Charity fundraiser gets to play a round!

An Englishman who has spent 30 years in the world of golf has just reached the halfway point of a 2,000 trek along the Wild Atlantic Way with his golf clubs and bag on his back to raise money for the Galway-based charity Cancer Care West.

Nick Edmund spent 15 years helping to design golf courses for champion golfer Nick Faldo and is the author of several guide books on golf courses in Ireland and the UK. He arrived into the Galway Golf Club in Salthill on Saturday after averaging seven hours walking a day for 57 days.

Unbelievably 51 out of those 57 days have been blessed with good weather. The 56-year-old had set out from Malin Head on March 4 and has so far played on 20 golf courses on the tourist driving route.

At each course he plays just the fourth hole and then hands over a special flag for the club to fly on that hole for the next four months to raise awareness about the campaign. He set up his charity, Global Golf 4 Cancer, after completing a hike through the Himalayas to raise money for cancer research.

In remission from head and neck cancer for over two years, Nick will take a break from the trek until the end of the summer to avoid being exposed to too much sun.

He plans to finish up in Kinsale after restarting the walk in September. At this stage he hopes to have 40 flags flying in the courses along the Wild Atlantic Way.

He found the going very tough for the first couple of weeks after undergoing a ceramic hip replacement on his right side.

On his back he is carrying four clubs and a golf bag, which is heavier than most as it contains all his clothes and an iPad.

“I feel better after eight weeks walking than I did after one. I’m averaging two miles an hour now and around seven hours a day. I walked 14 days in a row for this last leg as I got a bit fitter,” he revealed.

See full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune.