Since as far back as the founding of the Olympic Games, mankind has been fascinated with who can run the fastest, throw objects the farthest, and jump the highest and longest.
It is as though humans are possessed with the need to know who can do what the best. Thus, the “Guinness Book of World Records” was originally published in the United States in 1955 and updated and published yearly till 1999 to keep track of record-breaking events. The book’s name was then changed to the “Guinness World Records,” and the tracking of record-breaking events and achievements continued.
Out of all the golfers who have worn the coveted green jacket at Augusta and out of all who have shot the lowest scores on the golf courses throughout the U.S. and Great Britain, one would think that one of those famous long ball drivers such as Sam Snead, Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus, John Daily or Tiger Woods would hold the record for the longest drive ever recorded.
However, of all the PGA’s champions, not one has out-driven Mike Austin who has held the record since 1974 for the longest drive ever measured in a professional golf tournament. Austin, a teaching pro who set the record when he was 64, was competing in the U.S. National Seniors Open Championship in Las Vegas.
With a 27-miles-per-hour wind at his back, Austin smashed a drive that cleared the green 450 yards away and was measured at 515 yards from where he drove the golf ball off the tee.
Chandler Harper, a golfer who was playing in the foursome, had played with Sam Snead and Ben Hogan numerous times. Harper said, “I had never seen a ball hit anywhere that far.”
Austin had studied physics and engineering at Emory University where he earned his Ph.D. in kinesiology, the science of muscle movement in humans.
Those who witnessed his record-breaking drive reported the ball was driven on a line about 15’ high rather than in a high-looping trajectory that many professional golfers are accustomed to perfecting.
Austin’s wife, Tonya, summed up her husband’s recorder-breaking feat by saying, “It was like God held the ball in the air.”
Dustin Johnson, a PGA champion, has come closest to the record. He hit a 463-yard drive in the U.S. Open in 2016.