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 it up
01:27but I'm afraid the driver is my straightest club in the bag. I'm worried about spraying it around.
01:32We'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.
02:22Bye.
02:23Bye.
02:25Bye.
02:26Bye.
02:27Bye.
02:28Bye.
02:29Bye.
02:30Bye.
02:31Bye.
02:32Bye.
02:33Bye.
02:34Bye.
02:35We are halfway round in 31 minutes, so, and that was for a five, a par.
03:01We are actually playing quite well, short and straight off the tee, definitely the play.
03:08It doesn't matter if you duff it, it's much harder if you are running offline looking
03:14for balls, although a couple of times Alex has hit it offline, has allowed me a chance
03:19for a breather.
03:20So, just about to go on the 10th hole, this is unbelievable, I am loving it.
03:28R3, how far?
03:33Great swing.
03:34Yeah, lovely shot, 180, I guess.
03:36Okay.
03:58Hole 15, 55 minutes, I think we might break that 70 minute target that Luke set.
04:17Definitely, nudge it down the middle is the play every time.
04:22I am actually playing alright.
04:24I better overthink my golf and in this format you just can't overthink it.
04:29Can't be looking at yardages, can't be reading putts from both sides.
04:33It's brilliant, I am loving this.
04:35It's hard work, hamstrings are feeling really tight.
04:38Buzzing, it's great.
04:41Final push, last three and a half holes.
05:08Oh no.
05:09I am really proud of you.
05:10I am really proud of you.
05:13I am really proud of you.
05:15OK.
05:16Yes.
05:17Come on, come on Alex.
05:19Oh!
05:20Alright, well done.
05:21Great job.
05:22Congratulations.
05:23Ah, 17 minutes, I am good at the stage.
05:29It's done.
05:30It's done.
05:31Oh, good.
05:32Great job.
05:33It's done.
05:34Congrats.
05:35It's done.
05:3670 minutes 31 seconds so we just missed our target time of of 70 minutes gonna
05:44catch my breath I'm gonna catch up with Luke and try and work out what we've
05:50learned from playing speed golf this morning at the Springs but that was a lot
05:55of fun so we have finished around a speed golf we've had a chance to have a
06:01bit of a rest a little bit of a lie down had a full English breakfast which I
06:05think I thoroughly deserved Luke just had a cup of coffee and water he is an
06:11athlete I like me but that was a lot of fun we've had a chance to reflect on it
06:16didn't quite break that 70 minute target we were 70 minutes and 31 seconds but
06:23still that is an awful lot shorter than a regular three ball to play 18 holes of
06:29golf I'm just looking at the scorecard Luke shot one under par he was five under
06:37at the turn turned in 31 then made a birdie chipped in for a birdie at the 10th but
06:46yeah incredible I shot 87 but with a quadruple and a treble so it could have
06:52been alright without that and Alex third member of our group got it in under a
06:57hundred which was which was great wheels came off a little bit him but then it
07:01was interesting Luke you helped Alex get the wheels back on really and and that
07:06was like you told me to put the driver away and start playing on tell us how do
07:11you think we got on in our I mean obviously for you we slowed you down a
07:15lot you would normally get round in what I said about 35 40 minutes fingers
07:19cross yeah yeah fingers cross look you guys are great you embrace the unknown you
07:24tried something new golf is one of the oldest sports around that's what's
07:28beautiful about it and guess what you can always experience a new version of
07:33golf and that's what you guys did golf is for anyone yeah and these guys rock that
07:37today yeah it was really interesting I think one of the things that I probably I
07:41love my technology I've got a laser I've got a GPS I'm forever looking at the
07:46yardages and a couple of times I think you laughed at me when I go what's the yardage
07:50here it's like just just hit it just hit it you know what how often do you go
07:54through the back of a green certainly missing a green short and at the front
07:59just bump it up have a putt Sam and I wouldn't have been that far off off my
08:05handicap take out the quadruple and the and the treble and I'd have been I'd have
08:10been okay what do you think next time Luke is there anything else because I
08:13know you said at the start you wouldn't hit the driver because you didn't want to
08:17peg it up that would take a bit but but I've was sort of I thought I drove it
08:21quite well today I had that little cut going on just almost like a little
08:24chippy one 180 200 yards found the fairway anything that I could do or Alex
08:29could do differently next time yeah going forwards speed golf is all about
08:34trying the unknown like we just said there and it's about exploring but you
08:38know have a little experiment try stuff out never stop trying stuff out and
08:42that's that's why look today was a great round for me one under par I feel
08:46great it was a good time that's world record stuff where did I get to how did
08:52I get to that well it was by exploring yeah so all I would actually say is I'll
08:56just say embrace that explore you know I will come around with anyone you know I
09:01will leave that open to you guys you know pick up the phone ask me and I'll
09:05take you around but the point is just explore yeah and your it might not always
09:11be I want to have a fast round but that's kind of cool yeah it might be I want to
09:15improve my golf you can do that you can do whatever you want but explore and then
09:19you'll find stuff out I go around this great place here there's red kites
09:23flying around your course might be armadillos who knows explore it was it was
09:28brilliant it was a really fantastic experience a really great buzzer I was
09:32just chatting to Luke afterwards over breakfast and sort of said how does that
09:36compare to other rounds what did I feel like at the end and I reckon the only time
09:39that I felt more of a buzz is I played the old course once in a competition
09:45finished par birdie to break 80 but today the elation I felt finishing on the
09:5318th hole and it's interesting chatting to Alex as well Alex has done a lot of
09:56really intense cycling cycle that place like Alpe d'Huez he was saying similar sort of
10:02buzz once you finish that round of golf the elation you've got really good workout
10:08gonna it's what what's the time now we've it's sort of half nine I'm gonna head
10:13home gonna go and do a day's work but it has been actually brilliant Luke thank you
10:17for having us thank you been a brilliant morning at the Springs speed golf I don't
10:23know give it a go it's a bit of fun it's a bit of something different but a lot of
10:27fun definitely gonna try it again but from the Springs golf course it's goodbye
10:35mm-hmm
10:40mm-hmm
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