Josh Jackson: I started out playing pretty much every single sport from basketball to I remember, I used to play like roller hockey and stuff especially like when Mighty Ducks was huge. 

Mackenzie Mack: Oh yeah, that’s my favorite movie. I love that movie. 

Josh Jackson: I did do street hockey, tennis, like pretty much anything to do with like, a ball and an object I was in for like that. That was just you know, how I was how all my friends and all that stuff for, you know, growing up, we pretty much just play every single sport. And then once I got the middle school, I played basketball and I play golf. So I played for the golf team. And then once I got to high school, I ended up you know, doing varsity golf for like my first two years. And after that I just started spreading over and other sports because coaches kept getting on my nerves as far as in school and everything too. So it was like, Okay, let’s go ahead and sprinkle in the basketball team ended up doing track. Because one of the golf seasons were, like slow and ended up getting like canceled, like the first three matches. So I was like, “Alright, I need to go ahead and do some let’s try track out for track and field for this this year”, did that and then ended up doing football like very, very late in my high school only was able to pinch off probably like a season and a half of football. But that worked out that ended up getting, you know, helping me get over into, like the college realm of sports. I ended up starting out or going to Eastern Kentucky University and transferred over to Kentucky State University HBCU, they ended up giving me the opportunity to try out for the golf team. I was pretty decent friends with the coach. And the coach was actually helping out with the golf team. He was the head coach. And I told him I was like, you know, in the summer, if you know I would do my summer job or workout. And then, me and my dad would go play golf all the time. They got was like, I was like three or four under going into number 18. And I was like, I think I need to like do I need to try out for a golf team. When we make something like I’m not, you just don’t want to just like walk around and be shooting those numbers. So the biggest how I ended up narrowing both of them down. It mainly just came to you know, when I was in college, I ended up earning a dual scholarship for playing both sports. It was fun. It was a really good experience, a lot of multitasking, a lot of like, just overall…

Mackenzie Mack: Did you have a life? Because I played college golf, and I know the football team is a very busy team that’s always involved in something. So how did you even manage both?

Josh Jackson: You’re only allowed to have certain amount of hours under the NCAA. As far as like the amount of like hours you can put in per sport. So like during springtime, which was golf season, which was also a spring ball for football. We ended up just doing a lot of like splitting of hours and all that and it ended up helping me out too because I had a chance to really get into the weight room, Increase my strength and increase all of like, you know, my lifts, but then I would get in the van and go drive. We would drive to play like Clark Atlanta or not Clark Atlanta, but Morehouse and you know, do different tournaments down south so we’d be in a van for like eight hours. And I’ll be sore from like just maxing out with the football team like the night before the day before. It was great because it was just an overall experience was it was a lot of different ways to, you know, manage your time. And also just even from like a mental standpoint on the golf course, like some days, my body’s not going to feel the best, or my body’s not going to feel 100% but I need to figure out this round. So that way, I can go ahead and complete this and try to help out my team and shoot the best score I possibly can. Those, it was a great experience. It also helped me, you know, translate everything over to, you know, like the real world for the, for the most part, you’ve got to be multitasking pretty much all the time. 

Mackenzie Mack: So lot’s a coffee, right?

Josh Jackson: Dunkin Donuts, I’m always I always do my three year old like we pull up, he already knows what he wants like, please don’t talk about so.

Mackenzie Mack: I can’t even imagine. So in golf, a lot of people assume that long drive professionals are not golfers. They don’t have a short game. They can’t get in around. But it sounds like you kind of were a player before you transition to a long drive. So what made you decide to go long drive route?

Josh Jackson: I mean, I’ve always been like, somewhat of a long ball hitter. Like ever since I was probably like, 16. I know the conditions were good. But when I got over to college, I had so much trouble with my driver. It was ridiculous. Like if I wasn’t hitting it right on the range, I would not bring it out during around my first conference championship for CYA. I ended up actually make them on an all-conference team. I didn’t hit driver the entire time. I was just hitting, you know, irons, irons the entire time. And just making sure I got up and down. And making sure my putting was you know, on point. As far as how I got in the long drive, I ended up ruptured my patellar tendon in my left knee was basically is, sorry to be graphic, but basically, is what connects your kneecap to your shin. So that was completely blown out. 

Mackenzie Mack: So you need that part. 

