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Most golfers are familiar with the phrase “Drive for show and putt for dough,” an adage that refers the the many players who do themselves a disservice by prioritizing distance off of the tee over the more nuanced aspects of the game. However, Kyle Berkshire hasn’t taken that advice to heart and is still doing pretty well for himself—especially when you consider he may have set a new world record with a huge drive.
If you regularly devoted your weekend mornings to channel surfing in the 1990s, you probably remember an iconic infomercial starring Jack Hamm, the long drive expert who used an ad featuring him ripping monster shots with the illegal driver dubbed the “Hammer X” to peddle the club to the masses.
Berkshire is easily the most notable name in the new generation of golfers who specialize in hitting the ball as far as possible, and he’s amassed a sizeable following online with the skills that helped him walk away with a victory at the World Long Drive Championship in 2019 and 2021.
@kyle_berkshire 🚨NEW WORLD RECORD BALL SPEED🚨(236.8 MPH) #fyp #foryou #golf #viral
Berkshire embodies the “Grip It and Rip It” mentality you need to have to be successful in that particular line of work, and while he’d probably be the first person to admit his skills wouldn’t necessarily lend themselves to a successful career on the PGA Tour, his ability to mash the ball has given him the chance to play some of the nicest golf courses on the planet while attracting plenty of attention in the process.
On Monday, Berkshire headed to Rochelle Ranch Golf Course in Rawlins, Wyoming and set up shop on the 12th tee in the hopes of setting a new record for the longest drive ever recorded (the hole is a par-3, but he struck an agreement with the course that allowed him to shoot toward the green on the 14th to take advantage of the wind he was using to bolster his distance).
According to Cowboy State Daily, Berkshire’s eighth shot of the day traveled a grand total of 515 yards in the air before coming down and rolling to a stop a grand total of 579.66 yards away from where he hit it, which unofficially set a new long drive record by surpassing the 551-yard shot previously recorded by Mike Dobbyn.
If you’re curious, the Guinness Book of World Records credits Davis Love III with the longest drive at a PGA Tour event thanks to the 476-yard shot he hit on the 18th hole at The Plantation Course in Hawaii during the final round of the Mercedes Championship in 2004 (it’s believed Carl Cooper hit one 772 yards with the help of a cart path at the Texas Open in 1992, but it was never officially verified).
After raising the bar, the 26-year-old Berkshire told the outlet “I’m far from peaking” and says he’s hoping to surpass the 600-yard mark in the near future.