The Volvik World Long Drive challenge is a beautiful thing to behold. Usually when you play golf, the goal is to be mostly under control in an effort to keep your ball as straight as possible. Here, the goal is to find a way to contort and unleash your body in such a violent way that you bludgeon the ball as far and straight as physically possible. In the men's competition, this usually involves yoked up guys swinging at speeds that top out at around 50 miles an hour faster than tour pros.
Normally, things go okay and nobody is in danger. In the Round of 16, however, things got a little crazy for Wes Patterson.
Yikes. Patterson swung so hard and fast that the club snapped under the pressure of hitting his back. Luckily, the fans were all okay.
A newcomer to the competitive scene, Patterson defeated top-ranked Maurice Allen in the double-elimination Round of 32. The upset was surprising enough, but Patterson had to use a replacement driver head provided to him by a fellow competitor after his equipment was made inaccessible due to the flooding in Houston, where Patterson sometimes trains.
In the Round of 16, Patterson defeated Ryan Reisbeck who, oddly enough, was the aforementioned competitor who provided him with the spare driver head. Should Patterson not break any more additional drivers, he may be able to win this thing.
