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Winterling Makes Seamless Transition From Baseball to Golf
Aug. 7, 2009
BALTIMORE, MD -- Paul Winterling spent years perfecting the craft of hitting home runs. The 2005 Johns Hopkins graduate hit 31 home runs during his career as a Blue Jay and added 21 during a minor league career that was spent playing in the Baltimore Orioles' farm system. Winterling, who still ranks second in school history with his 31 home runs, has recently taken his ability to hit the long ball to another venue - the golf course.
Winterling came across the Re/Max World Long Drive Championships on ESPN last year and quickly began researching the event on the internet. The former McDonogh standout joined with Brian Bent, himself a four-year veteran of the Oriole minor league system and a graduate of Mount St. Joe High School, in his quest to make a mark in a another sport involving a little white ball. While no one was throwing it 90 mph at him, he quickly realized there are a lot of other differences between hitting a baseball and hitting a golf ball.
"With a club head speed of about 140 mph, I knew that I could swing hard, but I clearly lacked the proper mechanics," Winterling noted. "It was very difficult to break 20 years of baseball muscle memory."
There are three levels of competition in the Long Drive Championship: local, regional and international. Individuals pay a $40 fee at any of the numerous local qualifiers across the country. They get six swings and only balls that land "in play" are measured. As many as six individuals can qualify for the regionals from each of the local qualifiers. Individuals may also qualify for more than one regional competition to increase their chances of moving on to the international championshpis.
Winterling failed to qualify for the regional round on his first attempt (he had the distance, but not the accuracy as only one of his six landed in play), but on July 11 at the South Jersey Golf Center in Sewell, New Jersey, he nailed a 389-yard drive that easily moved him into the regional. From that local competition he qualified for the regional at Oakland Beach Golf Club in Conneaut Lake, Pennsylvania on August 15.
The regionals are run in much the same manner as the local competitions, with one significant difference: there is a specific time limit. At the local competition individuals can, in essence and within reason, take their time and evaluate their swing. At the regional level, all six swings must be taken within two minutes and 45 seconds.
Winterling will be attending a local competition at Swaders Sports Park in Prince George, Virginia on August 8 in hopes of qualifying for another round of regional competition. From each regional as many as seven individuals can qualify for the international championships, which will be held at Mesquite Regional Park in Mesquite, Nevada on August 29-30.
In addition to the excitement of competing at the international championships, there is a fair share of prize money on the line as well. Top prize is $250,000 and the top 10 place-winners receive a monetary prize.
For more information visit the Re/Max World Long Drivers Championship web site: - 30 - |
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