Date: December 16, 2017
Author: David Greenhill

Longest Day of Golf Challenge

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On Wednesday 20 December with the greatly appreciated support of my home club of Commonwealth, GV Marketing and Communications Manager Greg Oakford and I will be taking part in the Longest Day of Golf Challenge to raise funds for Cancer Council Victoria, specifically for research into skin cancer.

With golf being an outdoor sport, skin cancer is certainly something which hopefully all golfers are aware of, especially in taking preventive measures during the warmer months such as applying sun cream and wearing suitable clothing and headwear.

As well as being a fantastic cause, the Challenge offers the opportunity to attempt four rounds of golf in the one day. As a sport crazed youth, I often ventured out with mates during summer holidays and played 54-holes in a day enjoying each other's company whilst trying to come to grips with this wonderful, multi-faceted, addictive and many times frustrating game.

I undertook the Challenge last year and it turned out to be a fantastic experience and highlight of a lifetime of being involved with our sport. In addition to the physical requirement, being able to mentally cope with the various challenges of the game across the whole day was a real eye opener. 

Greg and I will be playing four rounds of stableford via a playing schedule carefully crafted by Commonwealth General Manager & good friend Peter Parks and we’ll be navigating around and through pre-Christmas course users. The intention is to play each round in no longer than three and a half hours, with the first round to begin at 5.45am and roll straight into the second round just after 9am. After a short lunch break, we will then take off for rounds three and four from around 1.00pm.

With daylight until at least 9pm, we’re quietly confident about making it. In my case, after a few injuries have limited on course involvement during 2017, I’m actually just looking forward to being able to play golf again for such a great cause. It also certainly feels like I'm representing my home club of Commonwealth and I’m especially grateful for the wonderful support already received great support from the Commonwealth women members who’ve adopted the Longest Day as a charity cause to contribute to.

At the time of writing, there's now over 140 people and/or teams signed up across Victoria to undertake the Challenge with the goal of raising $200k overall. Similarly anyone that would like to make a contribution can simply visit the 2017 Longest Day Challenge page at www.longestday.org.au.

Alternatively if you’d like to support either Greg Oakford’s or my own Longest Day attempt, please visit: 

Greg: https://longestday2017.everydayhero.com/au/gregs-ultimate-golf-marathon

David: https://longestday2017.everydayhero.com/au/david-greenhill-2017-longest-day-of-golf

Thank you in advance for your generosity, it means a lot!

Some interesting facts about Cancer Council Victoria and the Longest Day:

The Longest Day is an endurance golf challenge designed to test skill, strength and stamina. The challenge is to successfully complete four rounds of golf on a single day, whilst raising funds for skin cancer research.

Australia has one of the highest rates of skin cancer in the world, with more than 750,000 people treated each year.

Cancer Council Victoria needs $200,000 to fund vital research at Monash University that is investigating immunotherapy for more effective skin cancer treatment. This project will explore whether a patient’s immune response can be enhanced, and thus help stop malignant tumours growing and spreading throughout the body.