Driving the Golf Ball: Is Bubba Watson Human?

This is part of my Series on Golfing-in-Exile.

I hit the driving range last weekend with my father-in-law.  We didn’t have our clubs with us and so each of us borrowed a driver from the clubhouse. Normally they give you broken-down clubs that are on their last legs. Not this time. These two drivers they gave us were probably as good or better than the ones we normally use.

After warming up some, we started hitting some drives, pausing intermittently to joke around and talk. We actually had a great time. The guy is amazing. He hardly plays, is sixty-eight years old and just gets up there and starts crushing drives smack down the middle every time like he does it every day. He is a true natural athlete.

Anyway, after a half an hour or so I started experimenting with different swings. I was imitating Kenny Perry’s swing, and started hitting a nice draw out there. Then I tried some upright power-fades channeling some Nicklaus videos I had studied when I was a kid. For the heck of it, I then started channeling Bubba Watson and went for some serious extension away from the ball and through the ball. (Bubba is the longest driver on the PGA Tour). The results were stunning. I started flying the ball 20+ yards further than any previous iteration of my swing. I went on YouTube this evening to study Bubba’s swing and now I see why. His swing arc is ridiculous. See this super slow-mo version below and tell me if what he is doing seems  humanly possible?

For Part 7 of this Series, click here.