Ridin’ with Rymer Episode 11: 3-Time World Long Drive Champ Sean Fister

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Ridin’ with Rymer Episode 11: 3-Time World Long Drive Champ Sean Fister

The Jack Nicklaus designed Long Bay Club is the venue for episode 11 of Ridin’ with Rymer! Watch as 3-Time World Long Drive Champ Sean Fister known as “The Beast” gives Charlie some pointers on hitting the long ball.

Show Transcription

Charlie: I'm in Myrtle Beach at Long Bay Club. And today, I'm with a long hitter and they call him "the beast". I'm Charlie Rymer, and this is Ridin' with Rymer.
Sean: Good grief, Charlie. What are you doing?
Charlie: You know when, when you're teeing it up with a guy called "The Beast", Sean "The Beast" Fister, that's a three-time World Long Drive champion, it's a little intimidating. I'm trying to get pumped up.
Sean: You don't have to swing that hard. You've got to hit it solid. You don't want hit a solid, you're not going to out-drive anybody.
Charlie: Are you going to help me with my driving a little today?
Sean: If you help me with my putting.
Charlie: Deal.
Sean: All right.
Charlie: Come on, let's load them up.
Sean: Big time Charlie. I'm looking forward to this.
Charlie: "The Beast". Okay, so I think best ever long drive nickname... You got it, "The Beast".
Sean: I got mine before I even started golf. I got mine from playing softball.
Charlie: No way.
Sean: Yeah.
Charlie: And it just worked beautifully for a long drive. So Sean, when was the first time you hit a golf ball and you knew, I'm pretty long at this hitting a golf ball thing?
Sean: To be honest with you, I didn't start playing golf til after college. I was 24. I had an old Spalding plastic driver with a regular flex shaft. I got a hold of one of them and flew it on this 345-yard par four. It was the first day I ever played. Of course, I was shooting a million.
Charlie: Yeah.
Sean: I couldn't play. But everybody was saying, "Oh, can you believe how far he hit it on this hole, that hole?" By the end of that summer, I didn't really care what I shot, because everybody was talking about how far I hit it. I was just swinging hard.
Charlie: Right, that's the fun part.
Sean: Yeah.
Charlie: That first World Long Drive Championship, it almost didn't happen for you, right?
Sean: Oh, no. Yeah. I mean, I had a car accident seven days out. It totaled three cars, including mine. I almost withdrew, I think, four or five times during the competition because... The thing was, my sternum would burn when it had impact. I just gritted it out, and I just kept winning these rounds and advancing.
Charlie: Never let a World Long Drive champ hit before you do.
Sean: Nice.
Charlie: That's an air long drive. So Sean, I mean, you're a big guy. People go, "Aw, man. That guy, brute strength and all about the club head speed." But when you go ask people that really know a lot about long drive, they talk about you more as being the smart guy that figured a lot of these things out. I get the sense that you're as proud of that as you are anything.
Sean: I am. I am. Because I wasn't the most talented long driver out there. I wasn't the longest, but I figured out how to produce the results that I needed.
Charlie: Going at it as hard as you guys go at it, injuries are something that have to be prominent.
Sean: The meat of my career was 22 years. I'll hit 450 balls a day, easy. Some days a thousand, with just a driver. Anyway, we figured out that I'd swung over three million times.
Charlie: I don't think I can pull a driver out of my bag a thousand times. All right. We got 160 island green, wind's helping a little from the right.
Sean: Oh, it looks good. Cut. Come on, get in there.
Charlie: I really like the size of this island green. Some of them I think, are just too small. I mean clearly, it was the right size for me. I hit it.
Sean: Well, I shoved it. I'm not used to having a target that small.
Charlie: 2005, your third and final World Long Drive. You were the last person hitting. It was your last ball. We were in Mesquite, we were on ESPN. It was cold, and you hadn't hardly hit a ball in the grid. There was no way you had anything left in the tank. Walk me through that drive, that whole situation. How much it meant to you to pick up that third title, right there.
Sean: The last ball, I remember looking over, and I saw somebody patting Pam on their shoulder. I read their lips-
Charlie: It might have been me, because I was standing there. I didn't think you could do it.
Sean: They said there's no way. I saw them say that, and I thought to myself... Wow. No way, huh? I backed up, and I had about a minute on the clock. I just stood there and closed my eyes, and I imagined that shot that I needed. It went just like I planned. Boom, the last ball hit that spot and rolled out past 373, and I lost it. That was when I went high-fiving.
Charlie: Oh, man. There was a great crowd there. I went in there and got the interview. Just the joy that I could feel coming from you. Honestly, it was the coolest moment I've ever had-
Sean: Well, it was the coolest moment I've ever had, period.
Charlie: All right, I'm excited to get some of your thoughts on this hole 18, here at Long Bay. This is a heck of a driving hole, 445. We got water to the right, we got some out-of-bounds to the left. Not a big area to try and hit into. Driving is not the best part of my game. I know you've had a gazillion questions over the years about driving.
Sean: Well, I'll give you a two-point thing to think about. One is, instead of focusing on turning your left shoulder on the takeaway... everybody gets caught up with how far back that left shoulder is.
Charlie: Yeah.
Sean: What they forget about, they leave the right shoulder there. So you're real tense and limited. If you just focus on turning the right shoulder, look what the left shoulder does automatically. Don't think about the left shoulder. Turn the right. So when you turn the right shoulder full, the next thing you think about is making sure your left ear is on that side of the golf ball when you make impact.
Charlie: All right, I got it. Let me see if that works.
Sean: Smoke. That's right in the middle of the fairway. Look at that.
Charlie: Yeah, I like that. You got me thinking some. All right, make me feel bad. I can't take it. You stink, I don't like you anymore.
Sean: That's all right. I'm used to hearing that, Charlie. You'll get over it.
Charlie: Get in the cart. It's going to be a long ride to get to that one.
Sean: This was a great day, Charlie. Thanks for having me out.
Charlie: Such a great day. Wait, wait, wait. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. You got this two feet to win the match.
Sean: Oh, this is to win the match.
Charlie: I told you I was going to make you putt today.
Sean: Makes it a little longer, yeah.
Charlie: Are you feeling a little heat?
Sean: This is not my forte, Charlie.
Charlie: All right, let's see what you got.
Sean: Whew.
Charlie: It just ain't fair. He can hit it 400 yards, and he can putt. Sean, I appreciate you coming out and riding with the Rymer today.
Sean: My pleasure.
Charlie: Sure was a lot of fun.
Sean: Yeah, a blast.
Charlie: Let's head over here to the cart. We'll head in the clubhouse. I'm going to let you buy me something cold to drink. Come on, buddy.
Charlie: Book your next vacation or get a customized quote, at myrtlebeachgolftrips.com.
Charlie: So this is really hard. We've got to walk to the cart up here and look like we're really engaged in what we're talking about.
Sean: Right.
Charlie: You're probably not even paying attention to what I'm saying, are you?
Sean: No.
Charlie: Yeah, I didn't think so. I don't like that drum. Because I've been looking at some of our cuts in this thing, and the drum, it really does make me look fat. You know, they call me the big timer. Does that do it for you?
Sean: I think that's great. I think it perfectly fits you.
Charlie: Yeah, it does.
Sean: You are big time.
Charlie: I want to be known as big sexy, but that doesn't stick.