12 September, 2019

Westlake dean is world speed-golf champion

World number one speed golfer Jamie Reid sometimes runs a half-marathon over three rounds and 54 holes in a training session.

His best time for a three-round session at his home club course at Waitemata was two hours 10 minutes, carrying two clubs.

“Doing one of those, your body knows all about it,” says Reid, 28, who recently won the British Speed Golf Champs.

Speed golf – as the name suggests – is golf but running between shots and holes. A competitor’s score is made up of the time taken plus the number of golf shots played. For example, Reid’s best score, training at Waitemata, over one round was 107: an even par 71 in 36 minutes over the 18 holes.

Reid played junior and senior rep golf for Taranaki before moving to Auckland to take up a PE teacher position at Westlake Boys, where he is also dean of Uruoto House. He currently plays off a zero handicap.

His first round of speed golf was at the New Zealand Champs in 2017, where he was third.

Reid decided to “put in some hours” and won the New Zealand champs in 2018 along with a string of other top results – the Australian champs (3rd); World Champs (2nd); United States Champs (2nd); World Teams Champs (2nd) and New South Wales Champs (1st).

He skyrocketed to number one in the world – a ranking he continues to hold with wins this year in the Finnish and British Champs. He had to miss the New Zealand Champs, due to attending a wedding, but will compete at the New South Wales champs on 3 November.

The speed-golfing discipline attracts both golfers who run and runners who are golfers, says Reid.

Coming from a golfing background, Reid only really took up running a year ago.

Leading up to events, he will now run five times a week; a mixture of long distance and sprint work.

He’s also in the gym five times per week, mostly at 5.30am before school, concentrating on strength, flexibility and mobility. Throw in a few speed-golf training rounds and Reid is logging 12 training sessions a week.

One of the key technical aspects of the sport is club carrying, selection and quantity. Golfers will often carry more clubs with the aim of keeping their score down, while run- ners carry less with the goal of a quicker time.

Reid will typically carry three to five clubs, depending on the course.

He carried only three clubs at the British Open’s fast Long Cross Course at Foxhills. Reid clearly loves the challenge speed golf brings but struggles to convert golfing mates or juniors.

The perception amongst up-and- coming players is speed golf will badly affect a developing swing.

But Reid says the opposite can be true with the muscle memory and instinct used to play speed golf offering many benefits, including executing shots under pressure.

“In normal golf, you have got heaps of time to play a putt, but in speed golf you’ve got to do it as quick as you can, with your heart racing at 180 beats per minute.”

This article originally appeared in the September 13 edition of the Rangitoto Observer.