Elvis Smiley experiences the exhilaration of smoking a ball with his driver off the fairway at the BMW Golf Cup National Final.
HE might be the reigning Australian PGA champion, one of the most exciting players in world golf, but until Nick O’Hern showed him how, Elvis Smylie had never hit a driver from a fairway.
The two professionals, close friends since O’Hern began offering advice to the 23-year-old Gold Coaster a year ago, were playing together in a sponsors’ group at Sanctuary Cove in October as part of this year’s BMW Golf Cup National Final.
Beginning the tough Pines course from the 10th hole, Smylie was already five under par when he placed his drive 240m from the green on the 472m par five third hole.
Smylie told O’Hern: “I’m not sure I can get there with a three-wood into this wind.”
“Hit your driver off the deck!” O’Hern advised.
“I’ve never done that,” Smylie replied. “Players on the DP World Tour never hit driver off the deck. They hit three-wood and are prepared to just leave it short.”
Smylie, who hits the ball with a rare purity, then took his three-wood and played a magnificent shot to the centre of the green, before stroking a comfortable two putts for his sixth birdie of the morning.
But O’Hern didn’t give up. He told Smylie hitting the driver from the fairway was a skill he should develop – one that might one day win him a tournament.
And when they reached the 311m par four sixth hole – their 15th – O’Hern tossed his ball onto the turf, took his driver and, without the benefit of a tee, launched a perfectly shaped drive that landed 20m short of the green.
Smylie answered the challenge, dropped his own ball onto the tee and set up with his driver. Heeding O’Hern’s advice to focus on the transition of his backswing to a forward motion, Smylie struck the ball perfectly and watched as it soared past O’Hern’s Titleist No 3 and came to rest on the fringe of the green.
He played his driver off the deck again on the 526m par five ninth, his final hole of the day – another majestic blow that travelled nearly 280m and instantly made him a convert.
O’Hern told him: “It’s a great weapon to have in your artillery. It’s a shot that you’ll need one day and now you know you’ve got it.”
