Jim and Pat Healey are a retired senior couple (ages 74 & 72) attempting to do something in golf that has, to their knowledge, never been attempted or done. They plan to play 18 holes of golf in all 50 US states, Washington D.C. and 10 Canadian provinces (total 61) in 61 days (1098 holes).

Both Jim and Pat are avid golfers. Jim's love for golf began when he caddied at the Country Club of Lansing in Lansing, Michigan. When he was a teenager he would often carry double 36 holes on a given day and then go play 9 holes on one of the local public courses. Pat took up golf after they were married, and she also grew to love the game. Playing golf is not their only connection to the "game of golf". Jim founded Handicomp, Inc. in 1967 as a computerized handicap service. It was one of the first such companies to perform this service for golf and country clubs in the United States. Pat worked along with Jim in this endeavor, and now their son and daughter run the business which has branched out to provide many other software systems for golf and country clubs.

Presently, they play 18 holes 4 or 5 times a week (walking), but 18 holes for 61straight days is a tall order. They will have to be lucky as well as durable. Bad weather and/or illness could easily put them off schedule.

At any rate, they are determined to proceed. To start the trip, Jim and Pat will fly to Alaska on Friday, August 19, 2005. They'll play Anchorage on Saturday, and then they'll fly to Salt Lake City on Saturday night ("red-eye") and play Wyoming and Utah (Sunday and Monday). Then they'll fly to Cincinnati and start the driving portion of their trip. They'll head east, picking up northeast US and Canada (Maritimes, New England, mid-Atlantic, etc). They'll loop back to Michigan (their home) via Virginia and West Virginia. After 2 nights in their own beds in Grand Rapids (they'll play Michigan during the layover), Jim and Pat will start the western swing of their odyssey. They'll head south around Lake Michigan, picking up Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Nebraska. From there they'll head north and west, playing the northern tier states as well as the western Canadian provinces. Reaching Washington, they'll head south through Oregon, Nevada, and California, and then head east on the home stretch, picking up the remaining western states. Continuing east across the Mississippi, they will play the gulf and southeastern states, then head north from Florida to Georgia, the Carolinas, Tennessee, and Kentucky, which will bring them to Cincinnati. From there they'll fly to Hawaii for their final 18 holes on October 19, 2005.

Should they be successful in the venture, there is a good chance that it will qualify for the Guinness Book of World Records. According to Guinness, they must complete the trip in an unprecedented time (actually, it's never been done in all the states and provinces). Also, they must have signed documentation that they actually played the course (golf professional, owner, manager, etc.). They must also keep a comprehensive journal of the complete trip with names and locations of the golf courses played.

The Healeys made their selection of the courses to be played based on the nearest proximity to their intended route. They have estimated that they will be flying 20,000 miles (round trips---Michigan to Alaska and Cincinnati to Hawaii). The driving portion of the odyssey includes all states and provinces except for Alaska, Utah, and Hawaii. It is estimated that the Healeys will drive 9000 miles in the 9-week period of the trip.

Click here to view an enlarged map of Jim & Pat's trip.