Drive for show, putt for dough – a familiar saying in golf circles around the globe. For Joe Foley, the use of the putter is not necessary.
He drives for show – and dough.
Foley found himself watching highlights of a World Long Drive competition on ESPN back in 2021 when he had an epiphany.
“I felt like I could do that,” Foley said. “It took me about three weeks to convince my wife that this was possible before she told me to just do it.”
Soon, ‘do it’ became ‘done.’
After gaining the necessary support on the home front, he purchased the required simulator set-up for his home that would allow him to train all year.
“I spent the next two years training – finding the right equipment, working on the skills and building up the muscle memory.”
In Foley’s first year of competition, he won at a regional event and placed high enough at a national competition to provide an opportunity to compete on the world stage in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. After notching a ninth-place finish — and teeing it up against competitors from eight other countries — Foley decided to forge ahead and make what he called “the huge jump” to the pro division.
But then adversity struck.
In his first professional World Long Drive Tour event in Mesquite, Nevada, Foley couldn’t shake a nagging discomfort radiating from his elbow. As he continued his warm-ups, it only got worse — the pain intensified with every swing.
For those unfamiliar with the structure of a Long Drive Competition, each set consists of the opportunity to hit six drives in 150 seconds. After completing his first set, the discomfort in Foley’s elbow had reached where it started draining his strength.
And that’s not a good sign for someone in his position.
“Adrenaline is running at this point, but I continued having sharp elbow pains,” Foley said. “I couldn’t pull my tee out and I knew something was wrong. I was instructed to go visit the event physician. It was at that point that the doctor gave me the correct diagnosis that I had torn my right triceps tendon.”
And just like that, Foley was staring down surgery and a prolonged layoff in the infant stages of his professional golf career, which ultimately claimed his rookie campaign before it even started.
After a nearly two-month recovery, Foley was able to resume swinging with some remedial iron training. Nearly three months removed from surgery, he was able to start hitting his prized driver yet again.
“I am at about 85-90 percent healed at this point,” Foley said during his interview last week. “I was regularly hitting drives over 400 yards and am currently sitting around that 390 yard mark consistently.” Foley was transparent that he lost approximately 15 pounds of muscle following his injury and has continued to regain this throughout his recovery.
Foley’s training in 2023 and 2024 has been intense as he continues to get back to 100-percent health. As he works on ball-striking, furthering his distance and strength training, Foley — who recently cracked the top 150 in the world rankings — has hit an astronomical number of drives in the process.
“I have two to three sessions per week where I hit anywhere between 250 to 500 shots (all drivers),” Foley stated.
Foley has built relationships with some local businesses as he continues his pursuit of returning to competition on the World Long Drive stage – ideally in 2024. Inside Swing Golf, The Legacy Golf Course in Faribault, Klik Photography and Igen out of California are Foley’s sponsors – in addition to his own brand (High Heat Golf).
When he’s not mashing balls off the tee, Foley works as a supervisor at Bosch in Owatonna.
NOTE: As Foley continues to work himself back to full strength with his sights set on competing in another pro-level event in 2024, I will continue to provide updates on his progress in future columns. World Long Drive events are streamed on YouTube as well as the Golf Channel.
Until next month, hit ‘em long and straight – and most of all have fun!
THE HUSKY BULLETIN 