Golf may be a good walk spoilt, but Monday's event was far from leisurely.

Instead of the usual laid-back game of 18 holes, broken up with beers, banter and a cart ride between tees, Mr Collins and his team were on a quest to conquer 72 holes between 5am to 7:30pm.

Mr Collins estimates he and his team racked up 40 kilometres of walking throughout the event.

"People have either been pushing their buggies or carrying their bags - no one's used the golf carts - it's pretty hard on your body by the end of it," he said.

"I think The Longest Day is testing some strength and stamina while playing golf which is a leisurely activity."

"The least we can do is struggle for 12 to 13 hours because I couldn't think of anything worse than being a cancer sufferer or seeing a family member suffer through that pain."

With fine sunny summer weather, Mr Collins and his team found themselves heeding the Cancer Council's sun-smart messages.

"It hasn't been too hot, a little bit of rain early which was very nice, but as long as we're slip-slop-slapping, [we're] putting lots on sunscreen on, which was probably applied about nine times already," he said.

The 16-member team made up from members of the Federal Golf Club raised over $32,000 by 5.30pm on Monday, with most members earning $1000 each. Team member James Graddy managed to earn $7000 alone.

"It's an honour to raise that much money and thankfully we've got a very good set of friends and family who are willing to donate and see us go through a bit of pain," he said.

Numerous charity sports events in 2020 were ditched, however The Longest Day event was able to go ahead without a hitch.

Cancer Council ACT fundraising and marketing manager Amanda Fintan said golf was a particularly COVID-19 friendly sport.

"There are 60 people here today but we have not seen 60 people together," she said.

"There's been a boom in golf because football teams, basketball teams there was a cease in those sports, where golf was a little bit easier to keep going."

Ms Fintan said 27 teams and 164 golfers across the ACT were raising funds for the charity.

"We are sitting around $80,000 from the ACT and over $2 million nationally," she said.

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The Longest Day has run in NSW and Victoria since 2013 with the Cancer Council estimating golfers have raised over $2,306,333 for the charity.

All money raised in Canberra will go towards Canberran families impacted by cancer.

Mr Collins said cancer is an illness which impacts everybody, and golf was a game anyone could play.

"As long as you can keep walking your can keep playing golf," he said.

"People should get involved next year, get their mates together and take a day off work.

"It might take 12 or 13 hours but I'd still rather be out on the course than slogging away at work."