Joe Miller in 2018 at the BMW International Open in Germany.
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The simulator hole was over 450 yards.
The simulator 30-row-deep, gray bleachers were about 25 yards behind the hole.
The simulator ball was about 75 yards behind the bleachers.
A 555-yard simulator drive.
Five. Hundred. And. Fifty. Five. Yards.
“Oh my God,” Joe Miller said as the ball began to fall.
Oh my, Joe Miller.
In a video he recently shared on his social media accounts, the 2010 and 2016 long drive champion long-drove the simulated 18th hole at Wentworth Golf Club in England, site of the European Tour’s BMW PGA Championship. Or long-drove over it. He uncorked the drive into the simulator. It went over the trees on the right.
“There we go, mate,” a man in the background said. “There we go.”
The ball, marked by a yellow line, carried the trees. It carried the green. It carried the bleachers.
It carried 528 yards.
“Five-hundred-and-twenty-eight,” the man in the background yelled.
It rolled another 27 yards.
“Five-hundred-and-fifty-five,” the man in the background yelled.
Long. But not his longest. Miller’s website says his longest drive in a competition is 474 yards. And 560 out of competition.
“Easy par from there,” Miller said as the video ended.
One problem.
“Problem is you have just hit a kid waiting for an autograph and a photo,” European Tour pro Andrew “Beef” Johnston joked in response to seeing where the ball landed.
Nick Piastowski is a Senior Editor at Golf.com and Golf Magazine. In his role, he is responsible for editing, writing and developing stories across the golf space. And when he’s not writing about ways to hit the golf ball farther and straighter, the Milwaukee native is probably playing the game, hitting the ball left, right and short, and drinking a cold beer to wash away his score. You can reach out to him about any of these topics — his stories, his game or his beers — at nick.piastowski@golf.com.