Although Sean Johnson is relatively new to the World Long Drive scene, he doesn’t go to events to place. He goes to win.
Johnson looked like he was going to accomplish that goal against long drive legend, and now three-time world champion, Kyle Berkshire. This past Sunday, Berkshire and Johnson were matched up against each other in the final round in Atlanta at Bobby Jones Golf Course.
In the final round, each golfer would hit three balls before the other player hit three. Then each golfer got three more balls and the furthest ball was the winner. Johnson had the lead, but wasn’t convinced it’d be enough.
“I put one out there 397 (yards) and I was like, ‘this is Kyle Berkshire. I need hit one farther than that,’” Johnson said. “So I hit my three, I had one in and he hit his three and went all out of bounds. So my last three, I just put everything I had into them. And unfortunately, they all went out of bounds. Then on his first ball in his second set, he put one out there and that was the one that got me by less than a yard.”
Although Johnson doesn’t show up to get second place, his journey to the top level of long drive is one of a kind.
Johnson grew up in Durango, playing golf at Hillcrest Golf Club where his father would drop him off on his way to work.
During his adolescence, Johnson’s primary focus was hockey. In fact, he was recruited up in Colorado Springs at a hockey tournament to attend Fountain Valley School to play hockey after making a great play.
“It seemed like a really good situation to go out there and be able to play Colorado high school hockey and travel all over the East Coast playing against prep schools out there,” Johnson said. “Even got to go to Czech Republic a couple of times and compete against their national team. So it was kind of one of those situations where it could get me playing at a higher level than I could in Durango. That was a perfect situation to go get me playing at a higher level with a really great education as well.”
Johnson was focused on hockey until he hit a growth spurt which saw him grow six to seven inches at the end of high school.
Then he turned to baseball and started throwing some heat on the mound. Johnson had an offer to play both Division III baseball and hockey, but turned his focus to baseball after separating his shoulder his senior year.
The Durango native then went to star at Iowa Western Junior College, where he won a JUCO national championship and was drafted in the 31st round of the 2013 MLB draft.
After being drafted by the Chicago Cubs, Johnson went on to play at Ole Miss and then play in the minor leagues until 2021 when he partially tore his labrum in his shoulder, and his future changed once again.
“My first ever event was a couple months after I tore my labrum. I think it was August of 2021 and I was in Fort Collins,” Johnson said. “My grandpa has a practice up there. I was up there getting my shoulder looked at by one of the doctors and my dad was kind of just like, ‘hey they've got a long drive contest in August up in Salt Lake City.’ And I was like, ‘You know what, let's swing a club and see if this doesn't hurt.’”
Johnson knew he had the speed and power to compete on the World Long Drive tour. He got help from long-drive coach Bobby Peterson on swinging a long drive driver.
“Hitting a long drive club isn't exactly like hitting a regular golf club,” Johnson said. “Most drivers have a little bit more angle to it. So you don't have to hit up on the ball as much to get it to go at the height that you want it. So when I finally got a long drive club in my hand, it was kind of learning how to manipulate the body to get higher launch angles with the club. When I first got that long drive club, I was hitting balls about 10 feet off the ground and couldn't figure out how to get it higher than that.”
Johnson steadily progressed. His first event was in March of 2022. He made it to the final eight in two events before finishing fifth in the 2022 World Long Drive World Championships. Johnson also won rookie of the year in World Long Drive in 2022.
Now that the season is over, Johnson continues to work in Sacramento, California selling wine while he goes to the range and hits 100-200 balls with his driver five days a week. He hopes to turn long drive into a full-time job.
“I do know that if I can hit it at my top speed with a good flight on the ball I have a chance to beat anyone in the sport,” Johnson said. “So that's always my goal is to go win the dang thing.”
bkelly@durangoherald.com
