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?
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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 Luke has
01:21only got four clubs. He told me not to take a driver because not to waste time pegging it up but
01:27I'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 18
01:45holes. 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
02:24we'll see you next time.
02:29Bye-bye.
02:29Bye-bye.
02:33Bye-bye.
02:37Bye-bye.
02:39Bye-bye.
02:43Bye-bye.
02:43Bye-bye.
02:46Bye-bye.
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
04:43um
05:01Yes! Come on, let's go!
05:3170 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. So we have finished
05:59our round of speed golf. We've had a chance to have a bit of a rest, a little bit of a
06:03lie down, had a full English breakfast, which I think I thoroughly deserved. Luke just had
06:09a cup of coffee and water. He is an athlete, unlike me, but that was a lot of fun. We've
06:14had a chance to reflect on it. Didn't quite break that 70-minute target. We were 70 minutes
06:20and 31 seconds, but still, that is an awful lot shorter than a regular three ball to play
06:2918 holes of golf. I'm just looking at the scorecard. Luke shot one under par. He was five under at
06:37the turn. Turned in 31, then made a birdie, chipped in for a birdie at the 10th. But yeah, incredible.
06:46I shot 87, but with a quadruple and a treble, so it could have been all right without that. And Alex,
06:55third member of our group, got it in under 100, which was great. Wheels came off a little bit for him, but then
07:01it was interesting. Luke, you helped Alex get the wheels back on, really, and that was like, you told
07:07him to put the driver away and start playing on. Tell us, how do you think we got on in our, I mean,
07:12obviously for you, we slowed you down a lot. You would normally get round in, what, sort of about 35,
07:1740 minutes? Fingers crossed. Yeah, yeah, fingers crossed. Look, you guys were great. You embraced the
07:23unknown. You tried something new. Golf is one of the oldest sports around. That's what's beautiful
07:28about it. And guess what? You can always experience a new version of golf, and that's what you guys did.
07:33Golf is for anyone. And these guys rock that today. Yeah, it was really interesting. I think one of the things
07:39that I probably, I love my technology. I've got a laser, I've got a GPS. I'm forever looking at the yardages
07:46and a couple of times, I think you laughed at me when I go, what's the yardage here? And it's like, just hit it.
07:51Just hit it. You know, how often do you go through the back of a green? Certainly missing a green,
07:57short and at the front, just bump it up, have a putt. Sam 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. What do you think next time, Luke?
08:11Is there anything else? Because I know you said at the start, you wouldn't hit a driver because you didn't
08:16want to peg it up. That would take a bit, but I was sort of, I felt I drove it quite well today. I had that little cut going on,
08:22just almost like a little chippy one, 180, 200 yards, found the fairway. Anything that I could do or Alex
08:28could do differently next time?
08:30Yeah. Going forwards, speed golf is all about trying the unknown, like we just said there.
08:35And it's about exploring. You know, have a little experiment. Try stuff out. Never stop trying stuff out.
08:41And that's why, look, today was a great round for me. One under par. I feel great. It was a good time.
08:47That's world record stuff. Where did I get to? How did I get to that? Well, it was by exploring.
08:53Yeah. So all I would actually say is, I'll just say embrace that. Explore. You know, I will come around with anyone.
08:59You know, I'll leave that open to you guys. You know, pick up the phone, ask me and I'll take you around.
09:05But the point is, just explore. And you're, it might not always be, I want to have a fast round.
09:12But that's kind of cool. Yeah. It might be, I want to improve my golf. You can do that.
09:16You can do whatever you want, but explore and then you'll find stuff out. I go around this great place here.
09:21There's red kites flying around. Your course might be armadillos. Who knows? You know, explore.
09:26It was, it was brilliant. It was a really fantastic experience and really great buzzer.
09:31I was just chatting to Luke afterwards over breakfast and sort of said, how does that compare to other rounds?
09:37What did I feel like at the end? And I reckon the only time that I felt more of a buzz is,
09:42I played the old course once in a competition, finished par birdie to break 80.
09:48But today the elation I felt finishing on the 18th hole. And 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 finished that round of golf, the elation you've got,
10:05really good workout. It's what, what's the time now? We've, it's sort of half nine.
10:12I'm going to head home, going to go and do a day's work, but it has been absolutely brilliant.
10:16Luke, thank you for having us. Thank you.
10:18It's been a brilliant morning at the Springs Speed Golf. I don't know. Give it a go. It's a bit of fun.
10:23It's a bit of something different, but a lot of fun. Definitely going to try it again.
10:29But from the Springs Golf course, it's goodbye.