What is this new “speed golf” thing?

I read recently about “speed golf”; this is where you play with a limited number of golf clubs and run between shots. The objective is to shoot the lowest score in the fastest time. Is that good for your golf swing?

I have never seen nor played this so called “speed golf”. I saw short comment about it in February’s Golf Digest magazine and it definitely got my attention. I also did a little golf research. I don’t play golf for exercise, I get my exercise elsewhere. But it got me to thinking about pace of play, golf carts, and how many golf clubs you use in any given round.
As an experiment I decided to try “walk golf”. I made this up myself so you can go ahead and laugh. But I took 4 golf clubs that I could walk comfortably with and hopefully shoot a decent golf score with. I took a 3 wood, a 6 iron, a pitching wedge, and a putter.
I actually shot a decent score, which took me back to remembering a few things about my golf swing and my golf game. Number one, walking instead of riding a golf cart helps your tempo and your golf swing a bunch. Number two, there are some clubs that I just hit better than others. This means that I don’t need to hit every golf club during a round, just because a particular club is the one the pros use from that distance. Play my game and I score better. And three, walking allowed me to really enjoy the round much better. It just felt more like I was outdoors and enjoying nature. Maybe I was fooling myself, but it did feel better.
This little golf experiment really just reminded me of some things that I already knew, but tend to forget. I encourage you to look at your game and see what “little golf tips” you have forgotten over the years. Tomorrow I’ll share what I found out about this “speed golf” thing.