Chasing the World Ball Speed Record: The Training, the Triumph, and the Aftermath

As I was approaching my 40th birthday, a few months earlier I had set my sights on trying to break the record for the fastest ball speed ever recorded. At the time, Kyle Berkshire had been continually pushing the record higher and higher. He was the first to crack the 230mph barrier in late 2019 after his first world championship. Just a month before he achieved that, I was trying to push my way past the 220mph barrier. So, all things considered, I was a bit of a late bloomer, but I had this drive and passion to compete with the best in the world, and I figured speed was the best path forward. Obviously, we all know that when 2020 hit, so did COVID, putting a stop to most things, except Martin Borgmeier deciding he wanted to be the second to surpass 230mph as well. He achieved this at Bobby Bradley's facility in Wellington, Florida, I believe in March of 2020, and then had to catch a flight back home since things were about to hit the fan.

I'll fast-track a few years as Kyle went on to break the record Martin had set. I myself had climbed the ladder to pass the 230mph mark in 2022, but was always just short of passing Martin and Kyle. (At this time, I know certain individuals were capable, they basically chose not to partake.) So, in the winter of 2022, once the season was over, I had a few events to attend, so I remained in hitting shape decent enough. At that point, I was in good health, injury-free for the most part, and could cruise around 225 during speed sessions quite regularly.

As my age was creeping up, I knew my window of opportunity was not so much at its end, but I was definitely on the back 9 of this speed chase without the risk of major injury or harm to myself. So, my physio, who is a strength and conditioning coach as well, set up my plan to try and chase down the ball speed record, which at the time was held by the man who kept breaking his own record over and over, Kyle Berkshire. It was now 236.5 mph.

The training plan was set up in phases. We also planned specific rest days and high-low style training. The biggest part of all of this was not only my recovery but also my mental side. Once you get to this stage, every little thing matters, at least for me it did. Some of my must-do things were:

1- 8hrs of sleep(no questions asked)

2- Epsom salt bath with breath work

3- Caloric intake had to remain high but healthy

4- No drinking alcohol

5-Mindfulness(audio books and positive thought youtube video)

6- No self doubt of any kind

7- Stay on plan, no jumping the gun just because we felt good that day.

8- Intent and preparation before practice(touch base on this a bit more later on)

Those were my 8 staples that had to be in order and done daily. Of course, there were days where my ego wanted to step in and push harder sooner, but I had to stop myself a few times and say, "No, you're not ready." It would be a waste of extra energy to push too soon and ruin the rest of the week, which is essentially lost days. Like I keep saying, time can be limiting when you're creeping up on 40 years old.

How did we break down my training? Well, being older, as I said, there was a big emphasis on recovery and the ability to be fresh. So, caloric intake was up, and so were all the modalities listed above. The training itself was broken down into phases, some blended into the next. We obviously started with a Hypertrophy block where we tried to add muscles and keep it flexible. A lot of contrast training was also involved; it's a specific style of training that has a somewhat superset approach. Then we blended this into more of a Power/Speed approach. We didn't focus so much on strength as it's never really been an overly large weak point for me coming from powerlifting, but more on explosive power with lighter weights. Throwing medicine balls (light ones 2, 4, 6 lbs) and being dynamic. The focus on this was the kinematic sequence and throwing in ways that would be similar to the kinematic sequence of the golf swing, and we didn't need big heavy medicine balls. Remember, the typical Long drive driver weighs in at sub 300 grams total weight these days, and that's what needed to go fast. Why would I throw something that was 10 lbs when I could throw something that was 2 lbs as fast as possible? We were working on power and speed, not strength. I will add if I had been weaker and didn't have a strength-related background, the plan would have looked much different. We also had the prior year to look back on as to what worked to break the 230 mph mark and build off that. We understood how long it generally took me to peak and how long it could be maintained. As we got closer to my peak, the training slowed and was really just mobility work to stay loose and recovered, compiled with ballistic movements like bounding, skipping, jumping, and light throwing. We even added Disc golf Frisbees since we could get them near the weight of a golf club and did throws with them. This wasn't like 100 throws or something of that nature, more like 3-5 throws in sets of 5 or so. If we started to slow down or break sequence, I stopped. No sense in training poor technique. Let me say that again: if you get tired and your technique starts to break down, just stop! All you are going to do at that point is groove bad habits, make compensations, and likely get slower or even worse, hurt. But that was about it on how we established my training and how it was broken down. It wasn't just go hit balls over and over. We had to be ready physically for when it did come time to hit balls 3 times a week and then be ready for the push of all-out speed.

