Jamie Sadlowski on Big Break..

[eyeguy]

How many tries before he hit 3 of 3 fairways?

This guy is a freak of nature and he pounded it close to 400 yards on the show. I'm a big fan. I'm just wondering since his venue is best out of 6 balls, how many tries did he really need to put the 3 drives onto the fairway? Did he accomplish it in 3 shots or how ever many takes it took for the show? If it was 3 up and 3 on, even more amazing on a real course. Anyone with inside info know the details?

[electroleum]

The common misconception with Long Drivers is that they are just big oafs that can only hit the ball long. In actuality, these guys are quite good golfers, and most of them, if not all of them are scratch golfers. If I'm not mistaken, Jamie's also trying to make it on tour, so it wouldn't surprise me if he hit 3 of 3. He even gave up quite a promising hockey career to pursue his golf ambitions.

[AWE46M3]

One of my friends does long drive and has no issues hitting it fairly straight. As stated above, most of them are good golfers and know their shot shapes/tendencies.

I think Jamie giving up on a hockey career was probably the best decision, he'd be quite undersized in comparison to the other guys - that unless he had like Sidney Crosby or Patrick Kane type of skills...

[bepo]

[quote name='electroleum' date='13 July 2010 - 12:05 PM' timestamp='1279037102' post='2572987']
The common misconception with Long Drivers is that they are just big oafs that can only hit the ball long. In actuality, these guys are quite good golfers, and most of them, if not all of them are scratch golfers. If I'm not mistaken, Jamie's also trying to make it on tour, so it wouldn't surprise me if he hit 3 of 3. He even gave up quite a promising hockey career to pursue his golf ambitions.
[/quote]
and being a big hitter exaggerates inaccuracy. A ball that travels 250 yards and starts 3 degrees off the target line will only be 13 yards left or right. A 400 yard drive with the same 3 degree flight path will end up 21 yards off target. These guys actually have to be really accurate in order to keep the drives in the fairway. The longer you hit it the more the ball deviates from the target.

[hbear]

Jamie hits it VERY straight.
If I remember correctly he's had a number of competitions where he hasn't missed the grid with ANY of his balls...and all drives over 400 yards.
(pretty impressive)

He's also got some pretty decent touch and plays to scratch or slightly better.
Of course, the game gets pretty darn easy when you have his length. (e.g. his 4I flys my drives)

[garth.diesel]

The lag in this guys swing is absolutely amazing. That grip is something else tho. Whatever works.

[Mack]

He was a Goalie, so the size issue wasn't as big of a problem.

Mack

[offapex]

want to see him go against jack hamm. pow!

[vjswing]

[quote name='garth.diesel' date='13 July 2010 - 02:22 PM' timestamp='1279048927' post='2573490']
The lag in this guys swing is absolutely amazing. That grip is something else tho. Whatever works.
[/quote]

Is it just the angle of the photo, or does his grip look ultra-strong? The reason I ask, is that I've always been much more comfortable with a really strong grip.

[TAG617]

[quote name='Mack' date='14 July 2010 - 02:10 AM' timestamp='1279087852' post='2574814']
He was a Goalie, so the size issue wasn't as big of a problem.

Mack
[/quote]

He played defense... Which at his size is pretty impressive, even in juniors.

http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=99731

[Pepperturbo]

Wife and I watched him on BB... we laughed and wondered how many times he hit the ball before one landed in the fairway. LD landing areas are wide when compared to most fairways; and how many try's do they get???? ... Was pretty to watch though.

[TAG617]

Most long drive grids are around 50 yards wide. Making them around 20 yards wider than a course in PGA conditions. Long drivers have 6 tries to keep it in that grid and hit their longest drive. So to hit a 400 yard drive and land it inside 50 yards is pretty damn impressive in my book...

[autisticlove]

He's pretty straight off the tee and solid stick all the way through the bag.

[Pepperturbo]

[quote name='TAG617' date='14 July 2010 - 11:58 AM' timestamp='1279130339' post='2575696']
Most long drive grids are around 50 yards wide. Making them around 20 yards wider than a course in PGA conditions. Long drivers have 6 tries to keep it in that grid and hit their longest drive. So to hit a 400 yard drive and land it inside 50 yards is pretty damn impressive in my book...
[/quote]

I agree.. however, I've never played 18 holes of golf where I got six tries to get in the fairway. In part reason many long driver champs choose that venue instead of Q school... and facing tour rigors.

