Jamie Anderson (left) and his brother Jordan at the Stratford Golf Club.
Jamie Anderson (left) and his brother Jordan at the Stratford Golf Club.
For the Stratford-based Anderson family, speed golf runs in their blood.
Jordan Anderson, 22, will represent New Zealand in the 2024 World Speedgolf Championships at Japan’s Seven Hundred Club this November.
“I’m quite excited - it will be great to get out on the world stage. I’m hopingfor a podium finish but there’s a lot of us going over from Taranaki and New Zealand and we’re all quite competitive so I think just going out there and doing my best will be good enough.”
Speed golf is a variation of golf that involves running and playing the sport. Anderson, a member of Stratford and Fitzroy Golf clubs, said he had been playing the variation for about a year and a half after his dad, Greg, started playing.
“My dad loved it and several guys I play golf with at Fitzroy are into it. I just love how it involves running and playing golf so it’s great for fitness.”
He said his brother, Jamie, was also successful, earning the New Zealand under-20 champion title for speed golf for the past two years.
While Jamie and Jordan will not face off on the world stage, they did meet on a local one recently.
“We versed each other in the 36-hole senior final at the Stratford Golf Club. It’s the first time two brothers have met each other in the finals since 1960. I managed to turn it out and won six in five.”
Anderson said he currently trained for speed golf in Fitzroy and expected, as the competition grew closer, his training would “ramp up”.
“It will involve a lot of running and training myself to hit the golf balls effectively with a high heart rate.”
It’s not just the sons who are successful but their father too, with Greg coming second in the recent under-50s nationals. He is also on standby for the 2024 World Speedgolf titles and is currently training with members of the New Zealand team.
“We are very much a golf and speed golf family. I love speed golf, it gets the heart racing. If someone gets injured or pulls out, then I’ll go forward to the worlds,” Greg says.
