‘It would have been nice to have only gone one round and won, but I was very happy with the way I hit,’ says local senior of his 280-yard drive
John Anders took a long drive to Lovingston, Va., so he could compete in the World Long Drive Championship early in October, competing in both the 60-plus and 65-plus men’s divisions.
And after a tie-breaker in the finals, he placed second.
“My original goal this year was to compete and qualify … so being second was icing on the cake,” says the local boy who now calls a spot along Lake Couchiching in Severn Township home.
Competing in long drives means hitting the golf ball as far and as accurately as possible. Participants compete on a 450-yard, minimum, driving range that has a 60-foot wide grid. The ball must land and stop on the grid.
Anders had made it to the worlds previously, in 2011, when there was just one men’s seniors’ division for those 45-plus. At age 54, he placed second.
After an absence of 15 years, he took another look at the competition and noticed age divisions had been added so he went back to training and competed regionally to earn spots on Team Canada in both the 60- and 65-plus divisions.
Both divisions competed on the first day of the four-day event. Each event involved four rounds, with six balls each round. The best ball of the four rounds is included in the elimination round. Two people then advance to the finals which has one round of six balls.
Anders placed fifth in the 60-plus competition.
He proved consistent in the 65-plus division and advanced to the finals with 276 yards. While he regularly shoots further, having driven the ball 320 yards earlier in the year to qualify for the worlds, he points out that 20 kilometre per hour headwinds with wind gusts of 25 km/h limited everyone’s shots. Two days of rain leading into the competition resulted in a soft course that also limited the roll of the balls on the turf.
He and the second competitor from California then hit within a yard of each other during the finals, resulting in a tie.
There was a larger separation in the tie-breaker round of six balls. The American placed first and Anders was second with his 280-yard shot.
“It would have been nice to have only gone one round and won, but I was very happy with the way I hit,” he says.
Anders describes himself as a regular golfer who averages 90 strokes per game. But his strength has always been hitting a longer ball. During the season, he plays in men’s leagues in both Barrie and Orillia.
It was while taking lessons at Tangle Creek in Barrie in 2008 where he noticed there was a long-drive competition, so he entered. He qualified for the regional event and, although he did well, he did not qualify for the worlds.
But he got some feedback, worked and his shot and trained for three years, qualifying for the 2011 worlds event where he placed fifth.
Anders appreciates now being able to play in the age groups. His club-head speed the first time he went to worlds was 124 to 128 miles per hour. During the intervening decade and a half it has slowed to 106 to 112 mph.
He’s looking forward to next year, when he advances to the 70-plus group where he expects to be competitive with ongoing training as others in that group will too have seen a drop in their speed over the years.
In the interim, he expects to train three to four times per week on both the physical side including strength, mobility and speed as well as his technique to maximize the leverage in his swing pattern to keep up the club-head speed in his swing.
The trick is balancing the work to ensure he doesn’t sustain strains and pulls, which take longer to heal these days, he says.
During the winter, he uses simulators and goes outdoors in the summer, practising with a launch monitor which calculates ball speed, distance and accuracy in an on-course scenario.
He also keeps active with other sports: squash, pickleball, skiing, cycling and fishing. He’s determined to keep up his interests and being active in sports as well as volunteering to stay young.
Anders says he would like to go to the worlds in the 70-plus division.
“It would be nice to have one more run and have the chance of bringing back a title.”