Rotorua's fastest golfers to attempt world record

GO GO GO: Steven Holloway (left), Matt Dalton, Landyn Edwards and Mike Ryan. PHOTO/STEPHEN PARKER

For many weekend hackers an 18-hole round of golf can be a long, hard-fought battle. Attempting to finish the round in under an hour would therefore be almost unimaginable.

But that is what four Rotorua golfers will aim for tomorrowwhen they attempt to beat the Guinness World Record for fastest round of golf (four ball) at the Rotorua Golf Club.

The record of 1 hour, 4 minutes and 25 seconds was set by four United Kingdom golfers at Ponteland Golf Course in Northumberland on June 19, 2005.

Rotorua's Matt Dalton, Landyn Edwards, Mike Ryan and current New Zealand Speedgolf champion Steve Holloway will throw all stereotypes about the sport being slow or boring out the window when they charge around the course tomorrow morning.

Dalton said the rules allowed all four players to play a hole simultaneously, but they could not move on to the next hole before everyone had finished the one they were on.

"The four of us have each taken part in the [New Zealand] Speedgolf Open at least two out of the three years ... and we thought the world record time for a foursome was something we should be able to do quite comfortably given the times that we play individually," he said.

Unlike the New Zealand Open, where each player's time and score was combined for overall placings, the record attempt did not take into account the players' scores, they just had to complete each hole.

"The key thing is the score doesn't matter, so even if we have an error as long as we penalise ourselves appropriately, and the scorecard reflects that, we'll be okay. It's just the fastest round of golf by four people, whether you score 100 or you score 70, we just have to go for it."

The plan the group had put together included each player carrying three clubs.

"We're each taking a driver, a mid-iron and a wedge. Steve is planning to putt with his driver and the rest of us will probably putt with our irons. We originally did plan to take putters but in the interest of time, it's one less club to pick up, carry and drop which makes life a bit easier."

He said the key to success would be communication and playing as fast as possible, but not recklessly so.

"We have to make sure we are in sync with how we are playing our shots so that we don't get into each others' paths and lose time unnecessarily.

"We also need to make sure we play strategically - we'll lose time if we're losing balls out of bounds or in hazards. We need to minimise our sideways running, keep our running down the fairways and on to the greens. Short and straight is better than long and sideways."

The group hoped their record attempt would help promote the sport of speedgolf.

"It's a really unique sport that, for someone like myself with a young family, I love my golf but it's a very time intensive sport. Personally, I like keeping fit and I like running as well so it's being able to do two things at once.

"It's also just something different, a spin on the traditional game. It's cool being involved in something that is in the development or emerging stages, which could become a popular sport in its own right," he said.

The group will attempt the record at the Rotorua Golf Club at 8am.