X-Golf?

[Paul OConnor]

I was watching this week's PGA tournament with two of my teenage daughters this Sunday, and as usual they were complaining about how boring it was.  This is pretty much the standard scene on a Sunday afternoon at my house, me taking a nap and watching golf, them griping about how boring golf is.  They've played a little golf, but they tend to gravitate towards team sports with a heavy cardio component, soccer, lacrosse, field hockey, etc.

So we flipped back and forth between the downhill ski racing championships in Val D'Isere and Torrey Pines when one of them suggests that it would be much more exciting to have the golfers compete not just on score, but as a timed event.  See who can play the fastest, add time for extra shots over par, and come up with a winner.  They seemed to think that golf would then qualify as a "real" sport. 

As someone who likes to play fast, I thought it was a great idea.  Carrying their own clubs, start players off in five minute intervals, like the time trials in cycle racing.  Clock starts when you hit your drive on 1, maybe pass a guy or two looking for their ball in the rough, clock stops when you hole out on 18.  It would be a totally made for television event, foot speed important, maybe a little body contact close to the hole.   And you need to be able to calm down for the 10 footer after just sprinting from 200 yards out!  Sort of like the skills required for Olympic Biathalon. 

X-Golf, golf for the next generation!!  My kids thought it would be pretty cool!

[Anthony Gray]

   Everybody is happy until someone loses an eye.

  Anthony

[Garland Bayley]

And Anthony is especially happy when they start losing teeth.

[Rich Brittingham]

This has been around a while  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_golf 
I've alwasy wanted to try it althoguh it's been hard to find a course which would allow such a thing,  unless you were the first one off in the morning of course.

[Mark_Rowlinson]

There used to be all sorts of challenge matches such as a golfer against an archer or a cricket ball thrower and so on. You never see that sort of thing nowadays - such a shame. It would make quite an interesting television diversion in the closed season.

[Tom_Doak]

There was a fabulous one-club challenge match after the Open at St. Andrews one year ... I think it was the '84 Open.  But it was pretty much a foregone conclusion then that Seve would dominate.

I have no idea which of today's players would be good at that sort of thing, apart from Tiger of course.  It would be great to see.

[John Moore II]

This has been around a while  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_golf 
I've alwasy wanted to try it althoguh it's been hard to find a course which would allow such a thing,  unless you were the first one off in the morning of course.

I would say just about any course would let you do this, you just have to plan it in such a way that pretty much no one else is on the course. I did this one afternoon last summer at Mid South. I timed it where no golfers had gone off within about 2 hours, finished 9 holes in 30 minutes, shot even par. Maybe I should do it more often.

[Garland Bayley]

I played a round with a fellow member of my club that said he typically shot about 75 in just under an hour. Since I couldn't shoot 75 if I took all day, we haven't hooked up since. 

Since that time, the most I have heard about this type of activity is people trying to break some Guiness Book of World Records mark with the assistance of a golf cart.

We Americans do tend to screw things up with our addiction to vehicles. You know small things like golf, speed golf, world climate, world wide distribution of wealth, etc.

Isn't that right Melvyn?

[Paul OConnor]

John,
Were you running, or just walking fast?  I can play 18 walking fast in 1 1/2, gotta be playing well though.   

[John Moore II]

John,
Were you running, or just walking fast?  I can play 18 walking fast in 1 1/2, gotta be playing well though.   

I was running. Mid South is a development course that has some pretty decent distances between some of the holes. It also has some pretty big hills. On a flat course with very short green to tee distances, I could probably run the distance in 20 minutes, especially now that I am working out more.

[Sam Morrow]

Jones, Hogan, and Nicklaus didn't run to play golf so my fat ass ain't doing it either.

[Scott Warren]

A speed golfer from Sydney named Gary Dawson played a week's straight speed golf, day and night, at Northbridge Golf Club in Sydney (par 64) in about 1997 or 98.

He played 1107 holes in a week (in excess of eight rounds a day) and averaged about 70.5 shots per round, including one ace.

For a few years he ran a 24-hour event at Northbridge where you played four rounds in 24 hours, using a glow-in-the-dark ball at night. It was a heap of fun.

[John Moore II]

Jones, Hogan, and Nicklaus didn't run to play golf so my fat ass ain't doing it either.

Well, the thrill is not there for me to see how fast I can do it or whatever. I used it as a substitute for running at a different time of the day. You know, like multitasking.

