘Golf is a good walk spoiled.’
Brad Gardner thinks otherwise as now in the 21st century, the PGA golf professional at The Edison Club in Rexford made the most of to- day’s technology and combined it with a focus on charity, playing 171-holes on Aug. 19 to benefit Folds of Honor as part of its annual Patriot Golf Day event.
Through Gardner’s play, the commitment from The Edison Club staff and its members, the golf pro raised more than $20,000 for the organization.
“My goal was 100 holes that day,” Brad Gardner said. “It’s been probably six or seven years since I played more than 18 holes in a row, so I was hoping for 100. About 9:30 in the morning I was at 45 so I figured we would do pretty good.
“(Edison Director of Membership) Julie (Ohliger) came
out for a little update after my fifth nine just to send out to the membership and that was at about 9:30 in the morning, so I figured we would do alright.
I stopped for lunch after 108 holes at about 1:30 in the afternoon. At that point I thought I might be able to do 200, I just didn’t quite make it.”
This was the first time Gardner took part in the organization’s Patriot Golf Day fundraiser.
“The PGA does quite a bit of work with the Folds of Honor nationally and in our section as well,” Gardner said. “I’ve wanted to do something like this for a long time, so I finally had the opportunity and we went with it.”
All marathons are a challenge for the athlete, ultramarathons even more taxing, physically and mentally. Like a professional baseball player who participated in the all-star game home run derby, Gardner wasn’t about to tinker with his swing.
“I was more nervous about not taking any practice swings and not really concentrating on the round itself screwing up my game,” Gardner said. “I play so little and at this point I don’t very much play competitively because of my time constraints with the club. I was more concerned about getting in as many holes as I could, raise as much money as I could for these veterans.”
With a goal of getting in as many rounds in the daylight hours, Gardner was also willing to challenge some of the Edison Club’s latest equipment.
“We had just gotten some new carts in from Ez-Go and they’ve got lithium batteries, they told us that they could go 54 holes in a shot,” Gardner said. “I said ‘I’m going to test that right out.’ I ended up going through three of them in the day, so they went more than 54 at a time.”
With 27 holes at his disposal, Gardner had a variety of tees and greens to challenge him – six times over.
“I’ve played that golf course enough where you know all the holes,” Gardner said. “It’s nice having 27 and having an extra nine to look at throughout the day, absolutely it is. When you’re playing 170 holes they all start to look the same.”
Keeping the marathon round entertaining and interesting is another challenge for the golfer. As a professional, Gardner didn’t toy with his swing or attempt any trick shots over his 171hole round.
“I just played my game the whole round,” Gardner said. “When you listen to the touring pros talk about how they get through a day they say you just play your game, keep your head down and keep going.
“My goal was to be as effi- cient as I could, so whatever got me home in making the fewest swings that I could was what I wanted to do.”
Three golf cars, 171 holes of golf, a final score of 673 and more than $20,000 raised were all impressive numbers for The Edison Club golf pro, but what could becomemore than golf lore in the clubhouse was his overall play on the day.
“I was 11 over on the day in total,” Gardner said “I think my best nine-hole round was two-under par. So it was pretty steady throughout the day.”
The Folds of Honor’s mission is to provide educational scholarships to children and spouses of fallen and disabled veterans. Gardner’s fundraising efforts helped establish four, $5,000 scholarships for the organization.