I believe that the law and banking procedures changed in the last
couple of years so checks clear almost immediately, electronically,
without having to ship checks across the country to be manually
entered and cleared.

So it no longer works to draw checks on far-away banks, as far as
clearing goes. (when it comes to your own bank giving you credit for
the funds, that's a different story as I don't know if that law has
changed, but that's an issue for the recipient of the funds, not the
payer)