GOLF.com: Georgia Amateur Plays 38 Sleepless Hours, Sets World Record and Raises $180K for Children's Healthcare

38 Hours, No Sleep, One World Record

On a Sunday evening in early July 2026, Georgia-based amateur golfer Mike Woodard, 40, teed off at Cartersville Country Club with a singular goal: play as long as humanly possible. Thirty-eight hours later — through two nights, a scorching Monday, and the haze of sleep deprivation — he holed out for the last time, setting what organizers claim is a new world record for consecutive hours of golf.

How He Did It

After dark, Woodard switched to glow balls and played to flagsticks outfitted with toy lightsabers, guided by headlamp-wearing volunteers. He was required to walk the entire time — no riding — and swapped socks every few hours to fend off blisters. Monday proved to be the hottest day of 2026, with temperatures exceeding 100°F.

The Numbers

The final tally: 144 holes (eight full rounds), with every shot counted. His best round was a 78; his worst an 88. In the final stretch, he began hallucinating — seeing nonexistent trees and hazards — and was carried through by a Green Beret friend who flew in from Colorado to walk beside him.

The Real Score: $180,000+ Raised

The driving purpose was charity. Woodard's marathon round raised over $180,000 for Live2540, a nonprofit supporting children's healthcare in Liberia. "When you think about how far some parents have to travel to get medical care for their children," he said, "38 hours of golf doesn't really seem like much."

Strokeslab Perspective

What's striking from a performance standpoint is that Woodard's scoring spread — just 10 shots between best and worst over eight rounds — held remarkably steady under extreme physical and mental duress, a testament to how deeply ingrained a repeatable swing can become.