World record success of Birr golf professional

Shinrone’s Bobby King broke a Guinness World Record by playing 234 holes of golf in twelve hours at Roscrea golf Club for local Mental Health charities last Monday.

The 28 year-old Head PGA Professional from Birr Golf Club and Driving Range managed to smash the former record of 221 holes in his second attempt at the feat. in total he has now helped raise over €10,000 for charity in the two attempts. This time Bobby decided to raise money for mental health charities, Roscrea stands Up and Birr Mental Health.

It was a gruelling task as Bobby played 19 holes and hour during 13 circuits of the 18 hole golf course.

“The total milage of that including tee boxes was 49.6 miles or 80 kilometres,” Bobby revealed. In preparation for hitting over 1,000 shots in a day, Bobby went on a special diet for six months ahead of the challenge.

Although he drank 12 litres of water during the marathon golf session, Bobby said, “I didn’t stop for a bathroom break, number one or number two.”

He’s initial attempt to break the record ended tantalisingly close when he played 216 holes at Birr golf Club last April. In the end it turned out that the record wouldn’t have stood even if he did break it as the method he was using to record the attempt wasn’t acceptable to officials at Guinness World Records.

This time he had a team of helpers equipped with cameras from the record attempt.

“I had six runners in total who had cameras strapped to their chests,” he explained. Despite the length of challenge, Bobby said, “I didn’t feel nearly as bad as I did after the attempt in Birr.” He believes the flatter course and softer ground helped. “My body is not too bad, it’s just my feet,” he said. “The upper half is grand. I managed to tear a muscle in my stomach on the third round but I was able to push on through thankfully,” he remarked.

Bobby was sponsored to take on the record by The Grafton Barber, Hugo Loonam motors and Glanbia Optimum Nutrition.

The attempt was also supported by Titleist and Footjoy. Bobby said the previous attempt raised €6,835 for charity and although the final tallies aren’t in this time, he believes over €4,000 was raised in the second attempt.