While the professional tours continue to bicker, there was one person who toured the U.S. with the goal of raising money for First Tee organizations across the country.
Meet 43-year-old golf photographer Patrick Koenig, the moving force behind the RGV Tour.
Koenig quit his sales job in 2018 to tour the country in a recreational vehicle with the goal of playing golf in every state in the contiguous U.S. That was RGV Tour 1.0, which wrapped up successfully in February 2019 at Bandon Dunes.
This time around, in what was dubbed RGV Tour 2.0, Koenig, who carries an impressive scratch handicap index (0), upped the ante with a new Class A RV and a new goal—to break the world record for the number of golf courses played in a year: 449. After starting in Southern California on January 3, 2023, he played his record-setting 450th round on October 17 in Colorado. But rather than rest on his laurels he kept his green and black RV pointed down the road, eventually moving into NCGA territory on December 2 at San Luis Obispo CC.
Koenig overall played some 37 rounds at NCGA golf courses between San Luis Obispo and Sacramento, with a few stops in Oregon and Washington, before closing out the Tour at Chambers Bay on January 2, 2024. Overall, Koenig, who paid for about half of his rounds (some through sponsorships and underwriters), teed it up at 580 courses.
Why do it all? For Koenig, it’s a way to give back. The Tour raised over $34,000 for First Tee.
“One of the best parts about the RGV Tour has been raising money for First Tee,” Koenig said. “Through the game of golf, First Tee enables kids to build the strength of character that empowers them through a lifetime of new challenges. We can make a difference in their lives.”