It’s not easy getting time with a guy who – deep breath now – plans and plays 18 holes on one or two different golf courses every day; takes, edits and markets stunning golf course photos he posts on social media: drives himself all around the country in his Recreational Golf Vehicle and, occasionally, squeezes in a meal.
The RGV has a lovely kitchen, but the meal tends to be a golf course sandwich or burrito eaten on the run. Such is the life of Patrick Koenig, who broke the world record for most 18-hole courses played in a year when he notched Course No. 450 at Omni Interlocken on October 17. By the time his 13-day, 19-course visit to Colorado ended with 18 holes at Redlands Mesa and he crossed the line into Utah, he’d set a new goal for the year: 10,000 different golf holes and 555 different 18-hole golf courses.
“It’s a lot,” the 43-year-old said with a nod. “It’s a lot.”
I caught up with him in the parking lot of Lakewood Country Club, just after his round at Broken Tee (No. 454) and before Round No. 455, with some questions CGA members wanted me to ask the 2-handicapper about the journey he started Jan. 3 at Monarch Beach Golf Links in Southern California.
You can follow along on the rest of his journey on Golf GameBook, Twitter and Instagram.
CGA: So Patrick, how many holes-in-one have you had on the tour?
PK: I’ve had zero on this tour. I’ve had zero in my lifetime. It’s estimated that I am zero for 32,000 attempts. It’s quite an achievement of inadequacy.
CGA: What’s been your worst weather round?
PK: That’s easy: Royal New Kent Golf Club (No. 271, Virginia). I showed up just to say hi but they let me play so I headed out. And I absolutely should not have been playing. The first hole was a river. The greens were unputtable. My umbrella snapped in half on the fifth hole. The superintendent came to me after the front nine to tell me I couldn’t play anymore and I pleaded with him to let me play. “Hey, I’m going for a world record, I’m completely soaked, if I only play nine it doesn’t count!” Eventually he just said, “Fine.” If I had jumped into a swimming pool I wouldn’t have gotten any wetter. It was horrible.
CGA: How did golf in Colorado compare to the other places you’ve been?
PK: The elevation is nice, you hit it farther. Colorado is one of the more dramatic places to play golf, with the mountains, and there’s Arrowhead (No. 447) with those massive slates of earth. There are more newer courses, as opposed to the “golden age” courses in other states. And golfers here are passionate about the game, especially in the Denver area.
CGA: Are you walking or riding most rounds?
PK: About half and half. I rode this morning and I’m walking this afternoon. I do most of my walking with Stewie, my little robot from Stewart Golf that I put my clubs on and then he follows me around.
CGA: What’s been your longest day?
PK: I played 72 holes in one day at Doral (Courses 158-162), and it was in April so it wasn’t a long sunlight day and I had to drive an hour and a half in the morning to get there, then played up until the final putt dropped and the sun completely disappeared. It was a long day – took a midday shower.
CGA: People want me to ask what’s your favorite course. I say you can’t possibly pick just one.
PK: Yeah, it’s Sand Hills (No. 438, Nebraska). It was Shinnecock Hills (No. 302, New York) and then it moved when I played Sand Hills.
CGA: Our members set their alarms, sometimes get up at midnight, just to get a tee time. They want to know, how you are getting all these?
PK: There’s probably 25 different ways I get tee times – everything from booking online to calling up and booking. Sometimes I’m playing a course with a member, and they’ll say, hey, what about this other place, a private course, and they’ll call and book it for me. There are invitations – I had hundreds of requests through the form on my website. Sometimes courses reach out directly. I have a partnership with Troon and they have courses all over the country. We got the Broken Tee time on Golfnow.
CGA: The RGV looks very comfy, but where do you park that thing?
PK: It’s a challenge. I couldn’t get into Castle Pines (No. 446) because they have a clearance barrier, so they sent a member of the club out to pick me up. Shinnecock I don’t think would have liked to see an RV in their parking lot. That may have been offensive to them, and we didn’t want to ruffle any feathers, so we called a little driving range about a mile down the road and parked there overnight in the back of the range, then took an Uber to Shinnecock.
Some people love it. Omni Interlocken said, just pull in and park up on the range so everybody can see it and know what’s going down. It was a prime location.
CGA: Where’s home? How about family and career?
PK: Laguna Beach, California. I’m originally from Fort Wayne, Indiana.
This is the career. I used to be a sales guy in tech and telecom, in San Francisco and Seattle. Then I decided I can make it in golf course photography. I believe I take some of the world’s best golf course photographs, and that’s how I make my living.
I have a girlfriend, Rachel, who is an angel. A lot of guys say, “I don’t know if I can get away for a weekend of golf. Two days in a row, I don’t know.” I got 365 days in a row! She has raised the bar for golf girlfriends in America. And any of this you would put in the article obviously does me good too. (Laughter) Oh, I love that woman. She’ll come out and bring me cakes with numbers on them.
Seriously, it’s great to have that support, which I also have from my sister and my parents. It frees you to be creative and be yourself and achieve things you wouldn’t achieve without people you know you can count on.
CGA: Please tell us Rachel plays golf.
PK: She does not play golf. She wants to learn, but she expects she’ll take a couple lessons and then be as good as me.
CGA: I see you have someone traveling with you right now – have you played by yourself at all?
PK: I’ve played about half the rounds I walked by myself, which is great. My buddy Eric here, he puts on fun tournaments and we met in Palm Springs and hit it off. He reached out a little while ago (“I got some time!” Eric interjects) after his girlfriend and him broke up. Love on the rocks. Nothing soothes a broken heart like two boys on a bus playing golf all the time.
CGA: What’s your plan for 2024?
PK: There will be more stuff with Golf GameBook, the app that’s powered this entire journey. They not only have underwritten the tour, they never lost sight that to be successful this had to fun, exciting and something I want to do every day. Golf GameBook, Breakfast Balls (for fashionable polos) Ecco Golf (for comfy shoes) and Stewart Golf (for Stewie) – those are my sponsors. Together we’ve raised more than $32,000 for First Tee local chapters around the country. Seattle’s First Tee is the primary beneficiary. I didn’t know much about fundraising, but we’ve been able to put it where it belongs.
CGA: Finally, we all love golf, but we don’t want to do what you’re doing. What gets you up in the morning?
PK: It’s the people you play with, they make a difference. It’s the love of the courses. I see different, unique courses – like the one I’m looking at right now (Lakewood) looks so cool, I’m getting excited to play it. But it’s really the people that bring the energy that keeps me going.
Veteran journalist Susan Fornoff has written about golf for publications including the San Francisco Chronicle, ColoradoBiz magazine and her own GottaGoGolf.com. She became a CGA member when she moved from Oakland, CA, to Littleton in 2016, and ghost-writes as “Molly McMulligan,” the CGA’s on-course consultant on golf for fun. Email her at mollymcmulligan@gmail.com.