Sounds expensive – the sort of thing you might do as a retired lawyer…if you still had the energy by then.

But two Kiwi lawyers are proving that doesn’t have to be the case.

Michael Goldstein (pictured right) and Jamie Patton (left), both 25 and both former junior associates at corporate law firms in New Zealand, are more than midway through their golf odyssey which is expected to end in New Zealand on 31 December at New Zealand’s Cape Kidnappers. Although they received some financial backing from a golf magazine in New Zealand, the trip has been largely funded by themselves with “several thousand dollars”.

The pair are blogging about their journey at puregolf2010 and recently caught the attention of Bloomberg after receiving some help with their quest from some friendly Wall Streeters – Vice President of Jefferies & Co., Rory Corrigan and Senior Vice President of Lenox Advisors, John Miller.

“We fly by the seat of our pants,” Goldstein said in a telephone interview. “We’re far from trust-fund babies. The story of our whole trip is actually the people from the golf community. They find out what we’re doing, offer to put us up for a night, take us out to their golf course and share the way they live their lives for a day.”

…

“We’re not trying to shoot the lights out every day, we’re out there to have fun, to meet people and see some new golf courses,” Goldstein said. “I guess you can say we just kind of open ourselves up to the golfing world and there’s so many cool people within it.”

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Their unconventional career break has given them access to exclusive courses such as Pine Valley, Shinnecock Hills and Winged Foot and provided the pair with global contact books likely to shame the most determined golfing lawyer.

…and shielded them from a miserable year in lawyering.