Long drives on display at Kapalua, but players caution they can't get too carried away
As 34 of the 37 winners on the PGA Tour in 2018 reignite the 2018-19 wraparound season Thursday in the Sentry Tournament of Champions in Hawaii, a spectacular explosion of power will commence on the Plantation Course at Kapalua Resort.
With the windswept, 7,520-yard course carved into the foot of the West Maui Mountains, the staggering splendor of a well struck drive will rival the breathtaking views of the Pacific that can be seen on 17 of the 18 holes. With generous fairways and enormous greens on the horizon, players including Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, Jon Rahm, Rory McIlroy, Justin Thomas and Gary Woodland will be licking their chops as they pull driver from the bag.
But that creates a dilemma.
“There are times when you need to tell yourself that you are there to win the tournament, not to win the longest drive contest,” said Woodland, who qualified for the event with his win in the Waste Management Phoenix Open.
Last year players put up numbers the envy of any of the biggest hitters at a long drive contest. Of the 101 drives that traveled 400 yards and beyond on the PGA Tour last year, 68 were hit on the Plantation Course, including six of the seven longest and 36 of the longest 51.
Numbers like 432, which is how far Johnson hit his drive on the par-4 12th en route to an eight-shot victory, the ball stopping six inches short of the cup. For the week, Johnson, who has hit 13 drives of 400-plus yards in his career on the Plantation Course, averaged 92 yards to the hole for his second shots on the 11 par-4s. The field averaged 116.
Thirty-five 400-plus drives were hit on the 516-yard, par-4 7th, including a 423-yard beauty by Kevin Kisner, who would be the first to tell you he comes up a tad short in golf’s power game. Twenty-one 400-plus drives were hit on the 12th.
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“When you see those huge fairways, and you have the wind at your back, and the hole is downhill, you just want to unload,” Woodland said. “But you have to hit the caution button. I’ve been there twice, and I’ve tried to win the long drive contest twice. But now I’m getting a little older and a little wiser, so I’ll tell myself to calm down.”
Good advice, said Keegan Bradley, who qualified with his win in the BMW Championship.
“You need to keep your emotions in check,” he said. “Sometimes I feel like, when the fairways are that big, it can get a little weird because you want to swing as hard as you can. And on some of the holes you need to get the ball down there and you need to swing hard. But you still need to watch yourself.
“It can blow out there, too, and sometimes you have a huge downhill tee shot and it’s straight down wind and you’re looking to hit it 400 yards. So there are times when I have to tell myself to calm down.”
Big-hitting lefty Bubba Watson said the tee shot on the 653-yard, par-5 18th is his favorite on the PGA Tour. He likes the second shot on the hole, too. In 2011, from 305 yards from the hole, he hit driver off the deck to inside 15 feet and made eagle.
Watson, however, said he takes the conservative approach when he has his pink driver in hand.
“I don’t overswing,” said Watson, a three-time winner last season. “It might not look like it, but there’s only a few times where I go 100% with my driver swing.
“I guide a lot of drivers. Sure, there are times you see a downhill shot with the wind at your back and you want to swing as hard as you can. That gets you into trouble. You know you can hit it 400 but you better hit it straight.
“Score matters, not the longest drive.”