Barry had set an interim goal of getting to the 200th round by the end of March 2016.  He had enough time to get creative on the 18th green of round 199, and produced this…

I went out to play #200 with Barry, and the Sheltons joined us, as well. I had never met Judy and Charlie, but anyone who is nice to my in-laws is automatically “in” with me!

Judy and Barry were trash talking a little, and negotiating a wager on the back nine, just to make it interesting.

Can’t you just hear it? The back and forth ended with couple of wagers in place: Barry had to score 2 over par (or better)to win a beer, and Judy had to break 50 for a beer.  Game on!

Let’s just say it was looking good for both of them early on, but then Barry needed to make up for some lapses, and there were two holes that kicked Judy way down.  Barry was still in it, but Judy was not feeling great at that point. So Judy retaliated with this:

A beer from Bree to celebrate the 200th round, and potentially make Barry forget how competitive he is![intense_parallax_scene background_type=”image” image=”322″ imagemode=”parallax” height=”500″ breakout=”1″ advance_arrow_background_color=”#ffffff”] [/intense_parallax_scene] All in all it was a very good day, perfect weather and great company! Now Barry can go off to the NCAA Final Four basketball tournament and focus on a different kind of fun for a few days (and YES there will be golf in Houston!)

While the milestone of 200 rounds is fast approaching… the miles keep adding up.  Now Barry has walked the distance between Austin and Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada!

The interim goal is get to that 200 round mark by the end of the first quarter, March 31st.  No problem- only five rounds in 2 days needed.

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From Barry:

Today, I did something that I’ve never accomplished on the golf course before – I played 72 holes.  I teed it up at 7:56 this morning at Flintrock Falls.  Took about a 40 minute break to have a bite to eat around 1:45.  Walked off of the course at 7:19 this evening.

It was nice to have my wife walk with me for the last 9 holes, as I needed a bit of moral support at that point.  It was a long day, I walked over 56,000 steps, and logged over 28 miles.  That’s longer than a marathon race…and it feels like it.  I had played 63 holes on several occasions before, but 72 is a new milestone for me.

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After 72 Holes
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Not sure I’m going to repeat it anytime soon, however.  Only one guy was on the course longer than me today, and that’s Aaron Clary, the course superintendent.  He started his day at 6:00am, and was still cutting greens at 7:30.  So, I guess Aaron’s the real Marathon Man.

From Barry:
During my parents visit last week, one afternoon my Mom drove the cart for Dad, so that I could walk and get in another qualifying round.  We were playing in front of a couple that was extremely patient.  Although our pace of play was pretty good, it took a lot of hustling on my part to keep us moving along.  I think the couple recognized the effort and cut us some slack, rather than getting all worked up as people often do.  In the end, we were waiting for the group in front of us most of the time anyway, and on about the 15th hole we asked the couple to join us for the last few holes.  They accepted the invitation, and we all had a chance to meet Judy and Charlie Shelton.

What a great couple!  Not only were they were extremely kind and courteous to my parents, which I very much appreciated, but they were a real pleasure to play with.  That’s one of the things that makes golf such a great game…the people that you meet along the way.  People often suggest to me that they aren’t “good enough” to play with me.  That’s nonsense for many reasons, mostly because I’m not that good to begin with myself.  More importantly, the criteria that I use for deciding whether I want to play with someone is not what score they shoot, but instead whether they move at a reasonable pace, and if they are a pleasure to spend four hours with.   Judy and Charlie fit the bill, and I told them that I would welcome the opportunity to play with them again anytime.

Little did I know, that a few days later they would be stalking me at The Hills.  They had a tee time right behind me, so we decided to tee it up together.  We had a great day.  My golf was below standards ( I’m not sure I’m good enough to play with the Shelton’s).  I tried to challenge myself by betting Judy that I would shoot a 37 or better on the back 9.  For the record, I lost two beers, one for Judy and one for Charlie.  While I have tried to pay off the bet, the Sheltons really seem to enjoy having this debt hanging over my head.   Judy made some excuse about having to go wash her hair so that she could meet Sir Nick Faldo that evening.  Rumor has it her hair looked beautiful, but Sir Nick didn’t see it given that he was a no show, so it was a bit of a waste of shampoo there Judy!

In all seriousness, I really enjoyed meeting, and playing with the Sheltons.  I feel like I’ve made some good new friends, and that we will have many opportunities to play together in the coming months.

You can spend the day with great folks!

And sometimes one of them is not only a great golfer, but also an awesome photographer!  Check out the “profile pic” I just added to the About Barry page, courtesy of the beautiful lady in the center, Cynthia.  Not to be left out, since I am listing non-golf talents- you should hear Dave SING!!

Word has started to get out!

In fact, before we had a chance to tell Barry’s dad about this website,
he heard about it at Valley Country Club in Colorado!
(That really surprised me!)

Barry’s Uncle Barry, whom he is named after (or is that obvious?), is in Florida this winter.  He is on board with tracking his nephew’s progress through this website, as well.

Unk Bar was with cousin Melissa (of COURSE playing golf.  It is in the blood) and sent this text…

We have hits on the site from Hawaii to Boston, and everywhere in between. Barry needs all the well wishers and support he can get. It is only March!

I am still waiting for someone to use the comment section to weigh-in internationally! Stewart? Joe? Nicky? Somebody?

Who will be first?

Just a Public Service Announcement that if you happen to catch Barry driving a golf cart…  Notice:

• Barry’s golf bag is NOT on the cart
• His father is in the passenger seat
• Ed’s clubs ARE on the cart
• They both have big smiles on their faces!

Barry will caddy and chauffeur for only a few people in this world.  Especially, when doing so takes up precious daylight, when he could be swinging the clubs and posting scores toward the goal.

Father – Son time… Does it get any better than that?