[bepo]

[quote name='Pepperturbo' date='14 July 2010 - 02:08 PM' timestamp='1279130908' post='2575727']
[quote name='TAG617' date='14 July 2010 - 11:58 AM' timestamp='1279130339' post='2575696']
Most long drive grids are around 50 yards wide. Making them around 20 yards wider than a course in PGA conditions. Long drivers have 6 tries to keep it in that grid and hit their longest drive. So to hit a 400 yard drive and land it inside 50 yards is pretty damn impressive in my book...
[/quote]

I agree.. however, I've never played 18 holes of golf where I got six tries to get in the fairway. In part reason many long driver champs choose that venue instead of Q school... and facing tour rigors.
[/quote]
Do people really not understand that longer drives will by default be more inaccurate? If you took the most accurate player (probably a short hitter) and amped up his launch conditions similar to the LD guys he would be just much more inaccurate than when he hits it short. People seem to thing accuracy is constant when really it is linear and decreases with distance.

If you want to compare accuracy than a fair comparison would have to use hits of the same length. Compare the accuracy of a 250 yard drive with a 250 yard 3 iron and chances are they're similar, maybe the 3 iron is even more accurate (more loft, less side spin).

Your criticism reflects more on course management than actual accuracy. Any long drive guy could hit a 3 iron off the tee and be in the same position as most players, center of the fairway 250 yards down. However driver is a risk reward trade off where you get more distance at the cost of accuracy.

Would you trade 10 yards of accuracy for an extra 50 yards of distance? What about 20 yards of accuracy for an extra 100 yards of distance. At that point on most par 4's you would be at worst hitting out of rough from 100 yards and in, verses a 200 yard shot from the fairway. Seems like a pretty fair trade off for most LD guys, especially since short hitters don't have that luxury of options. for them its always driver and always short

[Dr_evil]

Love the youtube vids of these guys

[duswalk]

I am sure his 80 percent drive goes about 380 and hits the fairway 90 percent of the time. He is a master of the drive.. As I am sure all of the long drive guys are!

[Pepperturbo]

I've played with a few LD competitors, seen the results with my own eyes. The one's I've faced missed the fairway far too often for my likes. Guys that hit it that big do so because they like it and can. Getting the ball in the fairway most of the time and playing on tour is considerably harder. DLIII has 63.47% accuracy @296. I am closer to 80% FIR with 250+. Note how many tour guys actually hit it big, not that many from what I see. And, even those on the tours that do hit it big by tour standards are few in numbers.

Bubba #15 scoring, and Dustin #36 are at 306 and 305 while tour distance average is 284ish. I don't see tour guys wanting to hit it 350++. In answer to your last question - 10 yards is not what I have seen from big hitters... it's more like 20-30yds dispersion which = way deep in the junk, and more strokes.

[duswalk]

[quote name='TAG617' date='14 July 2010 - 01:58 PM' timestamp='1279130339' post='2575696']
Most long drive grids are around 50 yards wide. Making them around 20 yards wider than a course in PGA conditions. Long drivers have 6 tries to keep it in that grid and hit their longest drive. So to hit a 400 yard drive and land it inside 50 yards is pretty damn impressive in my book...
[/quote]

+1.. Swinging as hard as I possibly can I am impressed if I can hit the ball on the face 2 times out of 6!

[VinceRKG]

Guys I know of three big time golfers that have made to final stage of Q school that are Long Drivers and plus handicaps:

Gerry James

Mitch McDowell

Danny Luirette

Bubba Watson

David Mobley

They are in accurate most of the time on the grid, who else is able to swing as fast as they can and keep in play. I would say about 40% of the Wrxers here. On the course, they do not swing 145 each drive they have. C'mon, you guys are smarter than that...

And please name one event where Sad's never missed the grid and they were all at 400 and over? I have been all but one event he was at and have not seen him hit all in the grid, qualifying or finals. Shoot when he got the finals when he first won he made it through losers and only getting 1 out of 6 in the grid to get him the win.

Pepper - They guys you played are Long Drivers, go big or go home. If they are shooting for a score and in an event, highly doubt they would swing the same way.

Make sure you know the REAL facts and are a Long Driver before stating info....thanks

[hammerheel]

Most long drive grids are around 50 yards wide. Making them around 20 yards wider than a course in PGA conditions. Long drivers have 6 tries to keep it in that grid and hit their longest drive. So to hit a 400 yard drive and land it inside 50 yards is pretty damn impressive in my book...

 

I agree.. however, I've never played 18 holes of golf where I got six tries to get in the fairway. In part reason many long driver champs choose that venue instead of Q school... and facing tour rigors.

 

You've never went OB 5 times in a row?!

