Las Vegas & 2013 ReMax Long Drive Desert Launch Championship

 

So its been a while since I wrote an article, got a lot to catch you up on in a short amount of time so I will try and keep it short. The last few months have been crazy with work and studying for my national board exam so golf got put on the back burner for a bit.

I gave myself a study break for 4 days and took a trip out to Las Vegas. This was a 2 for 1 trip as I also went out there to compete in the ReMax Long Drive Desert Launch Event that weekend. My friend Dave and I went out there and stayed right on the strip. This was my first official ReMax sanctioned event ever and I was very excited to be hitting on the World Championship grid! I went there Friday feeling good about myself and where my swing was at. My first set of 6 balls I only maxed out around 350 yards and I was pretty disappointed as my numbers were much higher on the Launch monitor back in CT before I left.

I had my clubs tested and found out that 2 out of 3 of my drivers were flat, meaning that the face was slightly caved in enough to produce dead hits that would go nowhere. The one club I had remaining had too much loft and was a practice club, so I was freaking out a bit. I was originally pretty bummed out and talked to my friend about just enjoying the rest of our time in Vegas and not driving back to Mesquite on Saturday for day two. My friend talked me into going back and giving it another shot, and I'm glad he did. I was very thankful for the generosity of some of the other competitors as they let me barrow some of their clubs to use. 

So I was using a club I had never hit before with a shaft that was a little softer than I was used to as well. I stepped up for my first set of balls for the day and my best was 376. This made me very happy now knowing it was the equipment that failed me, not my swing. 376 wasn’t good enough to make it, but my second set, 386 put me at the top of my group and qualified me for Sundays top 36 final. I had my second wind of motivation for the finals on Sunday!

My friend Dave and I had a great time after I qualified. Wewent and played a little golf and hit the tables at Casino to round out the night cap. Ended up winning $300 bucks playing some blackjack so things were going well.

We woke up Sunday morning ready to make one last drive out to Mesquite to see how far I could go. Top 6 would get an automatic bid to Worlds in September. This format is a little different, it kind of goes to a double elimination format where the top few competitors move on to a winners bracket and the bottom move to a losers bracket. I went into the day with zero expectations. I was moved to the losers bracket after round 1, but finished in the top of that bracket to move onto round 3. Round 3 had some good hitters and the wind was constantly changing. I hit in pretty calm conditions and hit my first 400 yard drive EVER! I was feeling pretty good until the wind picked up. The next drive was 430 by someone and then topped by a 451 by another competitor which knocked me out. The wind is such an X-Factor in Long Drive and 10-15mph downwind can add 40-50 yards easily!

But I left The Desert Launch with my head held high and the confidence knowing I could hang with some of the Worlds Longest Hitters!