As we progressed through the training blocks, the speed started to come slowly. I tried to use my averages instead of my peaks to help me not get too excited too soon. I was solely using the same Trackman at the same facility with the same settings every time I practiced to ensure it was me and not the machine or my surroundings making these adjustments, limiting the variables, you could say. This is something I highly recommend to everyone trying to create more speed in their swing. If it's Trackman, great. Foresight Quad, great. Whatever it is, try and replicate it. This isn't about what strokes your ego. This is about reality!

The all-out push of speed training would come in the final 6 weeks with one competition during the second week. The hope was to get within striking distance prior to the competition, use the competition as a testing ground to see if I could bring this speed to the teebox, and then deload briefly and continue forward. I made the top 8 of the competition, losing in match play to a good friend on a well-struck ball, so I knew I was on the right track. With greater speed comes more room for error, especially under pressure and tension.

Now for the big push, I got home and took a couple of days to recuperate, and got back to work. My hitting schedule was now up to 3 days a week, but minimal gym work left in between - more of a basic mobility and recovery workout, as all my energy was being put into my practice/speed sessions. In order to get the most out of it, not only did your body need to be primed and ready to go, but so did your mind. Here is how I made the most of my practice preparation.

Practice preparation was more mindset than physical. I would have roughly an hour drive to the practice facility, and you couldn't spend the entire time having your adrenaline rush during the drive. So, I would try to just listen to the radio and not get too excited until about 20 minutes prior to arrival. Then would come the playlist, the pre-workout Domin8 by PVL, the heated seat to loosen the back, and I'd start to feel a rush of energy as I entered the parking lot. From there on out, it was all business. Headphones in, warm up smoothly, equipment and balls ready to go. Same routine every time, no questions asked. Full intensity and focus during this time, no distractions, no phone calls. Private hitting bay door closed, just me, my drivers, and the ball.

Finally, the day came. I basically spoke it into fruition days earlier. I was at a photoshoot for PVL, and we had to do some stuff in the gym. I was being asked about my journey, and the words came out of my mouth: "Tuesday is the day I break the record." When I said those words, it was with utter confidence like I knew it was already going to happen, like I had no self-doubt! I had also asked my good friend, Jeff Gavin, to join and be a witness that day. He is not only a great friend and competitor but also someone who would let me get to work, also a credible witness as he is a very respected person in our sport. I didn't want to leave anyone questioning the record when it happened.

So I went to work that day just having this gut feeling that if I hit it just right, I think I could make it happen. I was coming close; a bunch of 233-234-235mph balls were hit, and I just kept pushing. Finally, boom, a perfect strike and it popped up at 236.6mph, just edging Kyle by 0.1mph. But in this game, the 0.1 makes a difference, and being able to say you are the fastest person to ever hit a ball was something I had never really envisioned for myself when I started out on this journey. It was just one of those cool things... wish it lasted longer though. Nonetheless, this almost 40-year-old set the world ball speed record for a short period.

