What Is Speed Golf?

Golf Monthly

In this video, Michael Harris and Alex Narey played speed golf at The Springs. They were joined by speed golf expert Luke Willett to see what this unique version of the game is like. How fast can they play a full 18 holes, what will the added speed do to the scoring, would they recommend you give it a go?

Transcript

00:00Hello everyone, Mike Harris from Golf Monthly and you join me at the Springs Golf Club in

00:06Oxfordshire. It is a fairly ungodly 6.30 in the morning, set my alarm for 4.45 to get up to get

00:15here. This is not just a general easy Friday morning knock though. I'm playing 18 holes of

00:24speed golf with PGA Pro Luke Willett aka the Iron Golfer. Luke is an incredible athlete along with

00:33being a PGA Pro. He's able to play 18 holes. I think his record time is 44 minutes and having

00:41only 78 shots. I don't think I'm going to get anywhere near that today but I'm out here to

00:47find out what it's like to play speed golf. I'm playing with Alex Neri, one of my colleagues from

00:52Golf Monthly. We're not athletes, we're not runners. We do a bit of fitness and we play quite a lot of

00:58golf but how are we going to get on? What are we going to learn today? Luke says he loves speed golf

01:04because it disconnects him to make him feel connected. It's all about being stripped down,

01:09really eyeballing shots, not overthinking golf. Certainly something that I probably struggle

01:14with. So today, really light pencil bag, just got a half set of clubs. Interestingly to see,

01:21Luke has only got four clubs. He told me not to take a driver because not to waste time pegging

01:26it up but I'm afraid the driver is my straightest club in the bag. I'm worried about spraying it

01:31around. We'll see how I get on out there but just a minimal half set of clubs. It is literally hit it,

01:39find it, hit it again, keep on going for the 18 holes. It's about four and a half miles around the

01:4518 holes. Luke reckons we might be able to do it in about 70 minutes which is an awful lot quicker.

01:50than I normally play 18 holes. Let's get to the first tee and see what happens.

02:20So it's about 18 holes. I can't resist. I don't want to lose it. I can't even go to the first tee.

02:25Take a look through the next one. I'm going to do it in about 60 minutes.

02:26Take a look through the next two weeks. I'm going to go try to make one hour and get over good.

02:29Take another one. I'll try to Myself.

02:31Take another one. I'll try to make the next one. I'll try to make the next one.

02:35Go to the next one. You can go to find a speed bump in the bag this time.

02:40Watch out.

02:41Let's go to sleep in the middle.

02:42Close the line.

02:44Get another one.

02:45I'll try to make the next two weeks.

02:46Let's go to find that one.

02:47we are halfway round in 31 minutes so

02:55and that was for uh a five a par we're actually playing quite well short and straight

03:06off the tee definitely the play doesn't matter if you duff it it's much harder if you are

03:12running offline looking for balls although a couple of times alex has hit it offline

03:17has allowed me a chance for a breather so uh just about to go on the 10th hole

03:23this is unbelievable i am loving it uh par three how far

03:29oh great swing yeah i love your shot 180 i guess okay

03:42hole 15 um 55 minutes

04:11i think we might break that 70 minute target that luke set

04:15um definitely nudge it down the middle is the play

04:21every time i'm actually playing all right i overthink my golf and

04:26in this format you just can't overthink it can't be looking at yardages can't be

04:30reading putts from both sides it's brilliant i am

04:34loving this it's hard work hamstrings are feeling really

04:37tight uh buzzing it's great final push last three and a half holes

04:43all right

04:51so

05:3170 minutes, 31 seconds, so we just missed our target time of 70 minutes.

05:44I'm going to catch my breath, I'm going to catch up with Luke and try and work out what

05:50we've learned from playing speed golf this morning at the Springs.

05:53That was a lot of fun.

05:57So we have finished our round of speed golf.

06:00We've had a chance to have a bit of a rest, a little bit of a lie down, had a full English

06:04breakfast, which I think I thoroughly deserved.

06:08Luke just had a cup of coffee and water.

06:11He is an athlete unlike me, but that was a lot of fun.

06:14We've had a chance to reflect on it.

06:17Didn't quite break that 70 minute target.

06:20We were 70 minutes and 31 seconds, but still that is an awful lot shorter than a regular

06:27three ball to play 18 holes of golf.

06:30I'm just looking at the scorecard.

