Summer officially will come to an end this weekend. Beth Clippinger won’t soon forget how it began.
Three months ago, the golfer from Centennial spent the summer solstice in memorable fashion to commemorate her 60th birthday.
Clippinger not only played at one of the top golf resorts in the country — in Bandon, Ore. — but she spent about 14 hours and 45 minutes on the resort’s courses that day, walking all the way. All told, she played four full rounds, one at each of the Bandon Dunes Golf Resort courses, all of which are ranked among the top 26 in Golfweek’s 2012 list of best modern courses in the nation: Pacific Dunes, Bandon Trails, Old Macdonald and Bandon Dunes.
Besides having a day she’ll remember for the rest of her life, Clippinger did some good for the game back in her home state. Through money pledged for the event, she raised more than $3,000 for charity, with $1,550 going to Colorado junior golf through the CWGA and CGA.
“I was doing it for my 60th birthday and I said, ‘If I’m going to do it, I’m going to do it for charity,'” said Clippinger (pictured last month). “‘I might as well make money for somebody.'”
Besides Colorado junior golf, Clippinger is making a contribution to a foundation started when her mother — a schoolteacher in California — passed away. The foundation provides for a scholarship given each year to an athletic student.
Clippinger, a good enough player that she’s competed in the USGA Senior Women’s Amateur, was one of three women and 66 golfers overall who participated in the 2012 Bandon Dunes Summer Solstice Challenge on June 20.
With her twin sister from North Carolina caddying for her and a friend playing alongside, Clippinger started her marathon day of golf at 5:25 a.m. at Pacific Dunes and ended it at 8:10 p.m. after the final round at Bandon Dunes. All told, it’s estimated that participants walked more than 20 miles. “I could have gone on, but it was getting a little dark,” Clippinger noted.
The first three rounds flew by in anywhere from 2:50 to 3:15, but the final one at Bandon Dunes bogged down and lasted 5:10. In addition to the golf per se, there was about 15 minutes between rounds for transportation between courses. Clippinger noted that she made three birdies in 72 holes and lost five balls in the four rounds.
There were about four “Challenge” groups on each of the four courses at any given time. Among the participants was TV golf analyst Brandel Chamblee, who along with Golf Magazine executive editor Eamon Lynch tweeted during the marathon day.
In addition to traversing the four full courses at Bandon, Clippinger rounded out her experience at the resort by playing the 13-hole par-3 course, Bandon Preserve, in her practice round.
“We had a great time,” she said. “They treated us like princesses.”
Clippinger got the idea for participating in the annual Summer Solstice Challenge last year while visiting her dad, who lives in Bandon.
“They had a newspaper article about it and my dad said, ‘Hey, you’ve got to look into this,'” she said. “I went to the pro shop and said I’d really like to be considered for this. They e-mailed me in February and said, ‘Get a foursome.’ But I couldn’t get a foursome. There aren’t too many crazy people who want to walk for 15 hours.”
