In the end, distance is all that matters; plenty of elements factor into how far a golf ball can travel and Layton’s Ryan Reisbeck is among the elite in the world that have a handle on it.

Reisbeck, who has been competing in Long Drive competitions since 2010, finished runner-up in the Senior Division at the World Long Drive tournament at Lakeside Golf Course in West Bountiful Aug. 12. The 45-year-old’s drive of 385 yards came up short to the world’s current top player Eddie Fernandes’ 403-yard shot.

“I knew there were a few strong competitors, but I felt like I could do well,” Reisbeck said, in his debut event in the Senior category after playing in the Open Division for the past 13 seasons. 

The tournament consisted of 16 hitters vying for the Senior Division Utah Championship title with eight advancing to the quarterfinals and further rounds to crown a champion.

“I had a good chance to win it [with a Round One distance of 425 yards], but Eddie gave it to me. He’s pretty good,” Reisbeck said.

For a former collegiate baseball pitcher – at Salt Lake Community College and the University of Utah – competing in long drive has been an opportunity to “keep me in something later in life.” But, this journey certainly wasn’t something he saw coming in his early 30s. “I was just playing golf with my friends at Davis Park Golf Course and one of them suggested that I hit the ball with their TaylorMade Burner driver rather than my cheaper club,” Reisbeck said. 

What happened next sent him on a literal trajectory into a world he didn’t know existed. 

The then-31-year-old stood on the par-4 18th tee and drove the ball all the way past the No. 9 green and near the tee box at the No. 1 hole. The huge shot left everyone guessing how far the golf ball had actually traveled and as the group entered the clubhouse, the TV was showing a World Long Drive tournament featuring former Utah State Amateur champion Jerimie Montgomery. Reisbeck’s group suggested that their buddy’s drive went further than the professionals who were competing.

On the way home with his friends, Reisbeck ended up blasting some more drives into a field at a sod farm in west Layton and toyed with the idea further while practicing at Valley View Golf Course a few days later, where he happened to see Montgomery who was involved in a sponsor photo shoot. A conversation between the two ensued about the Long Drive Tour and Reisbeck left the course with borrowed equipment and plans to compete in a tournament in Albuquerque, New Mexico the next week. A second-place finish in that event in August of 2010 has led to multiple local and regional championships as well as 12 World Long Drive titles along with 14 runner-up finishes. 

Reisbeck has competed at the world championships since 2011, when he came in 11th. His best finish at the season-ending event was a tie for ninth in 2017. His largest cash prize so far is a $25,000 payout for a first-place finish at the 2017 “Clash in the Canyon” tournament in Mesquite, Nevada. It was also during that summer that he drove a ball 485 yards, his longest distance to date.

There is a science to driving the golf ball as far as it will go, according to Reisbeck. Paired with a fast swing, his clubhead speed averages 155 miles per hour with his ball speed topping 200 miles an hour. That speed is literally the key, he said. “Much like in baseball, as a pitcher, you are using your legs and upper body to stretch yourself and have a high and fast swing to then hit the ball on the center of the face of the club,” he said. “But, if you’re thinking this is just golf you really have to change that mindset. In golf, you are going for the fewest strokes. In long drive, you are looking for the most distance. You have to be a good enough tactician to account for weather, ground conditions and other things to control how you strike it, how hard you hit it and how to manipulate the ball flight to maximize the distance and put up the biggest number possible.”

Reisbeck reverts back to much of his athletic background in terms of knowing how to warm-up, practice and increase flexibility and strength to perfect his craft. “But, unlike in baseball where you rely on others, it’s all offense in long drive and you are on your own completely,” he said. 

When he does play regular golf with his friends, the 8-handicapper said he routinely outdrives them by 50 to 100 yards. “But, my short game isn’t strong because I don’t practice putting,” he said. “It’s also such a different game where you now have a tight course or you’re going to lose your ball and start racking up the strokes.”

The father of five, who has been ranked #1 in the world on the World Long Drive Tour, now competes in the Open and Senior divisions in each of the eight to 13 events during the “March to October” season. Each round of competition consists of a head-to-head format with competitors each taking eight swings in three minutes with the longest drive measured that lands inside the grid. Three Long Drive tournaments are considered “majors” and then the season winds up with a World Championships held each year.

Reisbeck is part of the Callaway Golf Long Drive Team and is also sponsored by Kineitix with his specialized drivers. He has been working with his coach Bobby Peterson from Newton Grove, North Carolina’s One Stop Power Shop for nearly seven years.

His support system back home consists of his wife Sarah – who “has a love-hate relationship with long drive because it takes me away so much” – and his children. “None of them really play golf more than hitting occasionally, but they do come help with events when they’re close,” Reisbeck said. Outside of Long Drive events, he runs a Layton Farmers Insurance agency with his dad and also works alongside his wife in the real estate business.

Up next for Reisbeck is a televised Long Drive event in Kingsport, Tenn. Aug. 28 and then gearing up for the season’s end and the World Championships which will now be held at the Bobby Jones Golf Course in Atlanta in the fall.

Those on the World Long Drive Tour are always looking to recruit new competitors to the game. “When people start to do it, they really end up loving it,” Reisbeck said. More information can be found at www.worldlongdrive.com.

“I enjoy focusing on hitting a drive as far as I can, but I can tell my speeds are slowing down with my age, “Reisbeck said, acknowledging that “I’ll go until I’m not good anymore and the competitive juices stop flowing.”

And that doesn’t appear to be happening anytime soon.