In the time it takes you to read this story, golfer Lauren Cupp can complete a par-4 hole. 

She might even birdie it.

That sounds like an exaggeration, or something I’m just flat-out making up. I’m not. 

Look: Cupp’s already running down the fairway, about to hit her second shot to the green. 

Lauren Cupp is the fastest women’s golfer in the world. 

The 36-year-old out of Rome, N.Y., is the world’s No. 1 women’s player in “Speedgolf,” the caffeinated version of earth’s most maddening game in which players are scored not only for how they play over 18 holes, but also for how fast they run—that’s right,run, we’re not talking Coors Lights in motorized carts here—around the course.

Total strokes plus time of round equals your “Speedgolf” score.

Earlier this month, at a “Speedgolf” tournament not far from her home, Cupp set a new women’s world record when she carded a 1-under par 72 while running the course in an astonishing 50 minutes and 48 seconds, for a total score of 122:48. The mark shattered the prior world record by nearly four minutes.

Allow me me say that in plainer English. Cupp shot 18 holes, one stroke under par. She did it in just over 50 minutes—less than a quarter of the time a round of golf habitually takes. 

That’s not good. That’s insane. 

Cupp’s record is a rebuke to anyone who’s ever taken six minutes to decide how to hit a third putt for double bogey. Turns out you don’t need a lot of time to play great golf.

Turns out you don’t need a lot of clubs, either. You know those golfers, who show up with bags so stuffed it looks like they’re going camping for three weeks in Yellowstone? Here’s what Cupp typically puts in her shoulder bag:

“Driver, putter, six iron, nine iron, wedge,” Cupp says. 

That’s it. That’s all she needs. 

Lauren Cupp receives her medal from husband Wes Cupp after finishing the Thirsty Owl New York Speedgolf Open.

Photo: John Clifford/Rome Sentinel

The head coach of the men’s and women’s golf teams at Hamilton College, Cupp started speed golfing in 2014 with her husband Wes, 41, himself a former World No. 1 who remains one of the best players in the sport. 

The way Wes tells it, he was out playing “regular” golf with a group of buddies when a friend told him about “Speedgolf.” He went home and watched a few videos on YouTube.

“I’m like, ‘Alright, that looks pretty miserable, let me give that a try,’ ” Wes Cupp says. 

Lauren was in, too. She’d just given birth to the couple’s first child, a daughter, Leslie, and they strapped the 6-month-old into the car and headed off to a “Speedgolf” tournament in Richmond, Va. They’d wind up competing in “Speedgolf” worlds at Oregon’s Bandon Dunes later that year.

“We caught the bug,” Lauren says.

The Cupps, who now have three children, are skilled golfers—they own and run Wes’s family’s club up in Rome, N.Y. But I know you’re wondering: They also have to be total running lunatics. Not really. Lauren Cupp ran hurdles in high school. Wes didn’t run at all. They’re lean and athletic, but to hear them tell it, speed golf is more about efficiency than blinding speed. 

“You just want to keep it in front of you,” Cupp says. “If you start hitting it farther, you have to run farther, also. In speed golf, you never want to go over a green. It costs too much time. You don’t have many options for wedges. Hitting it straight is key.”

Hitting it straight is key. Five words that should hang on the door to every pro shop on the planet. The fact that Cupp can do it while running about 5 miles? Amazeballs.

At the same time, it’s essential to manage adrenaline. “Speedgolf” appears to share some parallels with the sport of biathlon, in which cross-country skiers stop to shoot at targets. Your heart rate can’t be flying when you’re lining up an approach.

“When I first started doing it, I was just trying to run all out, as fast as I could,” Lauren says. “But really it behooves you to take your time on the 3-footer, get your heart rate down, make the putt, because making up a minute of running is difficult.”

At the same time, the need to keep moving makes it foolish to dwell on bad shots. Jason Hawkins, a friend of the Cupps and a rival of Wes’ based outside of Louisville, Ky., says that speed can actually turn into a competitive advantage. 

“I had far more rounds of speed golf in the 60s than I’ve ever had with 14 clubs and a golf cart,” Hawkins says. The men’s “Speedgolf” world record sits at a jaw-dropping 108. 

I know you have more questions. Yes, there are some basic minimum tee-to-green yardage standards for “Speedgolf” courses, and pro courses need to be sanctioned in advance. They prefer to play tracks without long gaps between holes and tee boxes. Big tournaments have a scorer trailing behind in a cart to monitor their play. You can’t put a bag on the green. They don’t spend a lot of time looking for errant balls. (Lauren says she’ll take 20 seconds, then drop for a penalty.)

And yes, you can run over the water hazard, if it helps.

“I’m not afraid of getting my feet wet,” Lauren says.

“We have speed golfers almost at every event that are jumping through creeks,” says Scott Dawley, the director of Speedgolf USA, the sport’s governing body in the U.S. “Anything that people can do to save a second. It’s amazing to watch.”

Lauren Cupp putts during a round of ‘Speedgolf.’

Photo: John Clifford/Rome Sentinel

Dawley, a pioneer of the sport, says there are two tracks of speed golfers—the elite ones, like Lauren and Wes, and more casual golfers who aren’t out to set records, but are looking for a way to combine golf with a better fitness experience.

One hurdle? Getting golf courses to buy into “Speedgolf.” How do they manage the runners and the people in carts? Dawley says the answer is simple: Give ‘em the first slot of the day. 

“All we want is five minutes before the first tee time and we can get like 10 people to 12 people off the tee,” Dawley says. “You’ll never see us again.’”

As for Lauren Cupp, she’s now got the women’s world mark. She used to keep the old world record posted on pieces of paper around the house as a motivational tool.

“Tore them down, that was so satisfying,” she says. 

And now look: she’s teeing off on the next hole.

I told you. Lauren Cupp plays golf very, very fast.

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Write to Jason Gay at jason.gay@wsj.com