One of the first things I learned was that the “Hoss” had 10 different
drivers for the event, and that he chose the one which he
felt was best for the conditions (wind, rain, humidity, roll, etc.)
This I learned was also consistent with the other power hitters
and was imperative for proper ball flight management.
Each
contestant appears to have his own club formulas, which are all
geared to his individual ball flight characteristics.
Then I got to see Bobby Wilson hit a few balls. It was quite an
exhibition in itself. Bobby’s power comes from relaxation, swing
length, acceleration and balance. His control is no doubt one
of the greatest in the world, and should be closely studied by
all who wish to swing with continuous acceleration. He was
definitely the “smoothest”. This guy’s swing should be on tape
for critical study.
So about that time, Wilson says “Do you want to see a great
swing?” and calls out to this black guy with dreadlocks. Come
to find out his name was Steve Monroe, but they call him the
“Predator”. He was runner up last year at this event (lost by a
yard). I believe Wilson ought to know a good swing when he
sees one, and I must admit I had seen this swing action before.
It looked like the swing of Jeremiah Gilbert who recently
qualified for the regional LDA to be contested at Centerport in
September.
Anyway, the “Predator”, has about an 80 inch reach
which appears about the same as Wilson - both are just about
6’2 or 3, with reaches of about 6’ 8 inches. I know this because
Wilson and the “Predator” were standing there comparing arm
span.
This reach length effects arc length, and therefore highly effects
potential club head speed. This is why a small guy with a long
swing, like Sadlowski (his swing looks like early Hogan), can be
just as powerful as a much larger person with a ¾ swing. At any
rate the “Predator” hit the ball dead straight from a position
of square-to-open stance and square-to-open shoulders. He
swings hard from the inside producing a straight knuckle ball
with perfect trajectory.
I noticed that this is the way the longest of these straight hitters
set up in order to deliver a complete body hit.
This swing can only be produced by pulling the club down with maximum lag
(leverage). Leverage delivered in this way will bring the golf
club down and from the inside, but remember that if the pull is
replaced with a push, or throw, then you will come over the top.
This will cause you to lose your lag. Lag maintenance can only
be facilitated with a pull of the entire left side (right handed
golfer) starting from the hips and working its way to the rest
of the body in a chain reaction that runs from the hips, back,
shoulders, arms, hands, in that order with the feet anchoring
the entire action. The resulting in centrifugal force will propel
the club head with your maximum club head speed-and that’s
what they do-or at least most of them.
Then there was Frank Miller. I don’t know what they call him,
but what I call him is Mr. Kill. When his leverage is on spot, this
senior probably cannot be beaten. He gets as much out of
his 6’5 or so physique as is possible. I saw him when I was in
Orlando at the PGA Merchandise Show. He was working with a
simulator, and hitting the ball 375 yards with what seemed to
be about a 15 second hang time. I asked him about that, and he
said that it was maybe 8 seconds, but I think he was just being
humble. Believe it or not, these guys are humble. They know
they are talented and even though they are a mutual admiration
society, they do seem to be really cool characters. They
haven’t let their skills go to their heads.
And then there was Sean, the “Beast”, Fister who was working
on a swing change (a draw) and fell from the competition in
the 7th round. But in the end it was Frank Miller edging Bobby
Wilson 298-284 to win the Senior Division.
It appears that the best of these long drivers hits the ball as well
as any professional golfer. As a matter of fact, if you can hit a
drive 350 yards on a string, then you would have to possess a
swing that has no equal.
For the finals, I got a chance to see some long drives since the
wind had changed from 30-35 mph head winds, to 30 mph tail
winds, and sure enough those 300 yard drives from yesterday
became 400+ overnight. The only problem was that it is difficult
to see the ball even in clear weather at these ball speeds. I suggested
that they needed special sunglasses (cheap) for spectators
so they could see what these guys were able to do with
the ball. I guess they are probably working on that.
It would be
helpful in drawing a crowd for these preliminary events. It is a
good thing that the finals are held at night. It’s easy to see the
ball with all of those spotlights. Perhaps the prelims should also
be held at night.
All in all, I didn’t see anything particularly different between this
senior and open division, except that the seniors have more
control at the expense of some It became obvious that these
straight ball hitters (or knuckle ball artist) prefer to keep the ball
from rising with back spin, and the best of them keep it lower in
trajectory as well. They play the ball forward in their stance and try to hit the ball as far as possible by hitting it on the
upswing with low lofted (4 to 7 degree) drivers. This essentially
puts only enough spin to hold it airborne and creates
the solid low spin needed to prevent risers.
As well, draw
shots were the most solid and seemed to be preferred by
the majority of contestants - and the less the draw the better.
distance. In this business, straight shots are solid shots,
and are also longer. Remember, when the competitor
hits the ball straight, it is without distance losing sidespin,
and therefore is solid, and since the clubs have
a high center of gravity, the ball flight is reduced to
that of a knuckle ball. And here is the most interesting
thing about this competition. The longest hitter, pound
for pound that I saw was Sadloski. At 5’11 and 180
pounds, his tremendous swing produced the longest
drives - usually around 400 yards.
How does he do it? It is the length of his swing, by far
longer than all other competitors - it looks like a fly
wheel spinning powerfully in orbit and colliding with
the ball, like an explosion, that only comes as a result
of centrifugal force. But after spending the previous
day qualifying, he couldn’t hit the grid in his first match
until his last two balls which were not good enough
to advance. I guess when you hit seven straight out of
play, then your control is lacking. This is what happens
when leverage is applied well beyond the limit of directional
control. Except for Sadloski, all of the rest of the
final competitors were 6’2, 220 pounds plus or minus.
This seems to be the best combination for power and
length.
So after a hard fought elimination, McDowell beat Bullard
371 to 370, I thought McDowell seemed to be the
most pumped up, and he was also very accurate which
gave him more chances to get the big lick in. And he
did!
