We were lucky enough to entice Barry’s Uncle Barry and Cousin Melissa to Austin, to play a few rounds (and EAT… They are my eating buddies)
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At 80 years old, UB (as I call him) kept up with his namesake like a champ! Missy and I were potentially more tired than he was.
This is us waiting for Barry to finish his third round so we could go to dinner at Napa Flats.
Thanks to Uncle Barry and Missy for an awesome visit during the epic golf year of 2016.
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[/intense_parallax_scene] See? Eating buddies! Where was Barry? Do you really need to ask?

November 1. 2016 Number 14 The Hills

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Witnesses Ryan, Justin, and Gabby from The Hills
During round number 726

NPR News’ Jordan-Marie Smith, from the show All Things Considered, interviewed Barry on the phone yesterday, about breaking and now setting the new golf record.  I have embedded the audio below. It was a long interview and edited WAY down to the important stuff. Hearing his voice recorded makes Barry “cringe”, he says 🙂

Another big milestone… Round 700

Teeing off it was a little chilly, but it was a slow round so plenty of time to warm up.  In fact, it was slow enough for Barry to nap and Larry to rearrange his cart, while we waited on number 12.

Since Barry is already over 700 rounds I guess some people think he walks on water… but he is really just looking for “pearls” (new Prov1’s).  No risk of falling and cutting this quest short, or anything silly like that!

Round completed and we all played well, even though we fought the wind for a good portion of it. 700 is in the rear view mirror.

Now Barry’s term “on pace” has a new meaning.  Is he on pace to reach 850 rounds?  Our 8 day trip back to CT for Thanksgiving may pose a problem.

Alex Meyers from Golf Digest actually went to Ridgefield, CT to play a round with Barry in mid-September.  We are not sure how he first heard of the record breaking, but being a golfer he was instantly interested.  The Ridgefield Golf Course helped me set up a round from London, because reaching Barry just doesn’t happen.

Barry had torn something in his rib/underarm that made his swing difficult, so he doesn’t like the tee shot captured in the video.  He was using the “stress method” for injuries; Just keep stressing the area until it starts to feel better… usually within a month, or a hundred rounds, whichever comes first.

Thanks to Alex Meyers for not being too blatant about saying how crazy Barry is!!!

Golf Digest Article and Video: 850 Rounds in a Year? Our Day With the World’s Most Avid Golfer

There is an interesting back story to the day Barry played 90 holes in one day. It was the day Arnold Palmer was buried. Barry decided to play 87 holes- one for each year of Arnie’s life.
Then…
Well you “can’t not” play the last 3 holes to complete the round, now can you? Even if it is pitch dark outside? He got it done.

Arnie has been beloved by us ever since our honeymoon, when we joined Arnie’s Army for an afternoon at Kapalua on Maui.

Arnie ducked under the ropes while walking up the fairway, put his arm around me (Joy) and said to Barry, “Well? Are you going to take a picture?” He then signed my Kapalua visor and was off! I recovered about 10 minutes later, realizing what had just happened.

That photo (blown up to an 8 by 10) was signed by Arnie at Cherry Hills Country Club in Colorado, years later, thanks to my sister-in-law Mary working there during a tournament.

A personal memento we have of a classy man, and great golfer. Barry’s 90 holes were in his honor.

Barry had been saying he thought something with his feet would cause him to have to stop racking up the rounds. Well, a retracting shelf in the dumb refrigerator we have in Austin (hate it), caused a jar of jalapenos to leap out at Barry and shatter on the floor. By the time I got there the puddle of blood was huge and the blood was arching into the air with each heartbeat. A piece of glass had hit him exactly puncturing an artery and no other cuts.
I wanted to drive him to the ER, he wanted to eat leftover rice…
A little tape applied very tightly around the foot and the blood sugar boost of the rice and he was back out there playing within the hour. So much for the emergency room…

Another new record set.  This one, a personal one.  And anyone ready to act like it is no biggie… just THINK about it!!

90 Holes in ONE DAY.  Ninety.  Nine Zero. FIVE ROUNDS. 28.7 miles.

Here is the photo Barry sent me of the end of his round…

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[/intense_parallax_scene]Is that an abandoned car you ask? ….. NO! That is just Barry Gibbons’ car. He is out there finishing up his day of golf!

Richard Lewis, the Las Colinas resident who previously held the record of 611 rounds, hosted Barry and Stewart (our golf-pro friend from London) for a round at his club.
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Richard couldn’t have been more gracious and supportive.  Barry had already beaten Richard’s record but he is cheering Barry on to 850 rounds!

Our adopted British son, Stewart, has always wanted to play at Colonial, and thanks to some really great friends… we were able to check that item off![intense_parallax_scene background_type=”image” image=”781″ imagemode=”parallax” height=”600″ breakout=”1″ advance_arrow_background_color=”#ffffff”]
[/intense_parallax_scene]Thanks to the Kilbergs!