The time was the late 1970s and early 1980s in Las Vegas. I was barely into my gaming career, having bounced around small towns and cities in Nevada, eventually ending up dealing craps on the Las Vegas Strip, first at the Stardust (when the Mob ran it), then at the Holiday Casino, soon to become Harrah’s. It was an exciting time to be in Las Vegas, one of the most exciting cities in the world.
I was a scratch golfer and played most days for money at the old Paradise Valley Country Club with a delightful group of casino workers, local business owners, old-school rounders, and a few folks who, well, we weren’t quite sure what they did. But they were all avid golfers who liked to play for a few bucks. Not huge stakes, but enough to get your heart pumping.
One day after golf, a few of us were having a beer outside on the patio overlooking the 18th green. In the distance were the mountains to the east. At the top of the pass was a tiny town with the famous old Mountain Springs Saloon. I’m not sure where the thought came from, but I said, “I wonder what it would be like to golf from the top of that mountain to right here at the 18th hole?” Most of the guys looked at me like I was crazy (and it might have ended right there), but Steve Kern, the young assistant pro at the club, immediately blurted out, “That’d be cool! If you ever do it, I’m in!”
And that’s how the idea for the World’s Longest Golf Hole was hatched.
We embraced the craziness and made the World’s Longest Golf Hole really really difficult, playing it in early August in Las Vegas, the hottest time of the year. We would play from the Mountain Springs Summit and finish at the very 18th hole next to Paradise Valley’s patio. We would walk the entire way and play the ball “as it lies” according to the U.S. Golf Association rules. The “hole” turned out to be 26 miles long, almost the exact distance of a marathon race and without having a clue, we established par as 300 strokes.
I wasn’t sure that government and regulatory agencies would let us golf through the desert alongside a state highway and traverse both public and private lands. Intuitively, though, I figured that you could do almost anything if it was for charity. So that’s why we approached the Muscular Dystrophy Association, which already held its annual Jerry Lewis Telethon each year in Las Vegas over Labor Day Weekend.
I discovered the National Telethon was a tough nut to crack, especially for a fledgling crazy event like the World’s Longest Golf Hole. But the national organization did refer us to the local MDA District Office, suggesting they might be interested in our “event.” And when I met with the Las Vegas district director and told him that the WLGH might be able to raise $50,000 for MDA (again not having a clue as to what was possible), well, we had a willing charity to be the beneficiary for our golfing exploits.
I could write a whole book on the eight years of the World’s Longest Golf Hole, but for the purposes of this column, I’ll share the highlights (or in some cases, the lowlights) of the event.
Logistics were incredibly difficult. The Nevada Highway Patrol wanted us to stay off the state highways with our golf shots and get approval from every one of the scores of homeowners whose property we would skirt. We needed volunteers to spot golf balls in the desert, a support vehicle to follow us two golfers in our match (billed as the “Desert Duel” between a pro and an amateur) and another vehicle to provide periodic respite from the intense Las Vegas summer heat (thank God for Bates Rent-A-Motorhome and its generous donation). We needed golf clubs and (many) golf balls.
Most importantly, we needed donations from individuals and companies to raise money for MDA. That was the hardest part. In the first year of the Longest Golf Hole, we raised $6,000, mainly in $10 and $20 donations. The second year was a little better, raising $11,000.
In the first match, the pro, Steve Kern, beat me 303 to 309. I got my revenge in the second year, winning 306 to 312. At that point, we decided to try and raise more significant charity dollars for MDA by having the pro and me team up in a revised “alternating-shot” format and challenge other teams from around the country to raise money for MDA in their own cities to earn playing rights in the Las Vegas World’s Longest Golf Hole each August.
Over the next six years, crazy big-hearted golfers came from California, Florida, Texas, Illinois, northern Nevada, Arizona, and a few other sundry places to play “The Toughest Test in Golf for the Toughest Kids in the World” (yes, we now had a marketing slogan). We lengthened the World’s Longest Golf Hole to 37 miles and eventually moved the tee south to the California/Nevada border near I-15 at Whiskey Pete’s Casino. Our finish line for the hole became a specially built green at the Holiday Casino where I worked. And yes, we golfed right up the Strip through a local rule that allowed us to putt up the right lane.
Those World’s Longest Golf Hole events provided some amazing stories, including:
- Randy Smith, a golf professional from Dallas, played in the first team event of duos from around the U.S. The temperature hit 110 degrees that year and Randy went to the emergency room, suffering from dehydration. But after an IV and drinking plenty of Pedialyte, he doggedly finished the Longest Hole. Randy is now the lifelong instructor and coach of the No. 1 golfer in the world, Scottie Scheffler.
- For some strange reason, where we teed off each year for the World’s Longest Golf Hole became a source of weird pride. Our tee areas included one from inside the State Prison in Jean, Nevada, another from an airborne helicopter, and still another very scary one from the top of Whiskey Pete’s casino highway marquee sign.
- A “Media Mile” event right before the start of the Longest Hole allowed select Las Vegas media members to play their own 1-mile hole under the same rules and conditions that we WLGH golfers would experience for 2½ days over 37 miles.
- Parry Warren, a Las Vegas resident with limb girdle muscular dystrophy, played the last Longest Golf Hole as my partner, walking, or rather, hobbling, the entire 37 miles. We finished dead last, but in fact, we were the real winners that year.
- After eight years of the craziest event ever conducted in golf, the World’s Longest Golf Hole had raised approximately $150,000 for the Muscular Dystrophy Association across various district offices in the United States.
I didn’t realize it at the time, but the World’s Longest Golf Hole was the first marketing experience in what was to become my marketing career. It certainly had a crazy creative concept. It took some intense and complex special-event coordination. We had to find sponsors like the Holiday Casino, Michelob, Spalding, and the United States Golf Association. We had to get the Las Vegas local media to pay attention to us in a media market containing many bigger, splashier, and more professionally produced events. We had to conceive effective fundraising activities to maximize our charity dollars raised.
And we had to play a damn 37-mile golf hole in August in Las Vegas. That, as it turned out, was the easy part.