06:32Luke shot one under par.

06:36He was five under at the turn, turned in 31, then made a birdie, chipped in for a birdie

06:43at the 10th.

06:44But yeah, incredible.

06:47I shot 87, but with a quadruple and a treble, so it could have been all right without that.

06:54And Alex, third member of our group, got it in under 100, which was great.

07:00Wheels came off a little bit for him, but then it was interesting, Luke, you helped Alex

07:03get the wheels back on, really, and that was like you told me to put the driver away and

07:09start playing on.

07:10Tell us, how do you think we got on in our, I mean, obviously for you, we slowed you down

07:15a lot.

07:16You would normally get round in, what, sort of about 35, 40 minutes?

07:19Fingers crossed.

07:20Yeah.

07:21Yeah.

07:22Fingers crossed.

07:23Look, you guys are great.

07:24You embraced the unknown.

07:25You tried something new.

07:26Golf is one of the oldest sports around.

07:28That's what's beautiful about it.

07:29And guess what?

07:31You can always experience a new version of golf, and that's what you guys did.

07:34Golf is for anyone.

07:35Yeah.

07:36And these guys rocked that today.

07:37Yeah.

07:38It was really interesting.

07:39I think one of the things that I probably, I love my technology.

07:43I've got a laser, I've got a GPS, I'm forever looking at the yardages, and a couple of times

07:48I think you laughed at me when I go, what's the yardage here?

07:50And it's like, just hit it, just hit it.

07:54How often do you go through the back of a green, certainly missing a green, shorten at the

07:59front, just bump it up, have a putt.

08:02So, I mean, I wouldn't have been that far off my handicap.

08:06Take out the quadruple and the treble, and I'd have been okay.

08:11What do you think next time, Luke?

08:12Is there anything else?

08:13Because I know you said at the start, you wouldn't hit a driver because you didn't want

08:17to peg it up.

08:18But I was sort of, I felt I drove it quite well today.

08:21I had that little cut going on, just almost like a little chippy one.

08:25180, 200 yards, found the fairway.

08:28Anything that I could do or Alex could do differently next time?

08:31Yeah.

08:32Going forwards, speed golf is all about trying the unknown, like we just said there.

08:37And it's about exploring.

08:38You know, have a little experiment.

08:40Try stuff out.

08:41Never stop trying stuff out.

08:43And that's why, look, today was a great round for me.

08:45I was under par, I feel great, it was a good time, that's world record stuff.

08:51Where did I get to?

08:52How did I get to that?

08:53Well, it was by exploring.

08:54Yeah.

08:55So, all I would actually say is, I would just say embrace that.

08:57Explore.

08:58You know, I will come around with anyone, you know, I'll leave that open to you guys.

09:03You know, pick up the phone, ask me and I'll take you around.

09:06But the point is, just explore.

09:08Yeah.

09:09And you're, it might not always be, I want to have a fast round, but that's kind

09:13of cool.

09:14It might be, I want to improve my golf.

09:16You can do that.

09:17Yeah.

09:18You can do whatever you want, but explore and then you'll find stuff out.

09:20I go around this great place here, there's red kites flying around.

09:24Your course might be armadillo's, who knows?

09:26You know?

09:27Explore.

09:28It was, it was brilliant.

09:29It was a really fantastic experience, a really great buzzer.

09:32I was just chatting to Luke afterwards over breakfast and sort of said, how does that compare

09:36to other rounds?

09:37What did I feel like at the end?

09:38And I reckon the only time that I felt more of a buzz is I played the old course once

09:44in a competition, finished par birdie to break 80.

09:49But today the elation I felt finishing on the 18th hole.

09:53And it was interesting chatting to Alex as well.

09:55Alex has done a lot of really intense cycling, cycled up a place like Alpe d'Huez.

10:00He was saying similar sort of buzz once you've finished that round of golf.

10:04The elation you've got, really good workout.

10:07I'm going to, it's what, what's the time now we've, it's sort of half nine, I'm going

10:13to head home, going to go and do a day's work, but it has been actually brilliant.

10:16Luke, thank you for having us.

10:19It's been a brilliant morning at the Springs Speed Golf.

10:22I don't know, give it a go.

10:24It's a bit of fun.

10:25It's a bit of something different, but a lot of fun.

10:29Definitely going to try it again.

10:31But from the Springs Golf Course, it's goodbye.

10:33Bye.

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