{"id":3635,"date":"2022-09-13T08:03:40","date_gmt":"2022-09-13T08:03:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/24-hours-of-mini-golf-the-quartet-who-crushed-a-world-record-to-raise-money-for-kentucky-flood-victims\/"},"modified":"2022-09-13T08:03:40","modified_gmt":"2022-09-13T08:03:40","slug":"24-hours-of-mini-golf-the-quartet-who-crushed-a-world-record-to-raise-money-for-kentucky-flood-victims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/?p=3635","title":{"rendered":"24 hours of mini-golf: The quartet who crushed a world record to raise money for Kentucky flood victims"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n On a balmy July morning at a small mini-golf center in northern Kentucky, four local regulars tapped their opening strokes.\n <\/p>\n
\n Their game was no different to the countless others being played across the globe that day, except for one not so miniature difference: it didn\u2019t finish until the following morning.\n <\/p>\n
\n After 24 hours, 116.5 rounds, 14,664 strokes, and almost 20 miles of walking, Putt-Putt Golf Erlanger became the home of a new Guinness World Record for the most holes of miniature golf in 24 hours by a foursome.\n <\/p>\n
\n Pausing for nothing but the occasional short break, father-son duo Chris and Cole Hetzel, Tony Centers, and Bob Schoettinger powered through 2,097 holes of their beloved 18-hole local course to smash the existing record by 657.\n <\/p>\n
\n The idea had begun as a joke with a passing comment by course owner Kevin Shea during one of its weekly tournaments last October. Yet it wasn\u2019t a joke without basis, as the Hetzels happen to be a duo with serious pedigree for world-record-breaking endurance efforts in niche sports.\n <\/p>\n
\n In June 2020, the Hetzel home garden in Fort Mitchell, Kentucky, was transformed into a wiffleball field for an 11-player, 30-hour-and-one-minute marathon match of the baseball-like game. The following May, the pair went a minute further in setting a Guinness World Record for the longest marathon playing four square at 30 hours and two minutes.\n <\/p>\n
\n To say Chris and Cole had caught the bug was an understatement. When their wiffleball record was pipped by 17 minutes, they reassembled a team and took back the crown in emphatic style, setting an eye-watering new benchmark just shy of 36 and a half hours.\n <\/p>\n
\n Read more: Meet \u2018Snappy Gilmore,\u2019 the viral TikTok sensation reinventing the golf swing<\/strong>\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cI think it\u2019s safe to say we have an addiction to these endurance events at this point,\u201d Cole, a cross-country athlete at DePauw University in Indiana, told CNN.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cThere\u2019s nothing like doing the same thing for a whole day straight. It\u2019s a fun time.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n Naturally then, after Cole tracked down the existing record of 1,440 mini-golf holes set in Germany in 2005, it didn\u2019t take long for a joke to turn into a fully-fledged application. The process was no small task given Guinness\u2019 notoriously strict and extensive guidelines, but with the paperwork eventually filed, July 31 was circled as the big day.\n <\/p>\n
\n All that was left was to set the stage and complete the team. Putt-Putt\u2019s Shea took the reins on the former, organizing taco, ice cream and cookie trucks, a live DJ and a host of other festivities to draw support and transform the center into Erlanger \u201cneighborhood\u201d for 24 hours.\n <\/p>\n
\n Beyond personal glory, the event served to encourage donations for Matthew 25: Ministries (M25M), an international humanitarian and disaster relief organization. Based in Ohio, the group worked to provide support during devastating flooding that hit Kentucky in August, as well as during a tornado outbreak in December 2021.\n <\/p>\n
\n Fundraising for the organization proved the \u201cbig picture highlight\u201d for Schoettinger, who has previously volunteered with the group. Having raised almost $3,000 directly, Schoettinger added that M25M had informed him of a \u201ctremendous surge\u201d in donations around the time of the event.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cI understand first-hand how tremendous the help is that they give and what a great organization they are,\u201d he said. \u201cWhat better tie in for a world record attempt than a world-reaching charitable organization?\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n The Hetzels were familiar with Centers and Schoettinger from the weekly tournaments, but their decision to draft them into the team was not sentimental. Centers was a mini-golf sharpshooter with a penchant for hole-in-ones, while Schoettinger, with a background in bicycle racing, would serve as the team\u2019s strategic and emotional anchor.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cThe primary skills we were looking for included the ability to consistently knock down aces, stamina, and a positive attitude,\u201d Chris said.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cThere were more guys to choose from, but we picked the team that we knew were all fast and could make it through the 24 hours,\u201d Cole added.\n <\/p>\n
