Originally posted on the Smash Golf blog October 22, 2009 – I have work to do and pulled this out of my archives.

For those interested, I used my KZG PFT-333 driver, 9 degrees loft, regular flex shaft (I play XS but it was a gifted driver that I could absolutely smash, so I used it until I caved the face in the spring of 2010.

Original Post

I have written already about a drive I hit on this hole recently, when I nearly drove the 363 yard 18th at my golf course. Today, the temperature was cold and falling and the course was wet from two days of rain.

I teed up a ball for my last drive of the day and absolutely pelted it dead straight down the right middle of the fairway.

I mean, it was launched. It nearly reached the top of the old-growth trees guarding the right fairway, and it was one of those flat-trajectory drives I’ve hit that reach a certain height, level off and seem to just float for another 100 yards before the ball starts to come back down.

I was playing with Ian and Bill, and as I walked down towards the green, Ian hit his approach shot.

As I got close to the green, I saw a ball about 10 yards short of the green. I shouted back to him, “You won’t believe where my drive ended up.”

Turns out, it wasn’t my ball. It was Ian’s!

My drive was inside his ball, just a half-dozen paces from the front of the green.

18 Hole – Annandale GC

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In the picture, I’m facing back down the fairway towards the tee box, and the little white dot just to the right of my wedge is my Callaway HX Tour 56 golf ball.

DJ’s Note: Actually, I was facing the diagonally across the fairway to where Ian was standing, not back towards the tee- the fairway runs along the cart path behind me, and it’s a straight-away hole….

We all knew that it was a big drive when I hit it, but on a cold day like that with the fairway as soft as it was, I had nearly driven the green.

On any other day, it would have been on or through. And I got the photographic evidence that Ian snapped for me.

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Bonus Post – My KZG had broken earlier in the spring, so this time the driver was a Nike Sasquatch, 10 degrees with an S shaft.

My 360 Yard Drive

Originally posted on the Smash Golf blog August 26, 2010

I played in a fun foursome today with three other members, two of whom I know well from last year. We played skins of course, and I left a lot of money out on the course with about four missed birdie putts that would have won holes instead of sawing them off.

I was hitting a pretty decent ball today and actually not too badly around the greens, but the highlight of the day was the drive I hit on the 520-yard Par-5 eighth hole.

One of the guys hit a beauty down the middle with a little draw, dead center and long, about 320-330 yards.

Now, I don’t like to be out-driven on any day, and especially by this fellow, because the trash talk would start, and I just couldn’t have that. So I said to myself, “You’d better let the air out of this one…”

I brought the club back to the top with a nice, slow and languid back swing, and then just stepped into it. I pulled it a little, but it wasn’t fifty yards out over the river before we all knew it was a monster drive.

It ended up in the left rough a few yards off the fairway and I eyeballed it about ten yards short of the 150 yard marker on the other side of the fairway.

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Let’s just call it 160 out, which made it about a 360 yard drive.

I’d hit it about 30-40 yards past Ray’s pretty decent drive. When I found my ball, I called back to him, as we waited for the green to clear, “Hey Ray, is that you all the way back there?” You gotta talk a little trash when you’re playing skins, of course.

He tossed around for a snappy comeback. Finally he yelled back, “Yeah, but I’m in the fairway…”

Fair enough.

Anyways, I didn’t even win the hole. I caught a flyer out of the rough with an easy 8-iron and ended up over the green. I ran the eagle chip about five feet past the hole and lipped out the birdie putt, sawing the hole off with two other pars.

I hate when that happens.

To make it worse, Johnny, my cart-partner had said sarcastically to me as we left the 8th tee-box, “Nice par…”

I hate when that happens.

Now that I’m sitting here posting this, I’m wondering why on earth I hit an 8-iron to begin with. Must have been the lie, because on a 160 yard approach, I’m usually reaching for my PW or 9.

At any rate, it was the best drive I hit all day.

I’m playing one last round tomorrow before a work stretch that’ll keep me off the course until Tuesday or Wednesday.

I’ll tell ya folks, it feels great to be back out there swinging a club.

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DJ’s Note – this golf course no longer exists, as its land was sold for use as an industrial park.  I still get wistful remembering the year I put aside my swing research (2009) and decided to just enjoy playing golf and to fiddle with my swing as I played.

I probably hit the range 3 or 4 times the entire season – I’d just show up, hit a few putts before my tee time (or not) and off we go.

Sometimes, you just have to touch grass and enjoy yourself. 

In 2010, I released my first swing video “The MCS Golf Swing.” The next year (2011), I mothballed Smash Golf and started the DJ Watts Golf blog.