Dec 11 Manplays500
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When golf nut Alex Messing first took up the game age 13, he made a resolution to keep a scorecard from every different course he managed to play. 43 years later, he realised that he was fast approaching 500 courses.
Alex, who hails from the Isle of Wight, has played over 300 courses in the UK and Ireland, 100 in Europe (from Poland to Portugal) and 70 in the US. The remaining 30 were from further afield – Thailand, the Caribbean and Mauritius.
It was during the trip to Mauritius that Alex played his 500th course – the Links at Belle Mare Plage. Wanting to play somewhere really special to mark the occasion, he contacted travel agents Chaka Travel who suggested the Mauritius track as a suitable course for the milestone.
Alex estimates that he’s played a total of over 3,000 rounds of golf. His favourite? He refuses to be drawn on that, but picks out St Andrews, Brancaster, The Berkshire, Diamond Back in Florida and the Thai Navy course at Plutaluang as some of his highlights.
