Golfed for a Guinness record did it for a cure
By Jordan J. Michael
VOORHEESVILLE Tom Bucci of Latham golfed 1,801 consecutive holes last week at Albany Country Club in Voorheesville to set a new Guinness World Record.
Wow.
Some time ago, Bucci was looking for a way to raise money for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and the American Diabetes Association because his wife, Shelia, has the disease.
“I wanted to choose something that wasn’t just one day something that lasted long,” said Bucci, a golfer for 15 years. “I began to research last summer through Guinness and they came back with the idea. I loved golf, so it fit.”
Bucci started his quest on Sunday, June 14, at 5 a.m. and completed the record at 2:25 p.m. on Saturday on the ninth hole. His family rushed onto the green to congratulate him on the record and on raising over $17,000. His website at www.golfing4acure.com tells more about his record and fundraising for diabetes.
Bucci woke up at 4 a.m. every day to make it to the course by 4:45 a.m. He would be teeing off by 5 a.m. He played the holes until it was too dark to see, usually sometime after 9 p.m.
“I played 16-and-a-half rounds on Friday and I had to average about 14 rounds a day,” Bucci said on Wednesday. “I had a crew helping me out every day, so I wasn’t alone. We got a lot done and it went really fast.”
He finished 18 holes in an hour’s time.
“I made a couple of 50-foot putts, but I missed plenty of close putts because I had to rush a little bit,” said Bucci. “However, I tried to concentrate on swinging straight and I did for the most part. I didn’t spray it around or kill my game.”
Bucci’s scoring average was 89.6 for the week on the par 72 course in Voorheesville. His best round was 77 and his worst was 104.
“Family and friends came and visited me during the week because that’s the only place you could find me,” Bucci said. “We had a couple hundred people on Saturday to see it all happen. It was more about raising money than the actual record.”
The highlight of the week was a hole-in-one on the 16th hole on Thursday.
“I guess that it’s bound to happen if you play that much golf,” said Bucci. “It was 127 yards and I used an 8-iron. It went right into the hole on the fly. We were all dancing around is disbelief.”
After playing that much golf, Bucci told The Enterprise that he’s hanging up his golf equipment for a while.
“It feels like I pitched nine innings for seven straight days,” Bucci said of his ailing arm. “But, what I went through was nothing more strenuous than what a diabetic faces every day.”