A Gold Coast golfer has just entered the Guinness World Records for his attempt at the most golf holes played on a simulator in twenty-four hours.
From midday on Saturday 13 September this year, Shaun ‘Tosh’ McIntosh, a 40-year-old musician and butcher, played a curated list of courses on Trackman 4, a popular golf simulator, at his home club of Sunshine Coast Golf Centre, in Warana.
He went on to smash the previously held record of 756 holes, getting through 770 holes across 43 rounds.
During the 24 hours, he struck 3,270 shots, averaging a score of 76.
McIntosh had originally taken up the sport to deal with his anger issues, learning patience and coping mechanisms in the process.
Now, he decided to use his skills to raise awareness and funds for the One Punch Can Kill campaign, with a fundraising target of $10,000.
Between 2012 and 2018, one-punch assaults claimed the lives of eighty people. Almost a quarter of these were in Queensland.
McIntosh said that before he had dealt with his anger issues, he could have easily become ‘that guy’ who let his emotions get the better of him. That realisation stuck with him.
“Golf’s been an outlet for me,” he told Golf Australia.
“It’s a game that tests you mentally and physically. You hit a bad shot and your patience is tested, you make dumb mistakes and your resilience is tested, you’re tired, you’re frustrated, angry, and the question that comes, ‘How do you respond?’ Do you lose your head or do you reset, and keep moving forward.”
To claim his world record, Guinness’ strict guidelines were to be followed.
McIntosh had to play real courses, each putt had to be lined up and struck, and each hole had to be logged, verified and witnessed. No shortcuts or fictional courses were allowed.
McIntosh’s entire attempted was livestreamed on YouTube for transparency, and to enable his community to cheer him on.
The event happened following a year of intensive work, training for six hours after work each day before attempting marathon sessions in his final months of training.
McIntosh was supported the entire way by a crew of specialist coaches and a sports physiotherapist, with additional support from his club and gym, and Golf Australia.
He even wrote a soundtrack to his success, with his songs ‘Let’s Beat This Game Together’, ‘One Punch’ and ‘Never Break’, all available on Spotify under his artist name Tosh.
“If swinging a club for 24 hours straight gets even one person to stop and think before throwing a punch,” McIntosh said, “then every blister, every ache, every hour was worth it.”
Tosh told ClubTIC he is already planning to beat his record next year.