Tee off at Norsk Golf Club in Mount Horeb, and there’s a good chance of crossing cart paths with Nolan Krentz.
“When I was six or seven, Mom got us into junior lessons out here and [I’ve] basically been playing out here ever since, 25 years or so,” Krentz says.
Krentz coaches the Mount Horeb High School golf teams, but spends most of his free time in the fairway. Playing golf is his favorite hobby. To say he plays a lot of golf is an understatement.
“I play all seasons,” Krentz says. “I’ll play basically February to December.”
Krentz estimates he plays golf 250 to 275 days most years. A few years ago he achieved a different goal. To play 10,000 holes in a year. His drive to do something bigger only increased from there.
“If you got 10,000 holes one year, your goal is to get 10,001 the next year,” Krentz says.
Year by year, Krentz kept playing more holes than the previous year. Until he played more than 17,000 holes during 2020 and 2021.
“Then it got to be where I really wanted to get to 18,000 that year in 2022,” Krentz says.
That’s an average of almost 50 holes a day. This is Wisconsin though. So there are plenty of days that Krentz can’t play due to weather. When the course is playable, he often plays 72 holes in a day. It helps that he’s a good player and he goes fast. It takes him about 45 minutes to play the 9-hole golf course.
“[I’m] definitely not going full out on every swing,” Krentz says. “You’re kind of saving yourself, saving energy, not max going out all the time. That helps me hit the ball a little straighter.”
That’s how, in 2022, he played 18,018 holes. An unofficial world record for number of golf holes played in a single year.
“It was a good number to finish on to remember, 18,018,” Krentz says.
To officially claim the record, the Guinness Book of World Records requires golfers to keep a log book and have witnesses for every round. Krentz mostly plays by himself and tracks his progress using sticky notes.
Krentz knows of at least one other golfer in Texas playing at this frequency. But no matter how many holes Krentz plays or who ends up with the record, he enjoys the ability to find peace, quiet and focus.
“I think for me it’s some sort of self-fulfillment,” Krentz says. ”You have a couple hours where you’re on your own. You’re focused just on what you’re doing.”
These days, Krentz is busy with coaching, teaching and other responsibilities, so he says it might be a few years before he can beat his personal record. No matter what, seeing Krentz walking the fairways at Norsk will always be par for the course.