Josh Jackson: Yeah, you needed to even like extend your leg or have any sort of concert with your, your quadriceps. So it took me a long time to recover off of that, I did it back in like 2014. And I think I was just able to like, fully somewhat swing right around like, like 2017. And once I went over 130 miles an hour club head speed, I was like, all right, let me just go and keep pushing it, kept pushing it and ended up seeing like a whole bunch of like inspiring long drivers, like biggest, biggest inspiration long drive was for sure Murray’s talent, like I was like, all right, I see somebody that looks like me, for the most part that’s out there doing it. And you know, just trying to, you know, ease myself back into like, the world of golf period. And I thought it would be, you know, really good for my game. Really good for the events also, like, everything look like, law job would be a good route for me to go. And it has, it has been so far, I’ve been working hard on my driver, I needed to work on my driver, like specifically because I’m not good at I was not good at hitting a driver at all. So to add that aspect to my game, it’s changing. I mean, it’s changing everything like, but I can play a whole different course with if I have the driver out. And I’m able to, you know what I’m saying like, able to land it somewhere and bounce off the team.

Mackenzie Mack: That usually helps. So you weren’t a great driver. So you pick long drive, which you know, is not usually what happens. Can you for the people explain what a long drive competition looks like for people that don’t know what it is? Like, what are the rules? What does a long drive competition look like? 

Josh Jackson: So basically the I mean, if we wanted to, like translate it over to like other sports, for instance, it would be like homerun Derby for baseball, like or, I would say even like a dunk contest for the NBA. So basically what it is, is you’re gonna have a whole, you’re gonna have an entire field of people that hit the ball very, very far. And the grid usually spans out to over 400 yards, it can get up to 500 yards sometimes. And then we have 50 yards to knock it in. So if you’re outside of the grid, which is 50 yards wide, it doesn’t count. So it has to lay in the grid and it has to stay in the grid, it can’t roll out and then jump back over into you know into rounds and count. So we get six balls. And you know, we have a time limit that we’re going to like basically like a shot clock, if that makes sense, in order to get the round off, and then we just go through hit it as far as we possibly can. And if you put up a good number, you get points and you get a chance to make it to the next round until there’s no one, you know, there’s no one left. That’s the easiest way that I could like, possibly explain it, it is not easy. People think that you know, 50 yards is a lot of yards, but when you’re moving at those speeds, you can be off literally by like the tiniest little edge, and that’s gonna throw your ball 20 yards out to the right, or, you know, you’re gonna hook the ball. It’s a lot of margin for error. And it’s a very different sport, especially from golf. But they’re very synonymous, meaning like they can both of them can help out with each sport, if that makes sense. Like, once I started adding all this, like all the speed, my golf game, it just transformed, like tremendously from, of course, hitting certain shots like now when I go play, I don’t care about, I’m never going to take a full swing for the most part. I might every now and then take a full out swing. But other than that I’m on. It’s on like a cruise control, like flight, the ball type of mood. And it makes it a lot easier just period because man like I could probably play. I don’t know how many holes in one day if I want to. But it’s from the like conditioning standpoint, it helps out tremendously, you could really focus on the things you need to focus on because golf is very mental and 100%. You could knock stuff out. You’re good.

Mackenzie Mack: So what has been your longest drive?

Josh Jackson: 452 yards, I did that lot or that was in competition. I did that last year up in Denver. I mean, I’m planning on Boston, do you know through that, that mark here within the next little bit, because I felt like I could have did a lot better, but I will take it. Because I hit it. I didn’t hit it the best. But a flight hit the ball prop like it had the proper trajectory, proper spin rate, all the technical aspects of it were great. So yeah, I’ll take it. But that’s my part of this drive in competition so far.

Mackenzie Mack: That’s amazing. You sound so disappointed that you hit four football fields with golf ball. But, so some of our listeners may want to know or be interested in being a long drive professional. So what is some tips that you can give our listeners on how to get into being a long drive professional?

Josh Jackson: You definitely want to make sure that you you’re putting up the proper speeds, I would suggest, I mean, if you’re swinging over like 125 miles an hour start out with, they have some amateur leagues that they they’re running like ALD. And I think PLDA they’re also putting an amateur division together to, then once you get into that 135 like 140 more, that’s when I will I will go ahead and start trying to go into like the pro events. And professionals Professional Long Drivers Association. They have like qualifiers and they also have, you know, different events that you can try to jump into. But the biggest thing is ball speed, definitely want to be over to you know, 200 miles an hour, just to make sure that you’re competitive. And make sure you’re you know, your spin rate in all the other numbers check out too because speed is cool, but it’s all about distance. Like speed is not guaranteed distance. And that’s why a lot of like students and stuff like we got to fly the ball efficiently. First, then you go ahead and make sure that you’ll speed it up just from your body just you know getting used to everything.