[Pepperturbo]

[quote name='VinceRKG' date='14 July 2010 - 01:43 PM' timestamp='1279136591' post='2575923']
Guys I know of three big time golfers that have made to final stage of Q school that are Long Drivers and plus handicaps:

Gerry James

Mitch McDowell

Danny Luirette

Bubba Watson

David Mobley

They are in accurate most of the time on the grid, who else is able to swing as fast as they can and keep in play. I would say about 40% of the Wrxers here. On the course, they do not swing 145 each drive they have. C'mon, you guys are smarter than that...

And please name one event where Sad's never missed the grid and they were all at 400 and over? I have been all but one event he was at and have not seen him hit all in the grid, qualifying or finals. Shoot when he got the finals when he first won he made it through losers and only getting 1 out of 6 in the grid to get him the win.

Pepper - They guys you played are Long Drivers, go big or go home. If they are shooting for a score and in an event, highly doubt they would swing the same way.

Make sure you know the REAL facts and are a Long Driver before stating info....thanks
[/quote]

Each of the guys I played with hit it over 350, often missing the fairway left, but had moments of WOW long. You list five guys: Luirette averages 302, James was an admitted Steroid user, didn't make it on tour even though he out drove Zuback one year. My point is just because a few excel, doesn't mean all of them or even the average has a scratch game. Reason is they have swing mechanics that others do not, in part why they they choose LD.

Now, when it comes to the PGA "310yds" is beyond the masses, like in Dustins and Bubba's case. But, 310 is nothing in LD competition based on yardages listed below. Dustin or Bubba would not likely qualify by today's terms and probably wouldn't have done much on the LD tour back when.

[url="http://www.remax.co.za/World-Long-Drive/2009-Results/899/"]2009 LD result & Yardages[/url]

Correct me if I misunderstood. Your line of thinking implies "they can arbitrarily dial back swings" too. Try doing that with driver and see what happens. It's not easy to vary swing speed, no less in LD cases from 140-160mph to 120-125 with driver to play scratch golf. I am not saying an LD competitor can't play golf, what I am saying is in most cases they don't have what it takes to dial back their game to go low for tour play.

[Pepperturbo]

Most long drive grids are around 50 yards wide. Making them around 20 yards wider than a course in PGA conditions. Long drivers have 6 tries to keep it in that grid and hit their longest drive. So to hit a 400 yard drive and land it inside 50 yards is pretty damn impressive in my book...

 

I agree.. however, I've never played 18 holes of golf where I got six tries to get in the fairway. In part reason many long driver champs choose that venue instead of Q school... and facing tour rigors.

 

You've never went OB 5 times in a row?!

 

My record stands at two times, and I took a 9 on that par 5. I had all I could do to keep from popping a blood vessel too.

[gvogel]

[quote name='AWE46M3' date='13 July 2010 - 01:57 PM' timestamp='1279043860' post='2573258']
One of my friends does long drive and has no issues hitting it fairly straight. As stated above, most of them are good golfers and know their shot shapes/tendencies.

[b]I think Jamie giving up on a hockey career was probably the best decision, he'd be quite undersized in comparison to the other guys - that unless he had like Sidney Crosby or Patrick Kane type of skills...[/b]
[/quote]

Yes, but he dented goalies masks because of the power of his slap shot. He might have made an excellent defenseman on the power play.... or maybe he would have ended up injuring his own forwards.

In any event, the last time I say lag like Jamie's was when I watched a Ben Hogan video.

[VinceRKG]

What does Steroids have to do with this thread? He was a bodybuidler back in the 70's-80's. Big deal..have you seen him play golf or Long Drive? I have, he hits my clubs. He missed one out of 5 if that most times.

Luirette does not avg 302, I walked Long Beach Open with him, New Mexico Open, 5 Gateway events, Phoenix Open, Nevada open, and all his drives were in play and about 60-90 longer than the field. Call him...lol...

You can have the LD guys who are REAL LD guys that compete in the LDA Events, about 85% are under 5 handicap.

They are able to dial their swings down to whatever they want and still hit amazing. You must not get that I am with them for work. Its what I do. They are here either golf on course, at an LDA event, or on our monitor. They can do that. What you must see are the Local level guys trying to dial it down. Big difference from Longest guy at mens club to LDA Tour Winner. As is Pepsi Tour player to PGA Tour Winner...that's the difference. I am able to dial down as well and still hit straight and long. I have a swing speed of 135, and I can take it down to 110 or 120. Thats called knockdowns or stingers or big fades or short drives longer than a 3 wood.

[TAG617]

[quote name='VinceRKG' date='14 July 2010 - 07:07 PM' timestamp='1279148841' post='2576345']
I am able to dial down as well and still hit straight and long. I have a swing speed of 135, and I can take it down to 110 or 120. Thats called knockdowns or stingers or big fades or short drives longer than a 3 wood.
[/quote]

If I dialed my swing down anymore I wouldn't hit 200 yards!

