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North Sider Golfs 100 Holes in 11 1/2 Hours For Charity

By Justin Breen | June 7, 2016 6:41am | Updated on June 13, 2016 6:42pm
 Neil Johnston golfed 100 holes in about 11 1/2 hours on Monday.
Neil Johnston golfed 100 holes in about 11 1/2 hours on Monday.
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UPDATE: Neil Johnston golfed 100 holes on Monday in about 11½ hours. He posted on Facebook that he experienced "mild leg pain and some tender feet."

"It was a long but tremendously enjoyable day," Johnston said Monday.

Johnston said he was able to donate about $5,000 to Stone Academy.

CHICAGO — Asked if he'd run a marathon, Neil Johnston said: "God no, I have no interest in ever doing that."

But the West Ridge 35-year-old has no problem walking and golfing the equivalent distance, which he'll endure Monday as part of the Hundred Hole Hike charity outing.

Johnston will attempt to golf 108 holes at the 6,500-yard, par-70 Evanston Golf Club — without a golf cart. That's six rounds of four-plus miles each, or a shade under a 26.2-mile marathon.

Johnston is golfing and walking to raise funds for Stone Academy, a West Ridge Chicago Public School attended by his daughters: Mallory, 8, and Ramona, 6. Johnston has raised about $4,000 so far, and he's hoping to obtain another $1,000 by Monday.

The funds will be used to support Stone partnership programs, including ballet with Chicago Dance Crash and drama classes with Raven Theatre.

"I think it's exciting," said Johnston, who is golfing himself but will be joined by a few caddies over the hours. "And hopefully we'll shine a little bit of light on various funding deficiencies happening in the city of Chicago."

Justin Breen on raising money for charity by playing golf.

Johnston, a DePaul graduate, golfed 102 holes in one day in 2013 to raise money for Misericordia. That experience took him about 12 hours, and he expects Monday's 108 holes to last about the same amount of time.

In writing about the 2013 experience, Johnson posted on the hundredholehike.com site that the effort made him sore with "most of the pain [coming] from some historic blisters."

"The golf was at times inspiring and demoralizing," he wrote, calling it "a tremendous physical and mental challenge." He recorded 522 strokes, including three birdies, 26 pars, 35 bogeys and 33 double bogeys.

Still, he considers it "among the most fulfilling achievements, athletic or otherwise, of my life."

Johnston is a 9-handicap, and his best score on a par-72 course is 76. He's never had a hole-in-one, but he'll have 24 cracks on Monday as Evanston Golf Club has four par-3 holes.

"I've been close," Johnston said. "Monday would be a good time to do it."

To donate to Johnston's efforts, click here.

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