The 32-year-old won his second World Long Drive Championships title in Thackerville, Oklahoma in October but his preparation for the bow of the rival series in Dubai has been limited to an indoor simulator and as many outdoor range sessions as the English winter would allow.

“After a winter break it’s been good to be back out hitting although the weather has been restrictive at home. Obviously the form was good at the end of 2016 so we’ll see tomorrow [Friday] evening,” Miller told Golf Digest Middle East.

Miller will peg it up alongside a whose who of the long driving world on the JGE driving range.

Two-time former world champion Tim Burke looms as the major danger although a windy week in Dubai shapes as an equaliser. Also competing are Englishman Lucas Dornan, American and reigning two-time European champion Maurice Allen, Britain’s Brad Pearmain (2016 Italian champion), Serbia’s Ilija Djurdjevic (2016 Portugal champion) Sweden’s Emil Rosberg (2016 Scandinavian champion) and current world No.2 Ryan Steenberg whom Miller toppled in the Oklahoma final last October.

Local interest will focus on Dubai amateur Ricky Domínguez who earned a start in the £50,000 event with a 351.7 yard hit in an eGolf Megastore qualifier.

SEE ALSO
Dubai amateur Dominguez qualifies for Long Drive World Series with 351.7 yard simulator smash

Miller, whose best competition nudge is 474 yards, admits there is pressure being the reigning world champion but insists he’s up for the early season challenge where he expects Burke to be a particular threat.

“It’s hard work to get to the top so I’d like to stay here. Of course everyone wants to win and it will be tight, especially as we’re into the wind and uphill,” said Miller who clinched the world title with a 423 swat in the final against Steenberg after an earlier 439 yard effort in the semifinals.

“Everyone has a chance due to the heavy wind although Tim Burke probably stands out just a touch.”

SEE ALSO
World champ Joe Miller challenges long drive rival Lucas Dornan to a short game challenge, hilarity ensues

Tonight’s event at JGE begins at 5pm and includes the usual long drive razzmatazz including live a DJ, food trucks and pyrotechnics. Entry is free.

The post World champ Joe Miller hails new Long Drive World Series, itching for Dubai duel appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Two-time reigning world champion Miller and current UK champion Dornan sportingly accepted Golf Digest Middle East’s short game challenge on the eve of the £50,000 event at Jumeirah Golf Estates. As regular range mates and primetime rivals, plenty of banter was guaranteed. But is there any finesse to go with all that brawn?

SEE ALSO
How to launch it like Lucas Dornan

The post World champ Joe Miller challenges long drive rival Lucas Dornan to a short game duel, hilarity ensues appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

The Sun and Sand Sports sales manager, well-known in the golf industry for his association with Nike, won a qualifier at eGolf Megastore for one of two wildcards into the £50,000 event which is headlined by reigning two-time world champion Joe Miller.

Dominguez belted a drive of 351.7 yards in the X-Golf simulator at eGolf’s Al Wasl store to pip the brother of JGE’s director of golf, Mark Gregson Walters. Alan Walters registered a tidy 347.5 yards.

SEE ALSO
Joe Miller v Lucas Dornan – short game challenge

Dominguez is “excited about the opportunity to compete against the world’s best” and understandably a little nervous about doing so in front of long drive fans in the stands on the JGE driving from 5pm Friday.

Ricky Dominguez

“Guys like two-time and current world champion Joe Miller and former world champion Tim Burke hit the ball an absolute mile. To be standing on the same long drive grid and competing against guys like that is surreal,” Dominguez said.

“Sure, there will be some nerves. But I think after the first drive is struck the adrenaline will naturally kick in. Hopefully that’ll help me find an extra gear that I haven’t seen before.”

So, could you give the long drive pros a tickle up?

SEE ALSO
VIDEO: How to launch it like UK champion Lucas Dornan

“Well Joe [Miller] is well known for his 437 yard drive in the 2016 World Long Drive Final so that’s what I’m up against! If I can hit the grid consistently and achieve a personal best, you never know what might happen.”

eGolf Megastore founder and CEO Dean Cheesley was thrilled with the response to the #LDWS qualifier and wouldn’t be surprised to see Dominguez shine on Friday night.

EGolf Megastore founder and CEO Dean Cheesley congratulates Ricky Dominguez on his near 352 yard bomb

“You have to remember that a stipulation of the eGolf qualifier was that competitors were not permitted to warm up on our X-Golf simulator before registering their drives. If you take that into account, Ricky’s drive of 351 yards is a mighty hit,” Cheesley said.

“We asked Ricky to hang around and hit some more balls after the competition had closed and once he got warmed up… let’s just say that 390+ is not out of the equation.

“If you follow it closely, you can understand that the sport of long drive is on the verge of exploding globally. It’s been that way for a couple of years now and this new World Long Drive Series may just be the initiative that takes it to the next level.

