'I Broke Golf's Ball Speed World Record... And My Potential Is North Of 250mph'

It wouldn’t be much fun playing golf with Seb Twaddell. Well, it would and it wouldn’t. He’d drive the ball way, way past you on every hole. After a while, it would start to grate. But watching him taking on crazy lines and driving most of the par 4s would also be quite entertaining, especially if the odd drive went 400 yards sideways.

The 24-year-old, who used to play off plus four, can produce a mind-boggling 246.8mph ball speed, which is a world record. He doesn’t play so much ‘regular’ golf these days, for his golf career, much like one of his tee shots, has taken a slightly different path. He’s a long drive specialist, capable of hitting the ball nearly 500 yards (his personal best in competition is 473 yards).

It was on January 3rd this year that the Australian set that ball speed record. Training with his playing partners and with his coach Craig Parker watching on, Twaddell edged ever closer to 250mph - a number that he’s convinced will come, especially given the extra motivation he has to win this year’s World Long Drive World Championships in Colorado.

Last April, Twaddell suffered a setback - not the injury type you might be thinking of, such as a dislocated shoulder (really, watch Twaddell hit a drive) or a bad back. Visa issues put the skids on his 2024 season. Six hours after landing in Hawaii he was on the next flight back to Australia. Not even tips for how to hit your longest drive for the airport staff could help his cause.

“That was a rough flight coming back,” Twaddell tells Golf Monthly.” We were gearing up to have a go at the World Championships and to go for that World No.1 spot. I had everything planned. I’d booked flights and accommodation for the whole season.

“Everything was turned upside down. I didn’t know when I was going to get back over. I sat down with my team and just said, ‘Let’s treat this as extra time to get as good as we can get so when we have the opportunity to compete again, we’re ready to win.”

That’s what he’s been doing. Training hard. Three to four times a week, he’s been making the one-and-a-half drive to Brisbane to put the hours in with his coach. There is still a month of speed training to go until the new season gets underway, but already Twaddell is feeling confident with where he’s at. Very confident.

Talking about his “revamped swing”, he says: “We’ve got it to the point where it’s not only going to be the fastest it’s ever been, but it’s going to be the most efficient and most lethal when we’re back on the grid.

“With my current club speed, the ball speed potential is north of 250mph, so there’s still a long way to go. It’s going to take those few sessions for it all to click and all match up, and then it will be untouchable to the other guys out there.”

You’d rarely hear a PGA Tour player talk up their chances like this, other than maybe Bryson DeChambeau, who many will remember competing in the 2022 Long Drive World Championship. Any 72-hole strokeplay competitor who described themself as “untouchable” would certainly attract some attention.

However, this is a very different sport. No one is going to criticize a long driver for pumping out their chest - fighting talk is what you’d expect in a sport where there’s a lot of adrenaline, and where you’re required to channel all your aggression to hit a tiny object as far as you can in one lightning speed movement.

The Life Of A Long Driver

A typical day for the long drive competitor starts with taking on some carbohydrates. After that, he’ll hit the gym (four times a week). During a “speed phase”, he’ll do a lot of plyometric exercises, which are short, intense bursts of energy, before a recovery session. Then it’s onto Brisbane to see Parker for some long drive training, which can be technical or speed related.

Before bed, there’s mindset work, which is where Bradley Charles Stubbs comes in, a vastly experienced coach and mentor who was nicknamed ‘The Coach Whisperer’ by the English press following the success he had with the England rugby team.

“I’ve always treated it as a full time job,” says Twaddell. When we speak, it looks like he’s just finished a session, although he has been training on the Gold Coast, where it’s still 28 degrees at 8pm in the evening.

“If you want to be the best at what you do, you have to treat it like a job. It’s a key factor. A lot of people treat it like a part time thing, so that’s where you can gain a real advantage and outwork the competition. You can turn up knowing that no one else has worked as hard and put in the work to constantly keep improving.”

The financial rewards for doing well in this sport are not as lucrative as they are on the PGA Tour. Twaddell, though, who up until last November was working in security part time (he’s 6ft 7in and weighs 260lbs) to fund his travel, isn’t motivated by the money - it’s all about “pushing himself to the limits to see what’s possible”.

“The prize money is an added bonus, and you can get that to keep yourself going,” says Twaddell, who has sponsorship deals with Callaway, Adidas Golf, and Musashi Sports Nutrition. “My main goal is to reinvent what people thought possible with a golf club."

Olympic dream

We’ll all find out what’s possible when Twaddell and his fellow long drive competitors lock horns again in March. There are a number of stops to make before the big one in Colorado, including events in Las Vegas, South Carolina, Ontario, and Connecticut, as well as the World Team Championships in Austria, where he will compete alongside his fellow countryman Matt Stubbs.

As for the longer term future, Twaddell is hopeful that we could one day see long drive as part of the Olympics. “There’s definitely an avenue for it. I see no reason why not,” he says. “There have been a few conversations about it already. We will see.”

You get a sense he’d be well up for having a crack at an Olympic medal. Brisbane 2032, 503 yards wins gold. Maybe.