Mackenzie Mack: So are there long drive coaches, like you have PGA professional like, are there coaches that are dedicated to long drive professionals?

Josh Jackson: Yeah. I mean, I know that there’s a couple. I’ve been helping out some guys also as far as like, within like the ALD league. But I mean, it’s mainly it’s more about just figuring out what’s the fastest or what’s the more efficient, fastest swing that we can make together.

Mackenzie Mack: What’s one tip for being efficient?

Josh Jackson: Well, you got to make sure your body is sequencing correctly. So I know like my students, we do a lot of different like Footwork Drills and all different types of drills to just make sure that you’re using the ground correctly. So that’s the biggest, you know, component when it comes to any type of speed or anything like that. That’s why you see a lot of professionals and everything, they’re starting to get into a lot like a lot of the different metrics that they have available for saying what, you know what ground pressure that you’re producing, and you know how to sequence it up correctly. 

Mackenzie Mack: Okay, that’s sounds complicated. So I can’t just go start swinging, like Happy Gilmore. So I can’t do that?

Josh Jackson: It is complicated. But I do have some simplistic ways to do it. It all just depends. It’s not a one fit all approach, not even close to one fit all approach is there’s so many factors. So like, it all depends on, you know, what, where your weekend where you’re strong at, and then you just start chipping away from there.

Mackenzie Mack: So what can someone expect to get paid as a long drive professional, what are some of the purses or for these competitions that someone could expect if they wanted to pick this route?

Josh Jackson: Well, I know for sure, like PLDA, their purses are over like 5k during like the exhibition matches. On top of that, I believe will their championship, national championship and everything, it’s a lot more money involved. But it’s not as much money as regular golf, or like PGA Tour or Pro Bowl. So that is, you know, the reality of that when it comes to just the competition’s at the moment. The sport is growing now. And you know, doing like, a lot of different guys, like do appearances at like charity, golf events, on top of you know, just appearances. I guess what any other event from there, it all just depends on the person. To be totally honest, there’s guys out there that are able to bring in enough I guess, to do it full time. I don’t bring in enough to do it full time. Like I tell, you know, I’m a Business Development Specialist. Also, you know, for your company, I do a couple other different things to you know, mix it in. But as far as like overall wise, it all just depends on the long drive guy that you’re talking to, or the person that’s getting into it, and you know, how much they’re able to, you know, put together?

Mackenzie Mack: Gotcha. So you’ve seen the industry from the playing side, from the long drive side? Is there, if you could change one thing about the industry, what would it be?

Josh Jackson: I mean, I would like to see it a little bit more cohesive, if that makes sense. Like, as far as events and golf groups and everything, I would like to you know, to see everyone just keep continuing to grow. And, you know, take in folks that are new to the industry or need some sort of guidance or anything like that. Because that that goes a long way to when it comes to you know, just overall just growing something, the outreach, like continue to outreach, because it just has to be consistent. And then it has, you know, I guess whatever programs or promises people are putting up just to follow through with them as simple as that. 

Mackenzie Mack: Absolutely. And you mentioned that Maurice was somebody that you looked up to in the long drive industry, and I’m sure at the time, he was probably the only black person or someone that looked like you that you saw, how do you think we could change that? What are some ways you think we could change that in the industry?

