Who On Earth Is Jeff Flagg?

Does the name Jeff Flagg mean anything to you? No? I’ll give you a clue – it’s to do with golf (shock!). Still nothing? OK, that wasn’t much help and, to be honest, until a few days ago nobody had heard of Jeff beyond his own circle of friends. But on Tuesday night in Las Vegas that all changed as the 29 year old American won the Remax World Long Drive Championship, and with it $250,000.

Granted, it may not be as newsworthy as McIlroy’s law suit, Ted Bishop’s sacking, or the R&A vote, but the golfing off-season (or ‘wheelbarrow’ season, if you prefer) doesn’t yield anything of much interest for even the most enthusiastic fan.  So, it seemed an appropriate time to delve into the weird and wonderful world of Long Drive….

One of the best in the business actually hails from these shores.  As a former World Long Drive Champion (2010), Englishman Joe Miller was the headline name for the ‘Las Vegas 8’ (the collective name given to the final competitors at the contest).

Unfortunately, 2014 didn’t turn out to be Joe’s year for this contest (despite having won multiple times on the European Long Drivers Tour – yes, they have a tour for that). Scant consolation for him but, having witnessed him crushing golf balls firsthand, I can at least testify that the power of his ball striking is one of the most incredible things you could ever witness in this game.  Seven irons carrying 220yards, drives still rising as they cruise over the 300 yard markers.  I would add “drives landing at 400+ yards” but the reality is that I can’t see that far and most of the balls disappeared off the range in to the woods and I wasn’t going to stride out the measurement.

For the record, Joe’s longest ever competition drive was 474 yards. It’s easy therefore, to see why the World Long Drivers Championship requires a specially prepared ‘grid’ from which the competitors show off their skills.

To give you an insight into their world, the average club head speed generated by a World Long Drive finalist is in excess of 150mph. The ball speed is around 220mph. As a frame of reference, the mighty-hitting Bubba Watson had the highest swing speed average on the PGA Tour this year, and his was 124mph. An even better comparison – the amateur golfer averages around 85mph. So that’s nearly double the club head speed of your standard club player. Good luck trying to replicate that without ending up in hospital!

As for the clubs, a ‘competition’ driver will measure up to 50” long (standard driver shafts are around 43/44”), and will be stiffer in flex than your average iron bar. The face of the club will have around 3-4 degrees of loft (compared to an average of 10-11 degrees for standard clubs), as anything higher will create too much spin on the ball. I doubt most of us could even get the ball airborne with a driver like that.

Unfortunately, swing speed and custom drivers aren’t the only things stopping us all reducing par fives to a drive and chip. It won’t come as much of a surprise to know that you’ll also need to finely tune that athletic body of yours. Expect an extensive programme of weights, cardio, endurance, heavy lifting, strength lifting, and body building to fit in around your golf practice.  Bulky enough for the power but supple enough to make a full rotation – not the easiest combination.

The pursuit of the World Long Drive Champion title clearly requires a true dedication to the cause, not to mention a mind-boggling degree of natural talent and timing.  The likes of Joe Miller and Jeff Flagg obviously have it in abundance, and the latter is now $250,000 better off as a result. Still, this time last year Flagg was nowhere, so perhaps there is hope for us all still.  Or perhaps we should know our limitations and stick with that gentle ‘pat’ down the fairway.  These days, I for one know what my body is telling me!  Happy hitting.

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