A Northland trio has officially claimed a Guinness World Record for the longest barehanded catch of a golf ball hit off a tee.
Former Black Caps batter Lou Vincent, Northern Districts all-rounder Joey Yovich and David Mullan, club development officer for the North Golf Association, set the record of 261.7m at the Pines Golf Club in Whangārei Heads last month.
The previous record was 214m, set by two American brothers three years ago and it can take up to 12 weeks for Guinness to verify the record, but Mullan was surprised to see the confirmation email come through in less than two.
“I was scrolling through my emails and thought they might be asking for more information, but when I saw what it was, I was stoked,” Mullan said.
Mullan’s role was to hit the ball off the tee, while Vincent acted as spotter and Yovich had the responsibility of taking a clean catch for the record to count.
As the cost of flying out an official from Guinness was nearly $30,000, which didn’t include travel costs, evidence had to be compiled and sent in, which included video of the attempts, witness statements, surveyor’s reports and even news articles.
The Northland community rallied behind the attempt, volunteering time and equipment, as it was to help raise money for the ReSport Charitable Trust.
The charity collects new and gently used sports gear to share with people in need in the community, which was co-founded by Yovich.
Overall, it took about four months from the initial submission that they were going to attempt breaking the record, to having it confirmed.
“It’s incredible how a small sporting idea can generate interest,” Vincent told the Herald.
“You’ve got all these people who rock up and watch a couple of muppets do something fun.
“It’s looking at sport from a different angle. Rather than cricket being boring, it shows that elements of it can be quite exciting.
“For me to be here is like, ‘let’s get off the couch, let’s get off your phone, do something a little bit random and get out there and have fun with an alternative sport’, and this has ticked all those boxes.”
Yovich said it was special to pull off the record with close friends and people devoted to the Northland community.
“We’ve always been a little bit innovative,” Yovich told the Herald.
“So it’s nice to have mateship to give back that way, and I think that’s what makes this quite unique and quite special.
“It’s just nice to put little old Northland on the map. This place has been huge around community and giving back, so it’s a nice way for us to put this place in lights, and it is a little country club, which relates to us.”
The idea was dreamed up by Mullan, who wanted a challenge that combined cricket and golf.
At first, the trio tried cricket bats to see how far they could hit a golf ball off a tee-ball stand with various bats and sticks. However, after hearing an interview with a man who had broken a string of unusual records, they decided to attempt one of their own.
Mullan had been promoting the record attempt on his Instagram page. He said the support was overwhelming and he’s already got his eye on more records, which he has applied to break - the fastest hole of golf played, which must be at least 300m, and the longest golf shot hit and caught by the same person.
“I want to keep that momentum from this and keep the journey live on my social media so people can follow along if they want,” Mullan said.
“Maybe it becomes a bit of a series around ‘break world records’.”
He is also hopeful it features in the book, but out of the 40,000 records in the Guinness database, only 15,000 make it online, while just 4000 make the physical book.
Ben Francis is an Auckland-based reporter for the New Zealand Herald who covers breaking sports news.