Scott planning world-class golf trip

HARRY SCOTT'S life could be a reality series.

In 1995, the Jersey Shore resident attended baseball games - arriving in time for the start of each one and remaining for the duration no matter how long they lasted - in all 28 major league ballparks at the time. And he did it in 28 days.

In 2009, he did the same thing with the 30 that there are now, in 30 days.

Last year, he played a round of golf in every state in 50 days, from Maine to Sarah Palin's hometown in Alaska.

Now he's expanding his horizons by going global.

Starting on Sept. 2 in Australia, he's playing a round of golf on six continents in, yes, as many days.

"It's something to do," said the longtime Rutgers fan, who will turn 80 years young on Christmas Eve. "It's fun, I've got time on my hands, why not?"

He already has planned next year's journey. He's teeing it up in 26 countries - one for each letter in the alphabet - in that many days.

"The only problem is there's no country that starts with 'X,' " Scott said. "Except there's a province in Mongolia where the alternate spelling is Xanadu. And they do have a golf course.

"Only one country starts with a W, a little island in the South Pacific called Wallis. I think they only have a 9-hole course so I'm going to have to play that twice. And you can only get in there a couple of days a week . . .

"But I can't think about that yet. This is on my mind. I'm ready to go."

Scott - a regular at McCullough's Emerald Golf Links in Egg Harbor Township, N.J. - will spend a week vacationing in Australia before beginning his itinerary. The only thing he knows for sure is he's going to the Sydney Opera House, which has always been on his wish list. On Sept. 2, he has an 8 a.m. tee time at Bonville Golf Resort on the Coffs Coast. From there he'll drive 3 hours north to Brisbane, where he'll catch a flight to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, arriving at 5:50 the next morning. He'll play at Glenmarie Golf Club in Selangor before heading to Cairo. He'll get to Egypt just after midnight and 5 hours later will be on the first hole at Dreamland Golf Resort.

"Supposedly the pyramids are so big you can see them from the course," Scott said. "If I can't, on the way back to the airport I'll make sure he takes me past them. I'm taking lots of pictures."

The next stop is London. Scott gets in at 9 that night. The next morning he's at Stoke Park Country Club in Buckinghamshire, where those classic scenes for the movie "Goldfinger" were shot.

"They have an event that day, but they still want me to come," Scott said. "It's a 27-hole course. I'm going to start early, play 1 through 9, then jump to 19 and play through 27 so I won't disrupt their outing. They could have easily told me no, but they made the arrangements."

From there it's off to Nassau, Bahamas, where he touches down at 9:40 the next day and plays at the Ocean Club. That leaves South America, which in his case means Venezuela, and Junko Golf Club in El Junquito, near Caracas. The director of that nation's Federation of Golf is even "taking care" of his ground transportation. Never a bad thing.

"I think it's really neat to have him on board," Scott duly noted.

That's 28,374 air miles, by the way, for those who were taking bets on the over-under.

Scott was considering including Antarctica, even though it doesn't have a course, just to hit some balls. But he couldn't make the logistics work.

"It wouldn't have been so bad if there was a way I could have figured out how to play and get out on the same day," he said. "Maybe just fool around on the ice, do something silly.

"But I don't have to worry about that now."

Which makes it virtually hassle-free, right?

"Well, as far as I'm concerned this is scary," Scott said. "There's more chance of something going wrong. That's why I took a lot of time putting it together, leave myself enough room to get from place to place. In some countries I might have to get a 1-day visa. I'm almost sure I have to do that in Egypt. It's a $15 fee."

Like that could put a dent in his travel budget.

"Well, the airfares are going to cost about 7 or 8 thousand," he said. "But I'm only going to have some cab fares, and a couple of hotels. I'll actually get a chance to sleep a few times in there. Hopefully. And I'll have to shower and shave once in awhile."

Finding a sponsor might not be a bad idea, either.

The hardest part might have been just coordinating the details. And making sure that his clubs don't get lost, although there are always rentals.

Hopefully, there are no major snags with any of the planes.

"You have to take things into account when you're doing this," said Scott, who needed a couple of months to finalize his schedule. "There are places I would have rather gone. I would rather play a golf course in South Africa, for instance. But you can't get from there to England the next day. It's too far. That's why I'm going to Cairo. It's right across the Mediterranean Sea. With this, there aren't as many options.

"Except for all that rain last year in New England, I've been pretty lucky. I could have put the Bahamas in the first part of the trip but they're vulnerable to hurricanes. It happens all the time. The LPGA [Tour] was down there a month ago and they had to play three 12-hole rounds to make it [an] official [tournament]. So anything's always possible.

"When you're trying to email people halfway around the world, well they don't know me. Most of the time I had to send two or three before they find out I'm serious. Once we get a dialogue established everything seems to fall into place. But it is easier with the Internet. I refer them to stories from last year, and they look it up. So I'm sure that helps. I don't think I could have pulled it off without that. I might not have even tried."

Last year, a longtime friend accompanied him for the first week. This time that same guy is going to join him in the Bahamas.

"He had a great time last year," Scott said. "He just thought it would be a fun thing to do again."

Wonder how he feels about countries that start with, say, the letter Q?