We've all seen the viral videos of professional golfers playing a hole as quick as they can in a relay. With their individual clubs already in hand as the ball approaches, they've been able to set astonishing world records and complete a full hole of golf in under 30 seconds. This is all well and good, but we wanted to put our own spin on this challenge and see how quickly we could play one hole with the same set of clubs in one bag. Four players, one bag, one hole - challenge accepted!
To hopefully power us to glory, we enlisted the help of Stewart Golf's award-winning electric golf trolley, the VERTX Remote, as our companion to transport the clubs speedily and safely to each player down the hole. From Golf Monthly, former Tour pros Joe Ferguson and Sam De'Ath would be handling the tee shot and the approach shot respectively, while Dan Parker and Joel Tadman would be mopping up the chipping and putting around the green.
Something like this has never been attempted before on camera. Below, you can watch our attempts to set a new (unofficial) World Record...
WATCH: Four members of the Golf Monthly team race down Stoke Park's hardest hole
Getting underway on the tee of the 14th, the stroke index 1 hole at Stoke Park, we had no idea what a good time was but knew getting a good tee shot away was vital. The slight dogleg right with out of bounds lurking should the ball fade too much was a daunting task for Joe, and his first attempt got Sam's attention up on the fairway as he suddenly heard a ball clatter around in the trees before finishing up on the short grass. While waiting for the trolley to arrive, Sam was able to get his yardage and decide on the club - it wasn't long before the VERTX Remote arrived and it could then be pulled.
To save time, Dan would rush to retrieve the putter from the bag as it approached the green while Sam made sure it reached the putting surface before the ball was holed out. In attempt one, Joel would use his own putter but was not delighted to see Dan's first putt race 12 feet past the hole. He did, however, manage to knock the putt in for a par and a respectable time of 2 mins 15 seconds. Clearly, the 2 minute mark was the time to beat.
For attempt two, in the interest of speed the VERTX was positioned a little further up the hole to start with. Stewart Golf offers a guaranteed 100 yard range for its remote, which really came in handy for this challenge and even from these sort of distances, we found we still had really close control of every movement, allowing us to carve the most efficient path down the hole even from 100 yards or more back.
Attempt two definitely got off to a better start but Sam's approach shot finished above the hole and quite a long way away, which meant the ball seemed to take an eternity to get to the hole, wasting valuable seconds. The elation of Joel holing an eight-foot putt with Dan's left-handed putter (to speed up the process of finishing) soon turned to despair when the time of 2 mins 5 seconds was read out. Progress, but not the result the team were hoping for.
Thankfully, attempt three went without a hitch. Joe's tee shot found the centre of the fairway and Sam's approach finished below the hole, allowing Dan to hit a faster first putt and leave Joel with a two-foot tap in to finish the job. It used all of the hole but, it eventually dropped and the 2 minute barrier was finally breached! With a time of 1 min 51 seconds and the team panting like an excited dog, it was time to call it a day.
While our exploits with the VERTX Remote won't mimic the way most golfers like to cruise along 18 holes with a remote trolley, hopefully our challenge has showed you what the VERTX Remote is all about. Superb stability and close control from distance, it's a golf trolley that aims to make the game even more fun. For those looking to make walking (or running!) the course more enjoyable and easier, the Stewart VERTX Remote is a class leader and (now unofficially) a new world record holder.
Think you could beat our time? Have a go and let us know how you get on!
