00:00Hello everyone, Mike Harris from Golf Monthly and you join me at the Springs Golf Club in
00:07Oxfordshire. It is a fairly ungodly 6.30 in the morning, set my alarm for 4.45 to get up
00:15to 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
00:58of
00:58golf but how are we going to get on? What are we going to learn today? Luke says he loves
01:03speed 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
01:27up but 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
01:38it,
01:39find it, hit it again, keep on going for the 18 holes. It's about four and a half miles around
01:44the 18
01:45holes. Luke reckons we might be able to do it in about 70 minutes which is an awful lot quicker.
01:51than I normally play 18 holes. Let's get to the first tee and see what happens.
02:50we are halfway round in 31 minutes so
02:58and that was for 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 of a breather so just about to go on the 10th hole this is unbelievable
03:25I am
03:25loving it uh par three how far oh great swing yeah lovely shot 180 I guess okay
04:08hole 15 um 55 minutes I think we might break that 70 minute target that Luke set
04:17um 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
04:45so
04:58so
05:13Yes! Come on!
05:15Come on, Alex!
05:3570 minutes 31 seconds so we just missed our target time of 70 minutes, going to catch
05:44my breath, going to catch up with Luke and try and work out what we've learned from playing
05:51speed golf this morning at the springs but that was a lot of fun.
05:56So we have finished our round of speed golf, we've had a chance to have a bit of a rest,
06:02a little bit of a lie down, had a full English breakfast which I think I thoroughly deserved.
06:08Luke just had a cup of coffee and water, he is an athlete unlike me but that was a lot
06:14of fun.
06:14We've had a chance to reflect on it, didn't quite break that 70 minute target, we were
06:1970 minutes and 31 seconds but still that is an awful lot shorter than a regular three ball
06:28to play 18 holes of golf.
06:30I'm just looking at the scorecard, Luke shot one under par, he was five under at the turn,
06:38turned in 31 then made a birdie, chipped in for a birdie at the 10th but yeah incredible.
06:47I shot 87 but with a quadruple and a treble so it could have been alright without that and
06:54Alex, 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 get
07:03the wheels back on really and that was like you told me to put the driver away and start
07:09playing 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, you would normally get round in what I said about 35-40 minutes?
07:18Fingers crossed, yeah fingers crossed.
07:21Look you guys were great, you embraced the unknown, you tried something new.
07:26Golf is one of the oldest sports around, that's what's beautiful about it and guess what,
07:30you can always experience a new version of golf and that's what you guys did.
07:34Golf is for anyone and these guys rock that today.
07:38Yeah it was really interesting, I 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 and it's like just hit it,
07:52just hit it.
07:53You know what, how often do you go through the back of a green, certainly missing a green,
07:58short and at the front, just bump it up, have a putt.
08:03Sam and I wouldn't have been that far off my handicap, take out the quadruple and the treble
08:08and I'd have been okay.
08:10What do you think next time Luke, is there anything else, because I know you said at the start
08:15you wouldn't hit a driver because you didn't want to peg it up, that would take a bit up,
08:18but I was sort of, I felt I drove it quite well today, I had that little cut going on,
08:23just almost like a little chippy one, 180, 200 yards, found the fairway.
08:27Anything that I could do or Alex could do differently next time?
08:30Yeah, going forwards, 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, try stuff out, never stop trying stuff out.
08:42And that's why, look today was a great round for me, one under par, I feel great.
08:46It was a good time, that's world record stuff.
08:50Where did I get to, how 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, explore.
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 of cool.
09:14Yeah.
09:14It might be, I want to improve my golf.
09:16You can do that.
09:17You 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.
09:23Your course might be armadillos, who knows?
09:26You know, explore.
09:27It 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
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
09:44in a competition, finished par birdie to break 80.
09:49But today the elation I felt finishing on the 18th hole.
09:54And 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 he finished that round of golf.
10:04The elation you got.
10:06Really good workout.
10:09What's the time now?
10:11It'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.
10:21Speed golf.
10:22I don't know.
10:23Give it a go.
10:24It's a bit of fun.
10:24It's a bit of something different, but a lot of fun.
10:29Definitely going to try it again.
10:30But from the Springs golf course, it's goodbye.
10:42We'll see you next time.
10:42Bye.
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