‘WHEN I STARTED I WAS PLAYING OFF 18 UNOFFICIALLY. NOW I’M OFF 6.9!’

Oscar Finch had never broken 90 before setting off to play 90 rounds in 90 days. Now he’s playing off single figures

Prior to teeing off at Colchester Golf Club on September 8 last year, golf was little more than a fleeting hobby for Oscar Finch. He had never broken 90. He didn’t even have a handicap or membership. His golf bag consisted of a set of secondhand Mizuno MX-200 irons and a 24-year-old driver which he picked up from the side of a street for free.

He can laugh about it now because he’s upgraded to a Taylormade M6 driver, but for a while Finch looked every inch the novice golfer he was when he first took on a charity challenge of playing all 90 courses in Essex in 90 days. There were some high scores, most notably 117 (45 over par!) at Five Lakes. “You can imagine where most my golf balls ended up,” he laughs now. But then something incredible happened.

“It’s been a bit of a mega journey because at the start I was playing off 18 unofficially... now I’m off 6.9,” he explains. “I did surprise myself because I had probably only played 15 rounds in my lifetime up until September.

“It was only because I wanted to do something out of the ordinary that I even came up with the challenge of 90 rounds in 90 days. I was never much of a golfer, but I definitely am now. My best score was a three-over 72 at Belhus Park. I still can’t quite believe that!”

Finch, 21, attributes his improvement to a combination of better course management, learning his yardages, and practising his lag putting in between rounds. He makes it sound so easy, but the actual challenge was anything but.

Besides the physical stress of hitting 7,553 shots,

Finch had to contend with running his own property investment company while trying to fundraise for Mind, a mental health charity.

There was also the issue of travelling 8,406 miles by car, though the generosity of the golf clubs meant all but eight of the 90 green fees were waived.

“What was really special was when I was explaining to other golfers about what I was doing, it was getting them to talk and open up, which was fantastic,” says Finch, who has so far raised more than £2,500 for Mind. “It just shows that mental health does affect everyone in their own way.”

Finch has already committed to joining a golf club for the first time and is now planning to take part in the Macmillan Longest Day Golf Challenge this summer. He’s even set himself the target of playing off scratch within the next three years.

“I’ve caught the bug now,” says Finch, who finished on December 7 with a scoring average of 83.9. “It’s been so good for my own mental health that I want to play every week.” To donate to his cause, visit www.gofundme.com and search for ‘Oscar Finch’.