GHS alum has aspirations of long drive championships.
At the far end of the driving range stands 6-foot-4 Mark Niemi. By size alone he is hard to miss. But what he does with the golf club is how he aspires to gain recognition.
The sounds of his driver slicing through the air and connecting with the golf ball are audible even as the wind gusts whipped to 20-plus miles per hour. Scattered around him, broken tees tossed aside, many only lasting one swing before being splintered by the force created by a club traveling 140 mph.
Niemi, 30, a 1997 Gilroy High graduate, is on a mission. He wants to become the Re/Max World Long Drive champion.
“I’ll take that one,” Niemi says to himself as he watches his latest victim soar through the air Wednesday afternoon at Coyote Creek Golf Club. “I could probably get over on it a little more. I have a fast tempo, I need to slow down.”
Niemi is well on his way to accomplishing his lofty goal of taking on the best long drive competitors, qualifying for a California and Nevada District Regional two weeks ago with a drive of 363 yards.
“I’ve hit a drive 450 yards at Eagle Ridge,” Niemi is quick to point out.
If he can get through regionals, the next step is the Re/Max World Long Drive Championships in Mesquite, Nevada.
Niemi is out on the range at least three times per week, hitting upward of 300 balls each day, which provides plenty of time to work on stamina and consistency. His diligence is simple, really – practice, practice, practice.
He has a routine; step back, eye the target, approach the ball and rip it. He critiques himself following every shot, one ball after the other.
“I have a pretty strict regimen,” he said. “I go to bed early, I take a lot of vitamins.”
In competition, golfers must keep the ball within a 50-yard wide area, which often is the most difficult part of the sport.
“A hook is a good thing, you just have to control it,” Niemi said, quick to offer tips on form.
Aside from being able to hit the ball with authority, Niemi has a confidence about him. He feels that he can compete, he can win and he can have an impact on the sport.
“When I get going I’m like a machine,” Niemi said convincingly. “I am going to be in this a while.”
Introduced to golf at a young age by his father, Niemi was a 5-handicap by the age of 13, playing in tournaments around the area. He joined the Gilroy High School golf team his sophomore year and in 1996, he was part of a Mustangs bunch that finished first in the Central Coast Section Regionals and third overall at the section finals.
After a year on the Gavilan golf team, the death of a close high school friend dampened his love of golf so much so that he put away his clubs.
“It still gets me emotional,” Niemi said with tears filling his eyes.
However, in the last couple years, Niemi – who is a self-proclaimed sports fiend, quick to offer up his take on any of the local professional teams and talking a mile-a-minute about each topic like he is racing against a trivia clock – had a growing interest in the long drive competition.
“It’s a part of golf,” he said. “We all want to know who’s the best hitter, the one who can hit the farthest. I saw the opportunity the last few years on ESPN and it caught my eye. I thought I’d give it a shot and thought maybe I had something to prove. I have talent.”
Ultimately, Niemi wants to be as involved in golf as much as possible, and make some money doing so, too.
“Putting together a good round or shot, there is just a feeling of complete,” Niemi said. “It’s like perfection.
Eventually Niemi sees himself passing down the knowledge he has obtained.
“The next goal is to become a pro at a course and teach lessons,” he said.
