The Illawarra will get a taste of golf at its most testosterone-charged next week when Port Kembla Golf Club hosts the Monster Ball long drive event.
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As the name suggests, long drive tournaments remove all the intricacies of the golfing short game and focus on who can simply smack the ball the furthest.
The circuit, seemingly made for fictional golfing psychopath Happy Gilmore, is big business with a $250,000 on offer at the RE/MAX World Long Drive Championships in Las Vegas on Sunday.
The Monster Ball won't reach those heights but will host a who's who of Australian stars in the discipline.
Six-foot-six 160kg powerhouse Mark Blysma, a six-time Australian long driving champion, will headline the field along with fellow national champions Jason Atkins, Brendan Moylan and Wollongong's own Lincoln Tighe.
Event promoter David Garcia said the event would see Australia's best long-hitters in action.
"It's for the biggest hitters in golf. We've got 10 or 12 of the best guys from all over Australia and into New Zealand," Garcia said.
"Some of these guys have just been over in Las Vegas to compete in the world championships.
"These are the guys who hit the ball over 400 yards.
"The train specifically for long drive events. Some of them do play golf but they tend to specialise in this.
"They're are pretty big boys, they can swing the club very fast getting close to 140-150 miles per hour. That's what it comes down to, the faster you can swing the club head the further the ball's going to go."
To put the numbers in perspective, the average drive on the PGA tour last year was 286 yards. Garcia said that's not the only difference between long drivers and the pros, with traditional gold etiquette pushed to one side.
"It's not your typical golf at all," Garcia said.
"It's billed as the 20-20 of golf. It's a sport that's full of ego because they are big boys and it's all about trying to out-drive each other. There's music playing ... it's a pretty good spectacle.
"We're also asking people in the Illawarra who are pretty big hitters to come out here and test themselves against these guys."
The Monster Ball tournament will be held on November 8 at Port Kembla Golf Club.