Josh Jackson: Well, just overall, just like representation is a huge thing. Of course, I know, like when we did the capital city or a capital long drive down in, in Washington DC, we did that last year. And then we’re gonna be doing it this year. Also, things like that, like I saw a pretty big impact off of off of that, especially with like the kids and you know, being in this area to, like, be able to see some of the after effects of that event that we did. I thought it was pretty great. Like we’re starting to see more, you know, minority and black children starting to get into golf now. Because I think it’s just absolutely crazy how people think that it’s a hard sport, but they don’t try it. Like it makes no sense. Like, this is what this is a. Like if you all see Michael Jordan playing golf in saying that he can’t keep it together from a mental standpoint. What else do you want? Like, if you like a challenge, go ahead and play golf. And it’s a lot of really, you know, good programs that are going on, people that are trying to band together to make something to where the next generations and everything will we’ll look at golf as a different sport. And I think that you know, the biggest thing that we can do is just continue doing. We’re doing and then keep adding some more flair to the sport. Because that’s a huge thing. You look at the NBA, when folks started dunking, and folks started, like pulling up for three pointers at half court and stuff, that’s when the ratings go up. So for golf, like, you don’t want to just see someone play golf, and you know, not bomb it, or hit some cool shots, we just got to keep adding flair to the sport somehow. So I think laundrapp is cool, because you see people full swing in full out, like, full out, you know, it’s a cool, different, you know, type of setting. So I think just like creating, you know, continue to create, like certain spectacles and stuff to bring in more people is going to be, you know, the way to do it, it’s going to have to, it’s going to take time, of course, like it’s a whole bunch of different sports that folks are competing with, like when you’re competing with basketball, when you competing with these other major sports that don’t require anything to practice. Or, you know, what I’m saying doesn’t don’t require any type of financial backing or anything like that, it’s very tough. So making the resources available, would definitely be something, you know, that’s going to be essential for the growth of the sport. Because I mean, they can’t you know, you can’t just expect you know, I guess, kids to just go out in the backyard and all that and start swinging and hitting golf balls, they’ll start breaking windows, like I saw, I saw the other day, a little kid was playing or whatever. He was in his backyard, and like, hit off the fence popped up. And like, made a huge noise and someone’s glass. 

Mackenzie Mack: Oh, no. 

Josh Jackson: Yeah. So I mean, I think overall, just making the sport a little bit more or a lot more accessible, and making it more or not. 

Mackenzie Mack: You’re doing part you’re doing that you’re adding flair to the game, I watch your social so keep adding flair to the game and bringing people in because we need it. So to kind of wrap things up, we have our quick nine questions. Okay. You’re gonna give your answer the first answer that comes to your mind. Okay, who are the three other players in your dream foursome?

Josh Jackson: My dad, Jim Thorpe, and Tiger Woods.

Mackenzie Mack: Would you rather plow over a linebacker or hit a 460 yard dry? 

Josh Jackson: Oh man, I can both. 

Mackenzie Mack: It’s one or the other. 

Josh Jackson: You got 460 yard. 

Mackenzie Mack: Okay. Who is the best trash talker you’ve ever played with?

Josh Jackson: I would say probably David Justice. He’s like, he talks good. 

Mackenzie Mack: Would you rather win a Super Bowl or a PGA Championship?

Josh Jackson: Oh, PGA Championship for sure.

Mackenzie Mack: What’s your favorite 19th cold beverage?

Josh Jackson: Gatorade

Mackenzie Mack: Track man or flight scope?

Josh Jackson: I’m gonna go a track man out of those two options.

Mackenzie Mack: Who would play you in the movie about you?

Josh Jackson: That’s a good one. We’ll set a Rock, there you go.

Mackenzie Mack: What’s your 150 yard club?

Josh Jackson: Man, I would say, I’ve been doing a knockout punch.

Mackenzie Mack: Okay, last question. Football players always have a celebratory hand gesture or something. So what’s your golf go to celebratory mood?

Josh Jackson: Well, I did it on a capital long drive the rocket launcher? I’ll flip the club and treat it like a RPG. 

Mackenzie Mack: Okay, okay. 

Josh Jackson: Yeah, you guys gotta check out the 2021. And you’ll see exactly what I’m talking about.

Mackenzie Mack: Okay, we’ll go to your Instagram and look that up. So let the people know where they can find you get a hold of you, and learn more about you?

Josh Jackson: Yeah, so if you’re on Instagram, JoshJacksonGolf, that’s my tag. And as far as my website is www.joshjcksongolf.com. You can see all the information you need to about me, contact me directly. And then you also can get lessons if you’re local to the DMV area. If you’re not local to the DMV area, I do digital lessons or remote lessons. So we still get you in no matter what.

Mackenzie Mack: Awesome. Thank you so much for coming on and sharing your story. Keep being great out there and can’t wait to see you hit it. 460 yards. 

Josh Jackson: Yeah, I appreciate it.

Mackenzie Mack (PODCAST OUTRO): Thanks for joining us, Josh. And thank you for listening. Be sure to follow this show on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you like to listen, so you don’t miss an episode. I’m Mackenzie Mack, and I’ll talk with you next time on “Getting to the Green”.