Well as with most things it starts small. And then it just seems to get bigger and bigger. So it was with this once in a lifetime golf adventure. In fact something we call the “Worlds Best Golf Adventure”.

Gary had originally planned to head over to Scotland for 10 days prior to my family coming from Australia (for an exciting European vacation) to experience some of the golf courses in this part of the world. As he was planning the trip and working out which golf courses to play it soon became apparent that 10 days just would not cut it!

There were so many good golf courses – courses he had heard about growing up, courses that he had seen various images of and courses that he just had a burning desire to play.

Gary has played a fair bit of golf in the USA, Australia and New Zealand but not much in the part of the world where golf was born. So it just had to happen – and it had to be all encompassing.

With a very understanding wife and family 10 days became 2 weeks which fairly soon became 28 days so why not round it off to 32 days (it that what you call rounding off?).

The intention of the trip was to play and “experience” the wonders of  a number of world renowned courses. Due to the hectic nature of the itinerary this basically meant eat, sleep and breathe golf.

Another reason for the trip is to indulge Gary’s passion for golf course photography.  He is salivating at the thought of capturing images of some of these great courses. Places like St Andrews, Royal County Down, Royal Portrush, Ballybunion, Muirfield and others had him getting excited well before the trip started.

Gary and David are hoping (and praying) for good weather to be able to make this all happen and who knows – in addition to Gary’s first two books Great Golf Down Under Volumes 1 and 2 there may be a future Great Golf Ireland or Great Golf Scotland in the wings…Watch this space.

The 4:45am sunrises and 10:15pm sunsets (the two best times of the day to take golf course photos) are going to keep Gary busy and devoid of sleep.

So that is it – a trip that we are sure many of you would love to encounter (and one incidentally that GOLFSelect could organise on your behalf).

Gary Lisbon and David Burton

About Gary and Dave

Links 4032 is not your average golf tour. To play so many courses in a limited number of days is challenging. Accordingly there are only two participants on the trip – Gary Lisbon and David Burton. Read below to find out more about each person.

Gary is one of Australia’s foremost golf course landscape photographers. His images of all of the major golf courses in both Australia and New Zealand are featured regularly in golf magazines in Australia and abroad. In recent times Gary felt there was a need to step further afield to both play some of the world’s best courses and photograph them.

Gary also owns GOLFSelect – a golf holiday and event management company that organises memorable golf holidays for a large number of clients. Additionally GOLFSelect is a leading provider of golf day event management services for many of Australia’s larger companies.

In planning this trip Gary knew that he needed a compatible travel partner – someone with an easygoing nature, passion for golf, someone who understood the nuances of private golf courses and someone who would salivate at the thought of playing this many courses.

Gary and David have known each other for over 14 years and whilst never quite living together for 32 consecutive days have always enjoyed each others company. In casual passing about 6 months ago Gary mentioned the trip to David who jumped at the idea and committed (after seeking the appropriate family and employer permissions).

By then the planning for the trip was fully underway and as they say the rest is history…

David Burton is very excited about the Links 40-32 excursion. He comments’ Having managed the world renowned New South Wales Golf Club, Sydney for 15 years, I look forward to seeing how our colleagues in England, Scotland and Ireland run their Links operations. Their ‘back to basics’ style, raw links course characteristics and traditional atmosphere are something I look forward to seeing and learning more about. I will be preparing a comprehensive report on my findings – if I survive…..”

On the golf front, David explains “This is the most golf I have ever played in one outing by tenfold. However, when Gary asked me to join him, I said to myself, the real question here is not ‘why’ but instead ‘why not’. After some careful deliberations and strong support from my Club Board and my family, I am delighted to be a part of a very special excursion’.

Regarding Dave’s game ‘I have been trying to get in shape, knowing that we will be walking between 8 and 20 kilometres every day and working on my game to get it to a point that I can enjoy these terrific courses. We must however keep perspective. This venture is about appreciating the best courses and clubhouses in the world. It is these two elements that will be our focus, not our individual scores (although I am sure Gary and I and any member or manager we play with along the way, will have a friendly wager).

Finally Dave expresses his appreciation for Gary’s orchestration of the ‘Links 40-32’. ‘It is hard to fathom how much time has gone into this trip, most of which has been undertaken by Gary. Courses, accommodation, travel (airlines, rental cars), technology, contacts, sponsors, information updates, photography, rating preparation, and much more detail, have all been meticulously arranged by Gary. I know organising events and travel is his core business but this has been a remarkable project and I commend him for his precision and planning’.