Mark Chapman completes another hole about 3.5 hours into his marathon of golf Friday.
/ Joel Allen
MYRTLE BEACH -- An Air Force veteran spent 11-11-11 on the golf course playing not one round, but 11. And he did it in under 11 hours.
Mark Chapman is was in the Air Force for 21 years. When he retired, he became a student at the Golf Academy of America in Myrtle Beach. To raise money for the Wounded Warrior Project and the Salute Military Golf Association www.smga.org/, Chapman decided to try playing 11 rounds of golf in one day.
He started at sunrise, 6:43 a.m. Friday, and he finished by 4:42 p.m. That's 198 holes in just under 10 and a half hours.
He said the mission today was much different than the missions he used to perform while in the Air Force.
Mark had one course at Waterway Hills Golf Club in Myrtle Beach all to himself, and yes, he did keep score.
"I mean, it's just the novelty portion of it. Just because we're playing by USGA rules, so it's keeping score, I have to hole everything out," said Chapman.
It was a very fast 11 rounds. It wasn't a stroll through the park, but... no complaints from Chapman. "This is awesome. I have friends right now that are sitting in a foxhole in Iraq or in Afghanistan. I'm playing golf in Myrtle Beach, the golf capital of the world."
So Mark's day went something like this: make a shot, jump in the golf cart, race to the next shot, rinse, repeat. He did it through 67,000 yards of golf, or 38.5 miles.
At one point, Chapman was playing so fast, the public relations people had to tell him, slow down because he was so far ahead of schedule.
But that's the way it is when you're doing something you love and helping a good cause.
Mark's total score was 994, or about 90 per round. He completed all 11 rounds in 10 hours, 19 minutes and 8 seconds.
