Patrick Spoerndle has a slight golf addiction. He lives on Fox Meadow Country Club, shoots in the 70s and gets invited to lots of charity outings. So when the Medina County resident and former social worker was looking to give back, he decided on a 100-holes-in-a-day marathon with all proceeds going to Hospice of Medina County. Since 2009, his 100 for Hospice event has raised more than $264,000 for charity.
I started doing this when I was 52. Every year, the night before, I’m going, Oh my gosh, how am I gonna play 100 holes of golf.
The first year it took us about 9 1/2 hours. In 2017, it was the fastest year ever — did the 100 holes in 5 1/2 hours. It works out to 3 minutes a hole. I tee off, and [caddies] race their cart over to the ball, shoot the distance with their laser.
As I’m pulling up to the ball, they’re yelling to me the yardage. Then they take off for the next hole and tee up a ball for me. I’m not taking any practice swings, just walking up and hitting the ball. It takes me a few holes to settle into what the right pace is.
About halfway between 50 and 100 [holes], you start to feel very tired. But, the push is there. So much of it is adrenaline.
It amazes me. The night after I’ve done it, I have such a hard time falling asleep.
As life would have it, I’ve now had three family members who have used end-of-life services through HMC, and what that did for me is just reinforce the value of doing what I’m doing. If you think about working in that environment, it requires special people. When you see that in action, it just reinforces that this is something that I want to support. — as told to Doug Turrington
