Two-time World Champion and ALPG member Phillis Meti won the Ak-Chin Smash in the Sun, a World Long Drive Association (WLDA) event live on Golf Channel on Tuesday night with an unprecedented 380-yard drive.
Meti used an Exotics XJ1 driver by Tour Edge in a 9 degree loft and a Fujikura 569 X shaft to hit the monstrous drive that was deemed the highlight of the live-for-TV event.

Meti, also an ambassador for the Volvik brand, hit drives of 346 and 350 yards to advance to the finals in Arizona. She then hit a 356 yard drive in the finals vs. a 7-time world champion before unleashing the 380-yard bomb. The winning drive was 30 yards longer than the 2nd place finisher Sandra Carlborg in the women’s division and was 8 yards longer than the 2nd place finisher in the men’s division, who’s best shot in the grid was measured at 372 yards.

The announcer of the Golf Channel event described Meti’s 380 yard smash, which carried 320 yards and rolled an additional 60 yards, as “effortless.” Her swing speed was clocked at 120 MPH and her ball speed at 176 MPH on the big hit, while her Apex was 163 feet, 52 yards higher than her Apex on the 356 yard drive in the same set.

“The XJ1 is a great head,” said Meti. “It looks great at set up, feels great and rewards great swings with ball flight and roll! 380 is by far one of my best balls I’ve ever hit in competition, I couldn’t have asked for a better tool to keep me going on the Women’s Long Drive Tour.” An XJ1 driver was also used by Meti in setting a new Women`s Long Drive World Record with a 406-yard drive in the semifinals of the Mile High Showdown semifinals last season in Denver, Colorado.

That record still holds, but 380 yards at 1000 feet elevation would also qualify as a world’s best at a lower elevation in WLDA women’s tournament play.

Meti, who hails from Auckland, New Zealand, has a strong history with Long Drive as the Volvik World Long Drive Champion (2016), Volvik World Long Drive Runner-Up (2007, 2008) and 2017 Clash in the Canyon Runner-Up.

At the young age of 19 years and two months Meti became a World Record holder for winning the 2006 Women`s Long Drive Championship with a drive of 326 yards. She was runner-up the following two years in 2007 and 2008 and during that year hit a massive 349 yards. In 2009 she took a break away from Long Drive to focus on her playing career and came back with a win in 2016.

Meti`s next event will be the Sheraton Deva ALPG New Caledonia Pro-am which will be played from 22-24th May.

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