\n Read more: What does it take to win the Open? Meet golf psychologist \u2018Dr. Mo\u2019<\/strong>\n <\/p>\n
\n After setting off at 8 a.m., the quartet blitzed towards the existing record. Their ferocious pace was aided by Shea and volunteers, who were on hand to keep score and provide much-needed refreshments as temperatures peaked around 88 degrees Fahrenheit (31 degrees Celsius).\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cIt\u2019s important to make sure you\u2019re eating in a 24-hour endurance event,\u201d Schoettinger said. \u201cIt\u2019s no different than a bicycle race or running race \u2013 it just happens to be a Guinness World Record race in this case.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cWe were like a well-oiled machine, it just looked like poetry in motion,\u201d added Centers, who settled into a remarkable rhythm of his own with a group-best 897 hole-in-ones.\n <\/p>\n
\n At 10:45 p.m., Schoettinger tapped in to clinch the world record, much to the delight of the loyal crowd who had stayed out to support the group. There was time for a quick group hug and a celebratory glass of champagne, but with over nine hours left to extend the record, business was far from over.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cThere wasn\u2019t a question about whether we were going to pass the record,\u201d Chris said. \u201cIt\u2019s a question of stamina \u2013 how much longer can we do it and push ourselves?\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n Despite hitting the wall of inevitable fatigue in those early morning hours, Schoettinger rolled home to sink the 3,197th hole-in-one with the 14,664th and final stroke at the ninth hole \u2013 twenty seconds shy of 8 a.m., and 24 hours after the first putt.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cI don\u2019t think we could have picked a better team; we just went out there and clicked, had fun and enjoyed seeing everybody that came out and supported us,\u201d Centers said.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cIt was a day that we can sit back years down the road, dwell on and be able to tell our stories about a pretty awesome thing.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n Read more: The rise of legendary golf photographer David Cannon<\/strong>\n <\/p>\n
\n The Hetzels are already touting pickleball \u2013 the new American sensation \u2013 as a potential sport for them to target once the sound of wood hitting ball and ball landing in cup has stopped ringing between their ears. According to Chris, such echoes are very real side effects of endurance records, lasting for days at a time.\n <\/p>\n
\n For now though, all eyes will now be on the annual Guinness World Record book, set to release in mid-September. Having never before made it in, the duo are hopeful of seeing their latest feat in print among the globe\u2019s myriad of wacky and wonderful accomplishments.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cWe\u2019re not in the book yet because we don\u2019t have long fingernails and we\u2019re not tall,\u201d Chris joked. \u201cI think this one\u2019s got a good chance of being in there.\u201d\n <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
![\"Cole](\"https:\/\/media.cnn.com\/api\/v1\/images\/stellar\/prod\/220908102624-minigolf-guinness-world-record.jpg?c=16x9&q=h_270,w_480,c_fill\")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n![\"Schoettinger](\"https:\/\/media.cnn.com\/api\/v1\/images\/stellar\/prod\/220909101556-04-minigolf-guinness-world-record.jpg?c=16x9&q=h_270,w_480,c_fill\")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n![\"Centers](\"https:\/\/media.cnn.com\/api\/v1\/images\/stellar\/prod\/220909101451-03-minigolf-guinness-world-record.jpg?c=16x9&q=h_270,w_480,c_fill\")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/media.cnn.com\/api\/v1\/images\/stellar\/prod\/220909102336-06-minigolf-guinness-world-record.jpg?c=16x9&q=h_270,w_480,c_fill\")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n