Rook mate

I have noticed that most people mate using only a king and a rook like this

 which I believe is a lot less efficient than this

which takes half as many moves. Tell me if there is something I did wrong, or of other useful ways to checkmate faster than the common mate strategy

There is a certain shortcut in the final part of the rook mate:

Very good, but that would require him to willingly walk to the back rank without first finding refuge in the corner.

colorado777 and FancyKnight are lasered in to the secrets of this game.

Stay on this track and you will be at FIDE or USCF 2100 to 2200 within 2 to 2 1/2 years.

A way to mate from a back rank position.

The commonly used way works well, but when the clock is ticking down on a blitz game its hard to take that much time