July 04, 2004

Round the World in One

Posted by Henry

The New York Times tells us today about some bloke who’s playing golf across Mongolia, treating the entire country as a course, and dividing it into eighteen holes. Par is 11,880.

Sounds impressive - until you consider the Surrealist Golf Course in Maurice Richardson’s The Exploits of Engelbrecht (previously discussed in this post). According to Richardson

To start with, a surrealist golf course has only one hole. But don’t get the idea that it’s any easier on that account. … Par is reckoned at 818181, but anything under 100,000 is considered a hot score. The hazards are desperate, so desperate that at the clubhouse bar you always see some pretty ravaged faces and shaky hands turning down an empty glass for the missing members.

These hazards include Sairpents, Vultures, the Valley of Dry Bones, Muezzins and Butlins Holiday Camp. In comparison, the Gobi Desert sounds like a cakewalk.

Posted on July 4, 2004 10:29 PM UTC
Comments

Not to nitpick surrealist scorekeeping, but if par is 818,181, calling a score of 100,000 merely “hot” is pretty faint praise.

Posted by Jeffrey Kramer · July 5, 2004 07:06 AM

I’m guessing that instead of 100,000, 1,000,000 is meant, I would imagine.

Posted by Paul · July 5, 2004 03:45 PM

The NY Times continuing efforts to reach and mold the opinions of the affluent AND liberal American. Only people of wealth could be bothered to find this kind of stunt interesting… a sort of a rich man’s hot dog eating contest.

Posted by RSN · July 5, 2004 04:55 PM

Played this course back in 1999, brought back photos to prove it. Will have to scan a couple to show everyone… The Times, behind as usual…

Posted by Doug · July 5, 2004 07:16 PM

Yeah - my error in transcribing - it should be 1,000,000.

Posted by Henry · July 5, 2004 08:06 PM
Followups

This discussion has been closed. Thanks to everyone who contributed.