In the days to follow, things started to get really interesting within the sport. As I was the icebreaker, you could say, and I knew Kyle wouldn't let me hold onto that record for too long. But then came another name, Seb Twaddell, a mutant of a young man from Australia. He had been doing what I had been doing as well, just pushing and working his butt off. Within 48 hours, Seb took me point 0.1mph again at 236.7. Then, I don't even think hours later, Kyle decided he had enough and beat Seb's number by 0.1mph again. So, within a span of 4 days, the record had been broken 3 times. But wait, there is more. Martin Borgmeier had been pretty quiet during this time and was over in Germany. Since we are such good friends, I suspected he was up to something. Martin called me on Saturday, and I somehow knew when my phone rang he had done it again. Martin pushed the envelope of this to 239.2mph, I believe, but he wanted to make a video all about it, on YouTube, very similar to this write-up but going back on the history of it all, which he launched very quickly a few days later. I tried to make one more push, getting to 237.1mph, which a week before would have been not even fathomable. But, like Roger Bannister and the 4-minute mile, once it happened, it kept happening. I stopped my journey there as I started to really feel it take a toll on me physically. I was eating 4000+ calories a day and wasn't able to maintain a body weight above 230lbs. So, at that point, in order to not do more harm than good to myself, I backed off and let the kids have their fun. I was just happy to be in the conversation for that period of time.

What has happened since that week has been nothing short of remarkable. After this, a few have gone 240mph, including Seb, Kyle, and Dr. Sam Attanasio. The Good Doctor holds the new record at 245mph after a few exchanges back and forth with Kyle. To say Dr. Attanasio added a great amount of science and speed to the equation is an understatement. I know I wouldn't be physically capable of doing it. Now the question lies, will we one day see a 250mph golf ball speed record, or have we reached our limit due to equipment standards, ball standards, or data tracking capability? Who knows, but I applaud those trying to give it a go.

Just for reference on how fast the sport has gotten since I first began in 2008, with little to no data tracking readily available, we can see the winner in 2007, Mike Dobbyn's ball speed during the final 8 (it was a chilly night in Mesquite so those factors do come into play), was around 207-209 mph. Fast forward to 2023 final 16, and the average ball speed was over 215 mph, I believe, with Kyle Berkshire leading the way. The ball being used in 2023 was a much slower golf ball overall than the ball in 2008 (yes, I've tested them head to head) being hit with much lighter shafts that would be considered wet noodles by 2008 standards. In 2019, Kyle was the only person to ever hit a ball 230 mph, by 2024 I've lost count of men who have hit it 230 mph, it's somewhere between 8-10 I believe and maybe more if they haven't are very very close. We also now have women consistently in the 180 mph range and above as well, I think even in the 190s at one point. Which by any standard, tour average, the men or the women is astonishing.

The respect not given by the average golfer for these feats at times can be unbelievable and at points leaves me scratching my head. Since well, I've never looked down at someone who might not be a long hitter, never uttered the words oh ya but can you hit it 300yrds? These statements never come from great players as they more or less understand the difficulty behind what it takes to be able to hit a ball really far. I'm honestly not sure if it's jealousy of what Longdrivers can do with their swing speeds or that there is an assumption that none of us can play the game of golf that well, which isn't true at all when you look at the facts of it. Sure, some choose to not play the game at all as they just enjoy hitting it far. Some got to play at a high level only to realize the cost of chasing that dream could be a bit of a stretch, many play to a plus handicap or a low single-digit handicaps. Am I myself any good? I have my moments and also my not so good moments. I've personally played down to a 1 index in my younger years, but as many know, you can't make much of a career in golf as a 1 index. That was part of my biggest reason for pursuing long drive in the first place, as I'm sure it was for many others. Let alone the enjoyment of it all. Anyone and i mean Anyone who has hit a ball perfectly in the center of the face at a high rate of force knows there aren't too many better feelings on the Golf course.

Evolution is a real thing that can't be denied or avoided. Now, as we all know, speed isn't everything, and consistent ball flight and spin rates for all the varying conditions that day make a world of difference. But just like I say, strength is never a weakness, and in the sport of Longdrive, controlled speed is never a bad thing to keep you in the mix, even when you're not having your best day. Not to mention, tour golf isn't much different when you look at the stats. Longer is better, and that argument statistically can't be argued.

Looking forward to what these Men and woman can do in the future in the sport of Golf and obviously Longdrive