[Rich Brittingham]

I would say just about any course would let you do this, you just have to plan it in such a way that pretty much no one else is on the course. I did this one afternoon last summer at Mid South. I timed it where no golfers had gone off within about 2 hours, finished 9 holes in 30 minutes, shot even par. Maybe I should do it more often.

9 holes in 30 minutes, think I could negotiate to only pay 1/4 of the greens fees 

[Garland Bayley]

9 holes in 30 minutes, think I could negotiate to only pay 1/4 of the greens fees 

Now were talking! Discounts for fast play. My kind of golf! Of course that is an idea that has been discussed here quite a bit before. The unfortunate thing is that with as much trouble as my knees have given me this last winter, my fast walking/playing days may be about done.

[Kalen Braley]

John,
Were you running, or just walking fast?  I can play 18 walking fast in 1 1/2, gotta be playing well though.   

I was running. Mid South is a development course that has some pretty decent distances between some of the holes. It also has some pretty big hills. On a flat course with very short green to tee distances, I could probably run the distance in 20 minutes, especially now that I am working out more.

So if the average 9 holes is 2 miles on a regulation course, then you can run 10 minutes miles while also still stopping to put the bag down, pull a club, hit the ball, put club back in the bag, put bag over shoulder repeat!!!      You must be in damn fine shape to do that.

[Charlie Goerges]

That would certainly be testing a different set of skills (or an expanded set, i.e. cardiovascular fitness and speed) than golf.

Is the point of the change to make golf more fun to watch or more fun to play? For me, golf is never boring to play, and it's always enjoyable. Watching golf on TV is sometimes boring, though I doubt that the speed component would make a boring tournament into an exciting one.

Watching someone read a book might be boring, but reading one is anything but. That's golf for me.

[John Moore II]

John,
Were you running, or just walking fast?  I can play 18 walking fast in 1 1/2, gotta be playing well though.   

I was running. Mid South is a development course that has some pretty decent distances between some of the holes. It also has some pretty big hills. On a flat course with very short green to tee distances, I could probably run the distance in 20 minutes, especially now that I am working out more.

So if the average 9 holes is 2 miles on a regulation course, then you can run 10 minutes miles while also still stopping to put the bag down, pull a club, hit the ball, put club back in the bag, put bag over shoulder repeat!!!      You must be in damn fine shape to do that.

Well, when I do it, I take a lot of the options out. I never do it with a full set of clubs. The few times I did it, I carried only 5 or 6 clubs. So, generally the thought process for club selection is not there. And I do most of the stuff on the run, the ball is still mid-flight and I have at least picked up and shouldered my bag. And as far as the 20 minutes go, you have to figure in (I said on a real flat course) that on flat ground, I can run 2 miles in right about 14 minutes. The weight of the clubs and the time to play doesn't take that much time. I also don't line up putts and read them very much.

[Joel Zuckerman]

 I can run 2 miles in right about 14 minutes.

That is a very respectable in running shoes/shorts, with no golf bag.  If you can run that quickly with a golf bag and in golf shorts/shirt then you must be in excellent cardiovascular shape.

[John Moore II]

 I can run 2 miles in right about 14 minutes.

That is a very respectable in running shoes/shorts, with no golf bag.  If you can run that quickly with a golf bag and in golf shorts/shirt then you must be in excellent cardiovascular shape.

I don't use golf shoes, I just wear regular cross-training shoes (pretty much the same ones I run in).I also don't use a full bag, I use the really small, ultra light Ping Moon bag. I'd bet the bag weighs less than 1 pound (the Ping website says it weighs 'less than 2 pounds' but I do not believe that, I have used the bag, I'd believe them if they said it weighed 6 ounces). The shorts and shirt don't make that much difference. But no, I couldn't run 9 holes or 2 miles with my clubs at that pace.

[Michael Warren]

I think this idea has some weight in order to get more people to follow the sport of golf or x-golf.

I love to play at a reasonable pace, but I would not be willing to run around the golf course, especially if I was chasing after my own shots cause no one knows where they are going.

[BVince]

I have a feeling this idea would flop just like the "XFL" did.  People would tune in for a few times then ratings would drop off significantly.  Watching a marathon is boring to most people and watching golf is boring to some people, put them together and well...that’s pure gold I tell you....pure gold.  I am bearish on this idea.