[AWE46M3]

[quote name='gvogel' date='14 July 2010 - 03:49 PM' timestamp='1279147771' post='2576319']
[quote name='AWE46M3' date='13 July 2010 - 01:57 PM' timestamp='1279043860' post='2573258']
One of my friends does long drive and has no issues hitting it fairly straight. As stated above, most of them are good golfers and know their shot shapes/tendencies.

[b]I think Jamie giving up on a hockey career was probably the best decision, he'd be quite undersized in comparison to the other guys - that unless he had like Sidney Crosby or Patrick Kane type of skills...[/b]
[/quote]

Yes, but he dented goalies masks because of the power of his slap shot. He might have made an excellent defenseman on the power play.... or maybe he would have ended up injuring his own forwards.

In any event, the last time I say lag like Jamie's was when I watched a Ben Hogan video.
[/quote]

Have you played hockey or been around it much? It's not as hard to dent a goalie's cage as you may think it is... It's just not real common because most goalies aren't trying to stop a puck with their head in the first place; it's kind of a last resort or accidental type of this.

[wldchld22]

I can't believe no one, especially on this board, has mentioned the equipment differences!!!

[justhittheshot]

[quote name='bepo' date='14 July 2010 - 01:55 PM' timestamp='1279133710' post='2575803']
[quote name='Pepperturbo' date='14 July 2010 - 02:08 PM' timestamp='1279130908' post='2575727']
[quote name='TAG617' date='14 July 2010 - 11:58 AM' timestamp='1279130339' post='2575696']
Most long drive grids are around 50 yards wide. Making them around 20 yards wider than a course in PGA conditions. Long drivers have 6 tries to keep it in that grid and hit their longest drive. So to hit a 400 yard drive and land it inside 50 yards is pretty damn impressive in my book...
[/quote]

I agree.. however, I've never played 18 holes of golf where I got six tries to get in the fairway. In part reason many long driver champs choose that venue instead of Q school... and facing tour rigors.
[/quote]
Do people really not understand that longer drives will by default be more inaccurate? If you took the most accurate player (probably a short hitter) and amped up his launch conditions similar to the LD guys he would be just much more inaccurate than when he hits it short. People seem to thing accuracy is constant when really it is linear and decreases with distance.

If you want to compare accuracy than a fair comparison would have to use hits of the same length. Compare the accuracy of a 250 yard drive with a 250 yard 3 iron and chances are they're similar, maybe the 3 iron is even more accurate (more loft, less side spin).

Your criticism reflects more on course management than actual accuracy. Any long drive guy could hit a 3 iron off the tee and be in the same position as most players, center of the fairway 250 yards down. However driver is a risk reward trade off where you get more distance at the cost of accuracy.

Would you trade 10 yards of accuracy for an extra 50 yards of distance? What about 20 yards of accuracy for an extra 100 yards of distance. At that point on most par 4's you would be at worst hitting out of rough from 100 yards and in, verses a 200 yard shot from the fairway. Seems like a pretty fair trade off for most LD guys, especially since short hitters don't have that luxury of options. for them its always driver and always short
[/quote]


+100

[justhittheshot]

[quote name='AWE46M3' date='15 July 2010 - 03:38 AM' timestamp='1279183090' post='2577192']
[quote name='gvogel' date='14 July 2010 - 03:49 PM' timestamp='1279147771' post='2576319']
[quote name='AWE46M3' date='13 July 2010 - 01:57 PM' timestamp='1279043860' post='2573258']
One of my friends does long drive and has no issues hitting it fairly straight. As stated above, most of them are good golfers and know their shot shapes/tendencies.

[b]I think Jamie giving up on a hockey career was probably the best decision, he'd be quite undersized in comparison to the other guys - that unless he had like Sidney Crosby or Patrick Kane type of skills...[/b]
[/quote]

Yes, but he dented goalies masks because of the power of his slap shot. He might have made an excellent defenseman on the power play.... or maybe he would have ended up injuring his own forwards.

In any event, the last time I say lag like Jamie's was when I watched a Ben Hogan video.
[/quote]

Have you played hockey or been around it much? It's not as hard to dent a goalie's cage as you may think it is... It's just not real common because most goalies aren't trying to stop a puck with their head in the first place; it's kind of a last resort or accidental type of this.
[/quote]

I had an NXi mask with the chrome cage with two good sized dents in the front from some loose HS slappers. It's impossible to dent the shell, the shell will just crack. But the bars on the cage are not that strong, they are actually quite thin when compared to what they are being hit by.