“It’s going to be a world class event on Friday night and the team at eGolf is certainly proud to be associated with it.”

The post Dubai amateur Dominguez qualifies for Long Drive World Series with 351.7 yard simulator smash appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

ucas Dornan stumbled across long driving almost by accident. Now the fast-talking, tattooed 31-year-old is the UK champion and one of the favourites for the new Long Drive World Series which will take is global bow at Jumeirah Golf Estates on March 17.

The four-handicapper, from Wentworth in Surrey, will line up alongside eight of the world’s buffest big hitters including reigning world champion Joe Miller on JGE’s European Tour Performance Training Institute driving range. Dornan trains alongside Miller. So, who’s longest?

“My claim is he might be the longest in the world but he’s not the longest on his driving range,” Dornan says. Let the big-hitting and smack talking begin.

To be honest I was in banking so it was nothing to do with trying to become a professional long drive guy. I just wanted to get a driver that didn’t spin up so much. My pitching wedge was going over 200 yards but my driver use to only be 20 or 30 yards longer than most tour pros which I felt, with the swing speed I was going at, shouldn’t have been the case. So I went and got fitted for a driver and they didn’t have any shafts for me so I Goggled Joe Miller and his coach Lee Box and said can I come down a steal one of Joe’s drivers basically and see what I can do with it. I hit 400 yards within two hits so he said give the UK championships a go. I went through the qualifying rounds, kept winning, and ended up winning the whole thing.

My swing speeds are up there with the top two in the world so I know that is the main factor with long driving, is about having the speed. Now I’ve just got to try and learn the swing better and hone that a little bit more.

I’ve been practicing with Joe, we’re pretty much the same training camp, and I know where I stand next to him and he’s gone and won the worlds so I’m pretty confident with what I can achieve in the sport just by going on the barometer next to him. Hopefully if I keep doing the training and the weights , the gym work, No.1 in the world won’t be too far away proving the progression carries on.

Hopefully if I keep doing the training, the gym work, No.1 in the world won’t be too far away.

The new Long Drive World Series is massive. Lots of money being pumped into it, they’re taking the best players from around the world for the first time and bringing them altogether. We’re going to see really who is the best in the world because the world championships, a lot of the guys couldn’t attend or hadn’t played events that would have qualified them because they not based in America, so its hard for a lot of guys to get involved. So this is now putting the best players from around the world and pitting them up against each other in ideal locations like Dubai. The next one is at Royal Ascot in London…so we’re going to very cool locations and taking worldwide..

Its great for the sport and hopefully the concept will really take off because it’s obviously a much shorter format [than 18 hole golf] and more athletic. So it’s being pushed down the route of sports side of things rather than the old man taking seven hours to do a round of golf. We’re trying to change the image of the game.

SEE ALSO:
VIDEO: Launch it like Lucas Dornan 

I’m 6ft 1in. My ball speed ranges between 200 and 220, obviously depending on the strike. Club head speed, looking at about 145 to 150 mph. I’m up there as one of the fastest out there and with the new shorter clubs the 150 mark is going to be really tough to get too because with the longer 50” drivers we use to use you could obviously get it going a little bit easier. Now they’re shorter.

Do you know what, I’ve hit balls never got injured, i’ve done loads of weights, silly weights, way more than I should be lifting, never got injured and I thought I’d try and improve my flexibility with some stretching and I’ve over stretched it [his left shoulder]. I got in position and kept stretching, stretching, stretching it as much as possible thinking that’s the key to getting more flexibility and apparently it wasn’t. So I’ve damaged my tendon and they wanted to have a steroid injection to get rid of the inflammation but we get tested, so you can’t be doing anything like that. I’m just going to turn up to the competition cold really and give it a go and see how we get on.  I’ve just got to work my way into this competition like Tiger Woods at the moment and hope for the best.

The British Champs were in Manchester. to be honest it was bad conditions, into wind, into rain, into a field, so no run out. The semis I hit 383 yards and I think finals, my last ball because I had to get it in… 368 . But I think if that’s in normal conditions they’re 400 yard drives. It was just that the conditions were really poor.

I didn’t go to the world champs just because my visa came a week before and the cut off was two weeks before. Literally I was on the range practicing with Joe before he went out there and we had a little set and I beat him so my claim is he might be the longest in the world but he’s not the longest on his driving range.

Joe [Miller] lives in Hertford so we’re about 30 minutes away from each other and we use the same coach so its nice to have that sort of competition and a bit of banter with each other. If you follow us on social media we’ll be bashing each other most times.

There’s a few things to hitting it long but it comes down to speed. It’s like if you can do the 100 metres …you are either fast or you’re slow and it’s the same with how fast you can generate this club head speed. We’re trying to get it going as fast as we can and once you’ve got that, you’ve just got to work on your club path and angle of attack and things like that. But without the speed, it’s pointless. If you’re going slow, you can’t get over 135-140 mph, you’re not going to be any good at long drive.

