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.
02:20Let's get to the second tee and see what happens.
02:24mijn ionalurtjes
02:29we are halfway around in 31 minutes so
02:55and that was for uh a five a par actually playing quite well short and straight off the tee
03:07definitely the play doesn't matter if you duff it it's much harder if you are running offline
03:13looking for balls although a couple of times Alex has hit it offline has allowed me a chance
03:19for a breather so uh just about to go on the 10th hole this is unbelievable i am loving it uh path three
03:28how far
03:29oh great swing yeah i love your shot 180 i guess
03:49hole 15 um 55 minutes i think we might break that 70 minute target that luke set
04:15um definitely nudge it down the middle is the play every time i'm actually playing all right
04:23i overthink my golf and in this format you just can't overthink it can't be looking at yardages
04:30can't be reading putts from both sides it's brilliant i am loving this it's hard work
04:36hamstrings are feeling really tight uh buzzing it's great final push last three and a half holes
04:43good
04:46so
04:50so
04:54so
04:58so
05:04Come on, come on.
05:15Come on, Alex.
05:19Come on.
05:24Come on, Alex.
05:29Come on.
05:3670 minutes, 31 seconds.
05:39So we just missed our target time of 70 minutes.
05:44Going to catch my breath.
05:46Going to catch up with Luke and try and work out what we've learned from playing speed golf this morning at the Springs.
05:53But that was a lot of fun.
05:56So 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.
06:03Had a full English breakfast, which I think I thoroughly deserved.
06:07Luke just had a cup of coffee and water.
06:10He is an athlete, unlike me.
06:12But that was a lot of fun.
06:14We've had a chance to reflect on it.
06:16Didn't quite break that 70 minute target.
06:19We were 70 minutes and 31 seconds.
06:22But still, that is an awful lot shorter than a regular three ball to play 18 holes of golf.
06:29I'm just looking at the scorecard.
06:31Luke shot one under par.
06:34He was five under at the turn, turned in 31, then made a birdie, chipped in for a birdie at the 10th.
06:45But yeah, incredible.
06:47I shot 87, but with a quadruple and a treble.
06:51So it could have been all right without that.
06:54And Alex, third member of our group, got it in under 100, which was great.
06:59Wheels came off a little bit for him.
07:01But then it was interesting.
07:02Luke, you helped Alex get the wheels back on, really.
07:05And that was like you told him to put the driver away.
07:08For sure.
07:09And start playing on.
07:10Tell us, how do you think we got on in our...
07:12I mean, obviously for you, we slowed you down a lot.
07:15You would normally get round in, what, sort of about 35, 40 minutes?
07:18Fingers crossed.
07:19Yeah.
07:20Fingers crossed.
07:21Look, you guys are great.
07:22You embraced the unknown.
07:23You tried something new.
07:25Golf is one of the oldest sports around.
07:27That's what's beautiful about it.
07:29And guess what?
07:30You can always experience a new version of golf.
07:32And that's what you guys did.
07:33Golf is for anyone.
07:35And these guys rock that today.
07:37Yeah, it was really interesting.
07:39I think one of the things that I probably...
07:41I love my technology.
07:42I've got a laser.
07:43I've got a GPS.
07:45I'm forever looking at the yardages.
07:47And a couple of times, I think you laughed at me when I go, what's the yardage here?
07:50And it's like, just hit it.
07:52Just hit it.
07:53You know, how often do you go through the back of a green?
07:56Certainly missing a green, short and at the front, just bump it up, have a putt.
08:02Sam and I wouldn't have been that far off my handicap.
08:05Take out the quadruple and the treble and I'd have been okay.
08:10What do you think next time, Luke?
08:11Is there anything else?
08:12Because I know you said at the start, you wouldn't hit a driver because you didn't want to peg it up.
08:17That would take a bit.
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.
08:24180, 200 yards, found the fairway.
08:27Anything that I could do or Alex could do differently next time?
08:30Yeah.
08:31Going forward, speed golf is all about trying the unknown, like we just said there.
08:36And it's about exploring.
08:38You know, have a little experiment.
08:40Try stuff out.
08:41Never stop trying stuff out.
08:42And that's why, look, today was a great round for me.
08:44One under par.
08:45I feel great.
08:46It was a good time.
08:47That's world record stuff.
08:49Where did I get to?
08:51How did I get to that?
08:52Well, 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.
09:00Yeah.
09:01You know, I'll leave that open to you guys.
09:02You 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.
09:12But that's kind of cool.
09:13Yeah.
09:14It might be, I want to improve my golf.
09:16You can do that.
09:17You can do whatever you want.
09:18But explore and then you'll find stuff out.
09:20I go around this great place here, there's red kites flying around.
09:23Your course might be armadillos.
09:25Who knows?
09:26Explore.
09:27It was brilliant.
09:28It was a really fantastic experience.
09:30A really great buzz.
09:31I was just chatting to Luke afterwards over breakfast and sort of said, how does that
09:36compare to 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 in
09:44a competition, finished par birdie to break 80.
09:48But 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.
09:59He was saying similar sort of buzz once you finish that round of golf.
10:04The elation you've got, really good workout.
10:07What's the time now?
10:10It's sort of half nine.
10:12I'm going to head home, going to go and do a day's work.
10:15But it has been absolutely brilliant.
10:16Luke, thank you for having us.
10:18It's been a brilliant morning at the Springs.
10:20Speed golf.
10:21I don't know.
10:22Give it a go.
10:23It's a bit of fun.
10:24It's a bit of something different, but a lot of fun.
10:28Definitely going to try it again.
10:30But from the Springs golf course, it's goodbye.
Comments