16 year old Long drive champ

What a raw dynamic swing. Fun to watch. Drove it 436y in recent competition.

http://cdn.abclocal.go.com/static/flash/embeddedPlayer/swf/otvEmLoader.swf?version=&station=kgo&section=&mediaId=7699893&cdnRoot=http://cdn.abclocal.go.com&webRoot=http://abclocal.go.com&configPath=/util/&site=

Lag, you need to get a hold of this kid into ABS before mainstream instructors ruin him with restricted pivots and such. He already plays as a 2 hcp not much to change? What would you work on? Get rid of that super strong LH grip?

Of course all the Mike Austin zealots are already claiming him.

Two different sports with completely different objectives and protocols.

Did he win the Nationals? or is that later in the month?

Amen Lag.

I am so not interested in these boring threads that show up on every other internet site. Same old stuff… different name, typically an under-20 y/o.

Now what might be fun would be an event with every one of these “latest longest drivers of a golf ball” using persimmon and a Srixon Soft Feel. THAT might be interesting to watch… for about 5 minutes, simply for the “train-wreck” factor. My guess is they’d fan on half their attempts.

I play with so many guys that annihilate the ball but can’t break 80. And I mean these guys can KILL IT! As long as the longest tour players. Bottom line… no one cares in the end unless the guy can post a number.

robbo

I finished 5th place in the NCAA long drive championships at Bermuda Run in 1986. Bombed a hard draw 297 slightly uphill with my persimmon Tony Pena and a Maxfli HT Balata.

All that ever did was mess up my golf swing for about 2 days :imp:

I think in the interview his dad said he would not take the $150,000 if he won the event.
I would suggest he take that money and invest it, because if he stays amateur, he’s going to have to learn how to play,
and if he turns pro, he would be happy to make 150K playing mini tours over a decade.
Plus, he might have a career as a long drive champ, win more titles and sign a million dollar endorsement deal.

Just my advice…

Nope - he finished 2nd. Joe Miller won.

Probably the threads are over all the other golf forums too - but since i have so little time at the moment, its nice to see it here, despite some might disagree.
Yet, everytime a guy who doesnt work out 10h/day in the gym but looks more like the average joe (minus the beer belly) sparks my intrest in how he is capable of hitting it that far and if we can learn something from it. I always like to keep an open mind towards these things.

Again I will say…
Two completely different objectives because playing golf from tee to green with a controlled tight action geared for accuracy, and an all out velocity assault on the golf ball are as completely different as off road motorcycle racing, and drag racing. Figure skating to speed skating.
I could go on for days.

One kind of swing could destroy the other.

Long driving is a legitimate sport that should be explored… but it is not golf, because golf has a hole as the goal…not just a yardage 400 plus yards away.

If Long drive was in the olympics, it’d be a track and field event alongside hammer throw, javelin & shot put. That ain’t golf!

I thought this kid was interesting to post because he was more a excellent junior golfer first and a “discovered” possible long drive competitor 2nd. They say he already plays off a 2 hcp, which is probably already so far ahead of any long drive competitor ever. He was discovered to be a possible competitor by a former competitor at a practice facility and figured “what the heck, I’ll give it a try”.

His goals are GOLF. Hence why his father mentioned he would turn down the 150k because it would ruin his amateur rank or something. So you know this kid will start to head down the typical road to top instructors as he tries to climb up the path to, I assume, the PGA.

Would you even change his swing at this point? Or is a 2 hcp just a much better short game/putting ability away from tour possibilities? I don’t have a perspective on how far or close a 2 hcp is from PGA types. And if such a dynamic body swing is actually a roadblock.

I think J Sadlowski plays off scratch.

Sorry but i think you are wrong here. By being as long as they are they have a natural advantage over a golf course, and if i read that this guy is a 2hcp its nothing that really astonishes me. When being so long, playing off a low hcp just is a result of it, if you understand basic short game technique and practice it that way. Give me there tee balls on every hole and i too would be playing of a 2hcp.

But imagine what a guy with a really sharp shortgame and huge length would be capable of doing - compared to a 2hcp, this guy looks like a hacker all of sudden!

We’ll it all depends upon the golf course. Most modern public golf courses make sure that things aren’t too difficult off the tee because it scares people away. I can guarantee you that if this kid played Mare for instance and took out driver attempting to drive every par four, he would not be a two handicap. More like a 12. However, if he were playing the latest 7500 yard monster with a few moguls down each side of the fairway instead of shubs, trees or other unplayable situations, then I could see how 400 yard drives, then a few pitches to the greens could get you into low handicaps.

He is also a pitcher on the baseball team with a 89 mph fastball. He has an excellent shot at getting a baseball scholarship and probably a golf one too. This is why he is maintaining amateur status.

If you took pro prize money in golf, would that disallow a college baseball scholarship?

$150K would pay for some nice education last I checked if it didn’t. I think a lot of baseball players are going from high school right into the minor league farm system, passing on college.

Agree. Of course it’s interesting and impressive to see someone hit it that far with a body setup that looks like to be in the human ranks :slight_smile: He would certainly hit it far with old gear as well. And to be able to hit it far is to have good and effective mechanics, at least the way I see it. And this swing really looks nice and fluid. And of course, you still need a good short game. But I would love to have a few yards more off the tee :slight_smile:

Does anyone know the last time a PGA Tour player won the National Long Drive Championship? I think it might have been my friend John Allen back in 1973.

Two different sports. I think he needs to make a choice. I don’t see trying to do both as being beneficial for either path.

Did Denis Paulson ever win it?

Yes, Dennis did win it…
but I don’t think he was on the PGA Tour yet…

I remember talking to Dennis around that time, and he was playing mini tours, and he had signed some kind of deal with
a company that was putting hickory shafts into modern iron heads. He was actually playing in pro tournaments with hickory shafted irons. Really high end beautiful stuff, all frequency matched and all that. You’ll have to ask him about that next time you see him.

Dennis was always super long. I have pictures of us when we were 12 and 13 years old. He was a year older, and every other year we would be in same age bracket. 11 and under, 12 to 13, 14 to 15, 16 to 17. He would hit it 50 yards by me off the tee… and Duffy Waldorf was about the same. It seemed so unfair when I was 12, 14, and 16!

I agree that if you are going to focus on playing golf, you can’t go all in on long driving stuff. But I do think that we can learn from experts in different areas, as well as a road racer can learn from a dragster pilot how to make better starts, which is a crucial part of racing.