JOHN'S QUEST AT LONG DRIVERS OF AMERICA CONTEST.
Ok we are here , yet again. Mesquite, NV 2015. It is September 20, 2015 and this year it is called Captain Crush Global Long Ball Championships. It isn't quite as big as the past years but there are a lot of top notch competitors. We went out this morning and watched the Super Senior Division 50 to 55 age group. They also had in the afternoon the Grand Champion 55 to 60 age group and also Masters 65+
They were all hitting into a head wind that was blowing head on and to the left and were still hitting it in the mid 300's. Not bad..... I have pictures of only the Super Seniors today, I flaked after lunch and went to the pool. John went back out to watch and said it was very hot. The pool was very nice........ Tomorrow we will be out there most of the day. The Seniors 45 to 50 will be in the morning and Johns Legends 60 to 65 starts at 12:30pm until they finished.
When we arrived we saw Lance Reader, he is the CEO of KRANK Golf Clubs and
John met him the 1st year and he set John up with a Krank Golf club, today he
made it to the semi finals, he will be in tomorrows competition in the Senior
group 45 to 50 also, but not in Johns group.
Lance and John discussing golf stuff. The guy on the left came all the way
from Australia to play.
The
guy with the gray pants and white shirt is Frank Miller, he came in 2nd today in
the Super Seniors and won the next competition of 55 to 60 Grand Champion
group..
As you see by the green pants, some are very colorful dressers.
Phil Naylor won the contest and here is Lance taking his picture.
The results with the yards they drove.
Click here to see pictures of the 2015 competition. John finished the best yet and is already practicing for next year. Mesquite 2015 Competition
Mesquite 2014 LDA - Click here to see Mesquite 2014 World Championship Finals.
YEA WE ARE FINALLY HERE AT THE WORLD FINALS..... AGAIN IN MESQUITE , NV.
We arrived yesterday (Monday 16th of Sept., 2013) afternoon after a 10 hour drive and guess what? IT'S HOT! We drove out and registered John this morning for the 3 different divisions he is in. Things looked a bit different , large grandstands and more tents for the competitors. See the pictures below. Then we went to a Country Club that was close and LDA had arranged for the competitors to practice hitting balls on their range.
TUESDAY: SEPTEMBER 17TH, 2013
John waiting his turn to register. The young man he is talking with, Tony
is from Sweden. He has been to the competition several times. 14
hour flight and we thought we came a long ways.
One of the trucks that is always there with the set up stuff.
John is waiting for his clubs to be checked out and make sure they are legal.
The next pictures are where they will warm up tomorrow and they have added
grandstands and we have to have passes to get in.
LDA arranged for the competitors to hit balls at the beautiful Conestoga
Country Club.
I video taped him so he could review his swing. I was a real sweat hog
when we were done and I stood in the shade part of the time.....
Wednesday September 17th, 2013 Today is the Legends 60 to 65 yrs. and Grand Champions 55 to 60 yrs. As you know when John was competing in the Legends Division he hurt his arm and elbow an injury he had been nursing along with a machine called Game Ready. He has been using it every night to ice down his shoulder and elbow for several months. Here are some pictures of the 2 divisions.
All competitors had their own spot to warm up. Only players were allowed
in this area.
John talking with some of his fellow competitors, everyone was very nice, they
had been competing for 10 to 15 years. They had this huge score
board with the divisions. To the back of this round was all the different
divisions for the Open , that competition was all next week.
It begins!
Grand Champions Division:
John did very well hitting with his injuries. His longest ball was 337
yards, not bad..... He decided to drop out of the next division and will
be back next year.... until then
John's visit to Kingdom: May 14, 2013
John (Boz) was invited to Kingdom (Taylor Golf) in Carlsbad,
CA, his instructor Steve at Golftec in Santa Barbara set it up. Only
professional golfers are usually invited to Kingdom. We had to go across
the street to Taylor Golf and get passes to get in. The door is locked and
they let you in by invitation only. There were 3 golfer that day as you
can see up on the board. John spent several hours hitting balls for Darryl
his personal advisor from Taylor Golf. He then made John a driving club to
use in this quest at LDA (Long Drivers of America). John is attempting to
be in all the age groups, not only his (60 to 65) but clear down to open.
When we went outside to the driving range, each golfer had their own spot
The work begins
He then had the club speed, ball speed , launch angle, carried distance
diagnosed by Track Man computer program.
John's qualification for the Senior division at Rancho San Marcos in the San Ynez Valley - July 27th 2013
You have to hit 6 balls within a 50 yard width and have 2 minutes and 45 seconds to do it. They take you longest ball that is in , if you don't get any in bounds then you are out.
We
met a return competitor in the parking lot and John and Rich turned out to be in
the same division as competitors. Rich paid for 5 tries and couldn't beat
Johns score. He was going to stay to the afternoon round and try again for
another slot in the Senior Division. It was very nerve racking because
John was 1st up of the 2 hours time period and we had to wait to the end to see
if anyone could beat his score. These pictures show everyone warming
up.
John's turn in the box to show what he can do.
Its official, he won his heat (he hit it 300 yards) and will go to Mesquite to
the Regionals in the Senior Division
If he advances in the Regionals then he will go to the World Competition in September, he is already in the World in 3 other divisions. He still may try again to qualify for the Open division (44yrs and younger).
Mesquite Nevada at the Regionals for the Senor Division and the last qualifying for Open Division: August 8th,9th,10th & 11th, 2013
And here we are in beautiful Mesquite Nevada where you have to be a lizard or rattle snake to live here. You can just feel your skin schriveling up as you stand there in the shade of a cactus..... What the ??!???!!?? were they thinking to have this here in August...... They start at 6am and the golf courses close at 11am, that should tell you something. Ok enough about the beautiful climate. The following pictures show the qualifications for the open division 44 and under. John got matched up with Seph and Jeff in 2 different tries. John actually beat them but did not make it for the top 4 spots out of 27 to advance. He could have tried again in the next round but decided let the younger boys have at it. He bought a new driver here and is going to try it out today, we shall see if this helps in tomorrows competition.
Took these 3 pictures as we approached the Mesquite Regional Sports and Event
Complex
And here it is
This is where John will be doing his stuff
John is warming up and you can see one of the fellow competitors Jeff next to
him
This is Steph, just a little fellow , he was showing the old "little man" how to
do it.
Jeff and John trying to qualify
John and Steph trying their 2nd time to qualify.
John actually beat both of them in yardage. Everyone involved was very
nice and everyone rooted for each other.
Senior Regionals on Sunday August 11th, 2013
Well here we are Sunday morning, its 4:15 am, really?!?!?!?!
We were at the golf driving range at 5:45am, the Sun wasn't even up.....
John was checking out the practice area and getting a good spot
More competitors started to arrive
John loosing up and starting to practice.
Just to prove I was there and it
wasn't even 7am and already had my umbrella blocking the sun.
Johns 1st time up to advance
John won his round to advance and went on to the next round
John won again with his best of the day 312 yards.
These show the score boards and John was just 1 group out of the 4 winners.
John's 1st time at this sport and he did very well getting that close to going
on to the world in the senior division of 45 to 50 year olds. Everyone
couldn't believe how well he did for his age and his 1st time out. Most
competitors have been doing it over 10 years. We will be back in Sept. for
the world in the older age groups.