A World Long Driver looks to improve their drive distance but they also want to improve ball speed and clubhead speed. The science behind long drive plays an important role in how these athletes’ practice and compete. We’ve reached a point in the sport, where records are broken every season and the next milestone doesn’t seem so far away. At the start of April, long drive fans witnessed a record breaking month as top ranked world long drivers continuously surpassed each other.
On Saturday April 1st, Martin Borgmeier, currently ranked #1 in the world, connected with a ball that reached a ball speed 239.3 mph and broke the previous record but still remained just shy of the elusive 240 mph mark. Just two days later on April 3rd, Kyle Berkshire currently ranked #2, smashed two long drive records with a 239.7 mph ball speed and 169.9 mph club speed. Nonetheless, still short of the 240 mph ball speed mark. As the two top competitors in the sport continued to battle for the next record breaker title, a third competitor joined the race.
Sebastian Twaddell, a 22-year old Aussie and World Long Drive competitor has taken all the right steps to improve his game. Sebastian and his fellow countryman Matt Stubbs, only just made their WLD debuts in Mesquite, in September 2022. On April 7th, 2023 he proved that practice makes progress as he broke both ball speed and clubhead speed records with a single swing at 240.8 mph and 169.6 mph, respectively (check it out here 👀). He returned to Mesquite, Nevada in May to take home his first WLD Champion title with a 417 yd final ball against Josh Koch. After securing his first WLD Champion title, the question becomes, what is next for Sebastian Twaddell? What is the next milestone record for the sport of long drive?
The technology and data available to these athletes about their bodies and the equipment allows for endless potential. Sebastian has ignited the competitive flame among the sport and as the saying goes, “records are made to be broken”.
Who’s got next?