A Curious Golfer, a Lawn Mower and a Thousand Hours in Lockdown

During the coronavirus pandemic, Chris Powell became obsessed with his Welsh town’s golf course, long lost to time and the land. Then he rebuilt it, to play for a single day.

On Friday evening, Chris Powell and 23 locals stood in a field roughly a mile from his home in the rolling hills of Rhayader in Mid Wales. All around the group, familiar features dotted the landscape — from a winding series of public footpaths to gorse bushes, patches of bracken and a centuries-old stone cottage. But among the greenery there were some new additions: flags, yardage markers, tees, bicycle tires that had been painted red and placed on the ground and a selection of golf bags. While others in Britain spent the past year or so navigating coronavirus lockdowns and picking up indoor hobbies, Powell estimated that he had spent roughly 1,000 hours roaming this land that was once his town’s local golf course — a site that closed more than five decades ago and has slowly been melding into the landscape ever since.