Outside of competition, 550 yards…I’ve driven a par 5 before.

My longest competition hit is 427 [yards], recorded that in Portugal at a European tour event. Unfortunately the grid, after 400 tailed off left so you couldn’t keep it in the grid. 427 was the only one that registered but outside of competition, 550 yards…I’ve driven a par 5 before. It depends on the conditions, if you’ve got good conditions you can get it out there.

I’m in the gym two, three hours a day – all power lifting, speed work, explosive stuff. Just trying to enhance our fast twitch fibres and muscle density. You don’t want to be too balky because it makes you slow so you want to keep your weight as low as possible while increasing your strength as much as possible. Powerlifting, box jumps, ball slams, you name it and then drinking, eating protein based just trying to keep that muscle on while trying to keep the fat off.

Photograph by Kristina Nabieva

The post Lucas Dornan…427 yards and counting appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

But if you do struggle for distance off the tee, what’s to lose from watching UK long drive champion show us how he rips it off the tee? And when we say rip it, we really mean R.I.P, as in those poor, defenceless little white golf spheres.

Physical limitations mean you probably won’t ever come close to launching it like Lucas but it doesn’t make the video any less mesmerising. Think swing and ball speeds on the warp setting. And the sound… oh the sound.

Dornan is set to peg it up on those gigantic tees in the inaugural Long Drive World Series at Jumeirah Golf Estates in Dubai from 5pm Friday. It promises to be an eye-popping night with two-time reigning world champion and English compatriot Joe Miller heading a whose who of long driving chasing the £50,000 prize money on offer.

Golf Digest Middle East will be tracking every shot. Well, at least we’ll try. With 400+ yard bombs on tap, thank goodness for electronic tracking technology. And chiropractors. Enjoy.

SEE ALSO:
Lucas Dornan…427 yards and counting

Photo/Video by Kristina Nabieva

The post VIDEO: How to launch it like UK long drive champion Lucas Dornan appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Dornan is in Dubai promoting the new Long Drive World Series which will take its global bow at Jumeirah Golf Estates on March 17.

The 31-year-old Londoner and two-time reigning world champion Joe Miller headline a who’s who of the long driving world confirmed for the inaugural £50,000 (US$62,000) event which will be streamed live around the globe and proceeds tournaments earmarked for London, Asia and the U.S.

The JGE tournament will also feature two wildcard picks, one of which is open to a UAE amateur via a qualifying tournament launched by Dornan Monday at eGolf Megastore’s Al Wasl shop.

Dornan gave the store’s X-Golf simulator, and the ear drums of shoppers on hand for the made to media promo, a fright to launch the Long Drive World Series.

With his 415 yard marker laid down, weekend warriors are now invited in store for the next three weeks to try and qualify for the main event on the European Tour Performance Institute driving range at JGE which will have all the usual long drive razzmatazz including pyrotechnics and onsite DJ.

Lucas Dornan had the X Golf simulator at eGolf Megastore spitting out some spectacular numbers on Monday including this bomb

Like normal long drive competitions, amateurs will be given three minutes on the simulator (eight balls max) to be crowned the UAE’s longest amateur and must keep their ball inside a grid that is 100 yards wide. The grid for JGE will be an even narrower 60 yards and 550 yards long – with the aim of winning the event and breaking the current world record of 515 yards.

The weekend warrior winner mightn’t be able to compete with the long ball pros at JGE – Miller’s winning drive at last year’s world championships was 423 yards (he hit a 439 yarder in the semifinals), while Dornan’s competition best was four yards longer – but they will surely savour the experience.

Two-time former world champion Tim Burke, fellow American and reigning two-time European champion Maurice Allen, Britain’s (2016 Italian champion), Serbia’s Ilija Djurdjevic (2016 Portugal champion) Sweden’s Emil Rosberg (2016 Scandinavian champion) and current world No.2 Ryan Steenberg are also lined up.

“This event promises to inject some real glamour into the sport that I love and I am very proud to be lining up alongside these players…they really are the cream of the crop,” Dornan said.

“We will we push each other to our limits and in the right conditions, I expect to see drives well in excess of 400 yards across the board.”

The JGE event includes an open qualifier on March 16 to secure the other wildcard spot. The final the following day will run into the evening.

Said Miller: “I am really excited to be competing in Dubai in the first Long Drive World Series… an amazing location with an elite field of proven winners from around the world. It’s going to be an exciting event and hopefully I can reign in the desert.”

Photo by Kristina Nabieva

The post Dubai’s Jumeirah Golf Estates <br> to host £50,000 Long Drive <br> World Series opener appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.