Record breaker! Meet the golf fanatic who spent $150k playing 580 golf courses in a year!

Most golfers struggle to play 580 courses in a lifetime. Professional photographer Patrick Koenig did it in 12 months and set a new Guinness World Record that may never be broken.

Patrick Koenig has an exceptionally understanding girlfriend. He also has an insatiable appetite for golf, which is why he spent upwards of $150,000 to feed his golf obsession. His dedication is such that he played 18 holes on Christmas Day and another 36 on his girlfriend’s birthday.

That he was able to get away with it – with his relationship still intact – owes a lot to his incredible quest to play the most 18-hole golf courses in 365 days. The previous record, set by Cathie and Jonathan Weaver, stood at 449, but Koenig knew he could beat it, and told us so in March last year. 

He played four rounds at Doral on April 14 and five more at Bethpage over two days. His pace was so good that when he broke the record on October 17, he did so with 77 days left to spare. Only he didn’t stop there.

He pressed on, setting a new record once, often twice a day. As the days got shorter, Koenig teed off earlier. He managed to play twice on December 21, the shortest day of the year. By the time he holed out for the final time at Chambers Bay in Washington on January 2 this year, he had logged 580 rounds.

That’s a lifetime’s worth of golf for some people, the equivalent of playing once a month for the next 48 years. Koenig did it in a single year. At a different course each time.

“I loved every second of it,” he says now. “I don’t think I could have set a better goal in my entire life. It was perfect for me. There was nothing that was boring or repetitive about it, even though it was, by definition, the same thing 580 times. Every day was a different adventure.

“The stretch goal was 500, so I would have been happy just getting that. But to get to 580 makes me immensely proud of myself and everybody that played their part.”

Koenig’s almost single-minded pursuit raises a number of questions, most notably why and how. But he has previous when it comes to playing multiple rounds of golf across multiple days.

In 2018, he quit his sales job to follow his passion for golf and golf course photography. He gave up his apartment, bought a second-hand RV, and spent 10 months (and $60,000) playing 405 golf courses in 48 states, raising $20,000 for charity.  

“It was an idea 20 years ago, to get an RV, drive to a course, play it, and then drive to the next one,”
he explains. “It was never super practical, especially back when I was a sales guy, but once I started getting a following on Instagram, that’s when I realized there’s an audience around it. I ended up leveraging a career in golf course photography out of it.”

As the commissions and publicity grew, so did his number of followers on social media. They included Teemu Ruuska of Golf GameBook, who approached Koenig in 2022 about embarking on a second tour. His timing was perfect.

“At the time, I had been fantasizing about it,” says Koenig. “I played 405 different courses before and once I learned that the record was 449, it kind of pissed me off that I didn’t have that record.”

With Golf GameBook footing the bill and tracking every round on their app, Koenig put a plan in place and hit the road in a brand-new RV. He struck his first tee shot at Monarch Beach Golf Links in California on January 3 last year.

For the next 12 months, golf became his life. He hit 44,600 shots across three countries and 44 US states. He lived and slept in the RV, which even had its own makeshift driving range on the roof. Not that it got much use. Koenig was always too busy playing to practice.

He says he got through six pairs of shoes, which is what happens when you walk 1,523 miles, the equivalent of 58.1 marathons. It helped that Ecco Golf were one of Koenig’s sponsors, as were Stewart Golf, who supplied him with an Q Follow trolley (which he nicknamed Stewie) that featured in several of his social media videos.

“Stewie was a maniac,” laughs Koenig. “It kind of had its own personality. It drove off a bridge once, at Myopia (Hunt), headfirst into a creek.

“We had some adventures, but I likened it to Tom Hanks in Cast Away, where he made friends with Wilson, the volleyball. It was that kind of friendship, with an inanimate object.”

Compared to his previous challenge, Koenig admits this was tougher to plan and coordinate. Anyone and everyone was invited to take part and submit a stop request on his website to join the tour. Koenig did his best to oblige, which created a logistical nightmare when trying to phone or email ahead to book tee times.

One round at Tavistock Country Club in New Jersey had to be abandoned early because of lightning, while others were delayed because of travel trouble, no-shows, or unforeseen repair jobs.

“I must have had about 50 real solid issues with the RV. Everything from the door falling off to the steps malfunctioning so they would slide out while I was driving. It happened once while I was going slow, luckily, and I ran into some dirt. But there were countless problems.

