Howdy speedgolf family!

You're reading This Week in Speedgolf. They say the NEO home robot will tidy your house for only $500 / month. Thinking about my house, I wonder how it does stepping on Legos...

Here's what's happening in speedgolf this week.

👀 The biggest speedgolf video of the year: Grant Horvat x Bryan Bros attempt “World’s Fastest 18”

The biggest speedgolf video of the year just came out... and I'm not the one who published it 🙈

Grant Horvat teamed up with the Bryan Bros -- George and Wesley Bryan — for a relay-style crack at the “World’s Fastest 18 Holes” at the Country Club of Lexington. Using carts, tag‑teaming shots, and letting anyone hit the next ball as soon as they could get a club on it, the trio played 18 holes in 30:10 and posted an 82 (+10). That’s a speedgolf score of 112:10, but more importantly: an opportunity for us "proper speedgolfers".

• Watch 👉 I Played the Worlds Fastest Round of Golf - Grant Horvat

Let’s get the basics straight:

• It was a three‑player relay. Carts allowed. Any player could hit at any time — not strict alternate shot like you see at the World Cup or British Pairs.
• They had to use the same golf ball. That meant throwing the ball from the green to the next tee (My personal favorite touch was that they put 'shot tracers' on the throws 😂)
• Every second was accounted for. They kept the cameras rolling and sync'd all the footage. Plenty of cuts, but no jumps in time. Impressive stuff!
• On the first tee, their goal was 40 minutes. As they realized how fast they were moving, they chased sub‑30 and nearly stuck the landing, tapping in on the 18th at 30:10.

The video accumulated over 500,000 views in the first 3 days, hence my proclamation that this is the biggest speedgolf video of the year. Wesley Bryan summed it up: “The hardest 82 I’ve ever shot, but also the most fun I’ve had on a golf course in years.”

For the speedgolf purists, I hear you asking: "Is it still speedgolf if they used golf carts???" My take hasn’t changed. If you’re playing the best golf you can, as fast as you can, it’s speedgolf. Sure, on‑foot tournament play is the purest form of speedgolf, but a viral relay challenge could be a gateway drug for some, and that's what gets me excited.

Now, I watched this video closely and I can say with confidence: this score is beatable. More than once, George was sitting in a stationary golf cart writing down scores while Wesley was hitting an approach shot and (seeing nobody ahead to hit the next shot) running to the green to finish out. Pathetic time management from George (my favorite Golf YouTuber).

My challenge to the speedgolf community

We have to beat 112. We have to beat it with a three speedgolfer relay, on foot. And we have to do it quickly.

We have a window of time where this video still has mindshare with the YouTube audience. If we can publish a "rebuttal" in the next couple of weeks, it could get real traction.

If you're considering making a serious attempt, here's what I think you need:

• Three very good speedgolfers (duh) -- my dream team is the Taranaki trio of Reid, Smith, and Hayward
• A golf course with switchbacks -- you don't want a links-style course, because then everybody has to run the full length of the course. You're not saving any time that way. Horton Smith Golf Course here in the US would work great.
• Clear rules of engagement -- unlike George, everyone needs to understand their job. "I finish this hole. You be ready on the next tee"
• One camera per speedgolfer, minimum -- think about using e-bikes like they do in New Zealand. You want smooth, uncut footage of every minute.

I'm happy to advise on any part of this, from speedgolf strategy to content.

The world is paying more attention than usual to speedgolf this week. Who will answer the call?

Is this really the biggest speedgolf video of the year?

500,000 views is an immense number. That's more people than you'll see at an F1 race. But is it really the biggest? Depends how you measure it.

Luke Willett has an Instagram Reel with 2 million views (at a significantly lower cost to produce, I'll add). Heck, our video pitting Jamie Reid against Brian Harman has 1.6 million.

So why am I so sure Grant Horvat's video is the biggest? Let's think about this for a minute, using the most generous assumptions we can.

• Luke's video was 3 minutes long. Let's assume the average viewer watched fully 90% of the video (extremely high retention for a 3 minute video). That means 90,000 hours of watch time. (Let's gooooo!)
• Grant's video was 40 minutes long. Let's assume this was a below-average performer for Grant and the average viewer only watched 70% of the video. That's still 233,000 hours of watch time. (2.6 times more)

But it's not just about watch time. It's about the headspace people are in when they consume your content.

• Watching shorts is passive. "Just entertain me" mode.
• Watching long form is more engaged. Viewers have to pick a single video, knowing they may be investing 40+ minutes to watch it.

Those are very different modes, which is why I (mostly) stopped making shorts. Nobody has ever come up to me at an event and told me "your speedgolf meme changed my life". The people who go from viewer or reader → actual speedgolfer, they're watching long form videos or reading this newsletter. Quantity vs. quality.

Leveling The Speedgolf Field

On Saturday mornings, Paul Obey lines up at his local parkrun with a motley crew: twenty‑somethings, fifty‑somethings, and a legend in his 90s who still shows up to compete. They finish the 5K, check their phones, and boom — everyone gets an age‑graded percentage that tells them how their run stacks up against the best in their age group. Different ages, same scoreboard. Fair banter restored.

Speedgolf should steal that.

Here’s the pitch: introduce age‑adjusted rankings alongside the traditional board. We all know VO₂ max drops roughly 5–10% per decade after 30 (unless your name is Luther Olson). In other words, endurance and recovery decline predictably at a population level. That doesn’t mean 50+ athletes stop competing. It means we calibrate results so effort and skill are more apparent. Masters sports figured this out years ago. Track, triathlon, rowing — they use age‑grading to compare performances fairly. We can too.

Filip "SpeedStache" Beerens (desperate for any edge he can get!) has already created age-adjusted US Open results (for the golfers who supplied their birthdays). Notice 60-year-old Steve Vancil vaulting everyone but World #1 Robin Smith.

When it comes to age-related questions, the one we haven't agreed on as a community is tee boxes. At the European Speedgolf Open, seniors played from the same tees as the Open division, meaning Joakim Wikland could compete for the Senior title and the Open title at the same time (which I like).

The US Speedgolf Open was a completely different story. All men's age groups played a tee box up (which I liked for a different reason -- it made me feel like a bomber). But that meant that Steve Vancil couldn't play for both the Open and Senior titles (he would've won the 40+, 50+, and 60+ divisions!). He had to pick.

I say: let us have our cake and eat it too. If a speedgolfer wants to "go big" like Wikland or Vancil, they play from the Open tees and give their competitors a couple hundred yards advantage. If a speedgolfer wants to lock in their age group, they play up a tee box, but are not eligible for the Open title, no matter how low they shoot.

Upcoming Events

SpeedStache politely reminds you that if you're planning to play in the Virtual Indoor Speedgolf event in December, now is the time to line up your simulator location!

• Dec 5–7: Online Indoor Speedgolf — global virtual sprint to close the season; set your simulator and send it. details
• Dec 12: Speedgolf Japan Open at Seven Hundred Club (Tochigi) — Japan’s national championship on a classic Kanto track. register

That's all, folks!

Remember: I want to see real speedgolfers make a real statement on YouTube.

Who can put together a threesome this week?

Adam

--
Adam Lorton

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