The city’s biggest basher knows he can do better than a fourth-round loss at the World Long Drive Championship.
Ryan Gregnol, whose longest drive in competition to date measured in at a Bubba Watson-busting 408 yards, knows he’s got the power to claim a world title, but facing 143 of the best the specialty sport has to offer in Mesquite, Nev. starting Oct. 27, it won’t be easy.
The Thunder Bay native, who readily admits the rest of his game isn’t up to par, cracked one 379 yards at last year’s world championship, but was eliminated in the fourth round when he couldn’t keep his balls in bounds.
He’s hoping this year’s event will spin a different tale.
“I’m swinging good and I’m feeling good. I haven’t hit the ball this good in my life yet. I’m hoping for a top-eight (finish) and see if I can win it,” Gregnol said last Friday, taking a break as the designated driver on the 12th hole at Strathcona, helping to raise money for PRO Kids during the annual Mayor’s Mulligan charity golf tournament.
Technique is the way to win, said Gregnol, who nevertheless stands about 6-foot-3, a gorilla of a golfer built to hit balls a long way.
“There’s so many guys doing it. You can’t just go out there and slash it and hope to get it out there.
“You’ve actually got to have some technique out there. You’ve got to have your equipment dialed in so you know your spin rates, your launch angles, your ball speed, your club-head speed, your power-transition ration,” he said.
“You’ve got to take everything into account to get the absolute most yardage possible. Anything within six inches is a tie, so if you beat that guy by seven inches, you’re one step ahead.”
The equipment isn’t as specialized as one might think, Gregnol added.
About the only difference between his driver and one found in the average duffer’s bag is the angle of the club face.
“We just tend to use a little bit less loft. We’ll use anywhere from five degrees to seven-and-a-half degrees, depending on weather conditions, wind and humidity – everything comes into account. We always have back-ups, in case they break,” he said.
“You might not be able to buy it off the shelf, but if you look hard enough, you can find it.”
Gregnol has been competing since his teen years.
He started golfing at 14 and within two years had cracked the 300-yard mark off the tee. From an early age his power game impressed his playing partners.
However, after a couple of years he gave up the game, only to pick it up a couple of years ago, his distance still intact.
“I had one guy who was always pushing me and he said, ‘You should go do the long drive stuff.’ I looked into it at the beginning of the year one year, and I went down and did my first contest and I won. Now I was kind of hooked. I went to my next event and I won that,” he said.
That second win propelled him into the world championship, and a totally different world than the local championships proved to be.
“Everyone’s good. There is no Joe Blow just out there slashing around. It’s a game of inches then. I saw my capabilities, I saw where I could go in the first year, and I’ve just been building on that since, fine-tuning, changing technique. Everything changes from week to week trying to make yourself better.”
Whatever he’s done, it appears to have worked.
He’s confident he has what it takes to dethrone fellow Canadian Jamei Sadlowski, whose 384-yard drive in last year’s final earned him a second consecutive world title.
“I know I have the ability to win. It’s just a matter of getting that right bounce and catching the right breaks.”
Ryan Gregnol, whose longest drive in competition to date measured in at a Bubba Watson-busting 408 yards, knows he’s got the power to claim a world title, but facing 143 of the best the specialty sport has to offer in Mesquite, Nev. starting Oct. 27, it won’t be easy.
The Thunder Bay native, who readily admits the rest of his game isn’t up to par, cracked one 379 yards at last year’s world championship, but was eliminated in the fourth round when he couldn’t keep his balls in bounds.
He’s hoping this year’s event will spin a different tale.
“I’m swinging good and I’m feeling good. I haven’t hit the ball this good in my life yet. I’m hoping for a top-eight (finish) and see if I can win it,” Gregnol said last Friday, taking a break as the designated driver on the 12th hole at Strathcona, helping to raise money for PRO Kids during the annual Mayor’s Mulligan charity golf tournament.
Technique is the way to win, said Gregnol, who nevertheless stands about 6-foot-3, a gorilla of a golfer built to hit balls a long way.
“There’s so many guys doing it. You can’t just go out there and slash it and hope to get it out there.
“You’ve actually got to have some technique out there. You’ve got to have your equipment dialed in so you know your spin rates, your launch angles, your ball speed, your club-head speed, your power-transition ration,” he said.
“You’ve got to take everything into account to get the absolute most yardage possible. Anything within six inches is a tie, so if you beat that guy by seven inches, you’re one step ahead.”
The equipment isn’t as specialized as one might think, Gregnol added.
About the only difference between his driver and one found in the average duffer’s bag is the angle of the club face.
“We just tend to use a little bit less loft. We’ll use anywhere from five degrees to seven-and-a-half degrees, depending on weather conditions, wind and humidity – everything comes into account. We always have back-ups, in case they break,” he said.
“You might not be able to buy it off the shelf, but if you look hard enough, you can find it.”
Gregnol has been competing since his teen years.
He started golfing at 14 and within two years had cracked the 300-yard mark off the tee. From an early age his power game impressed his playing partners.
However, after a couple of years he gave up the game, only to pick it up a couple of years ago, his distance still intact.
“I had one guy who was always pushing me and he said, ‘You should go do the long drive stuff.’ I looked into it at the beginning of the year one year, and I went down and did my first contest and I won. Now I was kind of hooked. I went to my next event and I won that,” he said.
That second win propelled him into the world championship, and a totally different world than the local championships proved to be.
“Everyone’s good. There is no Joe Blow just out there slashing around. It’s a game of inches then. I saw my capabilities, I saw where I could go in the first year, and I’ve just been building on that since, fine-tuning, changing technique. Everything changes from week to week trying to make yourself better.”
Whatever he’s done, it appears to have worked.
He’s confident he has what it takes to dethrone fellow Canadian Jamei Sadlowski, whose 384-yard drive in last year’s final earned him a second consecutive world title.
“I know I have the ability to win. It’s just a matter of getting that right bounce and catching the right breaks.”