“The water in the thing never worked properly. There were multiple leaks. The windshield wipers were broken, the AC broke, and the vent system in the front broke. This was all in the first three months. One time a guy came to fix everything, left, and then I stepped on the stairs and they broke away again. I had to tie them up to drive to the next course!”

Regardless of the problems, Koenig managed to play golf for 277 consecutive days. Even when he flew halfway around the world to Finland, and then on to Sweden, he still found time to get 18 holes in.

“I’d play in the morning and then get on the plane. I loved it. It was in the middle of summer so one day we teed off at 9.30 pm and we finished at one in the morning. Being able to hit a drive at midnight and still see the ball really blew my mind.”

The only time Koenig took a break from playing golf was when he spent six days working at October’s Tiger Woods Invitational at Pebble Beach.

“The title sponsor hires me to do the photography every year,” he explains. “It’s such a cool gig that I didn’t want to risk not being their guy.”

Despite his best efforts, Koenig never did get the chance to play Pebble or Spyglass, though he did make it to 106 other courses in California, including Riviera, The Olympic Club, and Harding Park.

He shot a three-under 67 – his best score – at Pacific Grove Municipal and even played four rounds in the company of former PGA Tour star Len Mattiace, including one at TPC Sawgrass. The routine, he says, was the same every day.

After arriving at a course, he would photograph it, play it, and then ask the pro shop for something to commemorate his visit. Koenig refers to it as his passion project, which helped turn his motorhome into a mobile museum.

“The amount of things that I picked up and were gifted to me along the way is astonishing. It’s nice to have nice things, but possessions that represent an experience, a person, or a place are the best.

“Every time I look at a pin flag of a course, it brings back a feeling of playing it. That’s how I plan to commemorate the tour, putting my swag up all over the house so it’s like my own memory lane. Those memories are more important to me than the world record.”

Koenig clearly loves golf, but it’s easy to conclude that he loves meeting people on the golf course even more. On the final leg at Chambers Bay, 71 golfers joined him as he made history. Even torrential rain couldn’t dampen the celebrations and the knowledge that he helped to raise over $40,000 for First Tee, a charity that helps to provide golfing opportunities for underprivileged children.

“That part is nuts,” he smiles, “and it makes me feel like we really accomplished something. One of the comments I had is that you touched a lot of people, probably more than you even know, and it’s true.

“A caddie at Chambers Bay came up to me and he was like, ‘I don’t know if you remember this, but five years ago we had a conversation about sobriety, right on this putting green. I just want you to know I’m five years sober now and you were a motivation for me. I’ve followed you since and you’ve inspired me to keep at it’.

“Hearing that, and what your dreams can mean for other people was just the coolest thing that happened all day. That’s making the world a better place, and knowing that I played my part is such a good feeling.”

The undeniable truth about Koenig’s marathon is that he left his mark on every course he went to, be it with the pictures he sold, the green fees he paid, or in the friendships he forged. Even after his tour had ended, he was back playing again three days later as he made the most of the long drive home.

“I mean, after driving 35,000 miles, why would you not want to drive another 1,000 miles from Seattle to Laguna Beach and get some golf in?” he laughs. “To be fair, my girlfriend and her kids were really good about it – they understood that I just had to play Sea Ranch. Plus, I had really missed playing, you know.”

Koenig estimates that he’s now played somewhere close to 1,800 courses in his lifetime. There are
still plenty more he wants to tick off on his bucket list, which is why he isn’t ruling out another challenge in the future.

As for the world record he’s just set, he plans to write a book about it, in the hope that someday, someone might be crazy enough to try and break it.

Something tells us he might be waiting a while.

STANDOUT STATS
10,434 holes played
580 rounds
44,660 Shots hit
2,900 over par
67 Best score
77 Average score
19 Eagles
903 Birdies
6,011 Pars
3,024 Bogeys
477 Doubles or worse
1 Handicap
1,523 miles walked
1.6 courses played per day on average
106 courses played in California
$40,000 raised for charity

About the author

Michael Catling
Features Editor

Michael Catling is Today’s Golfer‘s Features Editor and an award-winning journalist who specializes in golf’s Majors and Tours, including DP World, PGA, LPGA, and LIV.

Michael joined Today’s Golfer in 2016 and has traveled the world to attend the game’s biggest events and secure exclusive interviews with dozens of Major champions, including Jack Nicklaus, Jordan Spieth, Tom Watson, Greg Norman, Gary Player, and Justin Thomas.

Get in touch with Michael via email and follow him on Twitter.