When San Diego's Mark Wawsczyk smacked a 380-yard drive about a yard outside the white line at Thursday's District Long Drive Championship, he wasn't worried.
You see, earlier in the day, Wawsczyk (pronounced Waw zick) had taken a walk down Mick Riley's No. 1 fairway to check out the conditions. In doing so he discovered that the fairway lines were only 32 yards apart, eight yards less than required for the district event.So he made a quick phone call to the national director of the long drive competition, who in turn called Mick Riley and instructed them to make sure the hitting area was 40 yards across.
It turned out 6-foot-5, 185-pounder helped himself to a victory because he needed the drive outside the line to win the event, which featured 23 other long hitters from around the West. He far outdistanced the second-place finisher David Hoch of Yuma, Colo., who hit a drive 350 yards, 27 inches.
By winning, Wawsczyk qualifies for the National Long Drive Championships in Boca Raton, Flordia, Oct. 9-10.
"I love this place," said the 36-year-old Wawsczyk, who won the district competition at Nibley Park in 1991 with a drive of 358 yards. This one, he said, was better.
"I've got a better shaft (Penley Power Shaft) a better clubface (Mad Mac McGregor, 7-degree) and I hit it better today," he said. "I did hit it all today."
Wawsczyk is a golf professional with a plus-2 handicap, but he makes his living as a golf teacher, specifically for long hitters. He used a 58-inch driver (standard driver is 43) for his winning drive Thursday, which is seven inches shorter than he's been using. "I practice with a seven-foot driver," said Wawsczyk.
Another Californian, Brian Pavlet was the favorite to win based on his record 430-yard drive in the sectional competition in July.
However, Pavlet kept hitting pop-ups and didn't come within 100 yards of his winning drive in July. In fact his best drive, a 323-yarder went nearly as high as it did long.
"It's just one of those things - I made six ugly swings," said Pavlet. "It was a good learning experience."
Pavlet has four more district competitions to try to qualify for the nationals.
"There's always the next one," said Pavlet, who will head to Bakersfield Saturday for his next district competition.
Thomas Peppard of Canton, Ohio, came in third at 328-32, followed by Idaho's Fred Hooter (328-16) and Idaho's Steve Hoke (327-16).
Utah's best finisher was Al Auvaa of West Valley, who came in 8th at 310-27. Defending champion Kurt Moore, who admittedly is not hitting very well, had a hard time finding the fairway and only managed a 303-3 drive.
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Long drive results
Mark Wawsczyk 380 yards 25 inches
David Hoch 350 yards 27 inches
Thomas Peppard 328 yards 32 inches
Fred Hooter 328 yards 16 inches
Steve Hoke 327 yards 16 inches
Brian Pavlet 323 yards 16 inches
Jonathan Baker 317 yards 5 inches
Al Auvaa 310 yards 27 inches
Kurt Moore 303 yards 25 inches
Byron Britain 300 yards 9 inches
Chris Eastman 300 yards 4 inches
Corey Morley 298 yards
Kevin Smith 293 yards
John Hille 290 yards
Gregory McDonald 283 yards
Chris Doyle 274 yards
Kevin Holcomb OB
Michael Hooper OB
Gary Schneiter OB
Steve Santy OB
Terry Hall OB
Bob Seitz OB