This weekend, the Cadillac Championship at Doral provided golf fans everywhere with loads of entertainment. We saw some amazing shots and some not so amazing shots. We saw players lining up to their tee shot directly over the gallery with the caddy telling them that they could stay there if they were comfortable with it, but the player was going to hit his drive directly over them! Yikes!! Imagine that. The ball whizzing over your head at 183 miles per hour! Yes, that’s correct…183. This is a real stat by the way. And it’s the stat for the particular player I’m referring to. His max ball speed was 187.16 mph for the event and it might have even been this exact tee shot! Imagine hearing that zip past you..it’s a sound you’ll never forget I can assure you.

I think one of the most memorable moments came from Sergio Garcia who began his final round in pretty good form. He opened with an eagle! However, two holes later, on the par 4 third hole, he proceeded to hit ball after ball in the water. Almost two sleeves of balls later, he finally hits it over the green, chipped on and two putted for a 12. And you thought stuff like that only happened to you! The good news is the average golfer who plays with a USGA Handicap can “take the max” on the hole and trot over to the next tee. Sergio had to keep going until the little white ball found its way to the bottom of the cup. No wonder he was too tired to comment after the round, who could blame him. It get’s exhausting saying,  “Please sir, may I have some more?” 

The beauty of watching something like that is the feeling of relief it brings to all of us. Ahhhhh….we say, “see…even I can do that!” Then off we go to the range to practice because the truth is…we don’t EVER want to do that. Ahhhh…..good thing we have our friend “MAX”.

Here’s a bit of trivia for those who are interested in large numbers!

Tommy Armour posted a score of 23 on the par-5 17th hole at the 1927 Shawnee Open – (about.com)