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Opinion & Analysis

Sadlowski once again breaks the Golf Channel’s simulator

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[youtube id=”XDYC4wGIEpE” width=”620″ height=”360″]

By now the majority of you have probably seen the video that went viral of world long drive champion Jamie Sadlowski bombing a drive through the Golf Channel’s simulator and the wooden wall behind it (if you haven’t, you can watch it here).

Apparently the Golf Channel didn’t learn its lesson the first time, because they brought Sadlowski back to do a feature on “The Golf Fix” with Michael Breed. While warming up prior to the show Sadlowski once again drilled a hole through both the simulator screen and the wall behind it.

The only difference this time is the club he used. The first time was with a driver, but on this occasion Sadlowski used a 7 iron — yes a 7 iron. Not only does this ball crash through the wall, but the screen his ball ripped hole through gave a distance reading of just below 300 yards.

Again, not a typo — he hit his 7 iron just under 300 yards. But hey, how’s his short game?

Click here to see what members are saying about it in the forums.

Nick Boyd is an 18-year-old journalism student at Carleton University in Ottawa, with hopes of one day becoming a sports reporter.

18 Comments

18 Comments

  1. Taylor

    Aug 23, 2013 at 10:33 am

    Breed gets so pissed, that’s what makes it so funny. You can definitely tell that he is “dad” on that whole crew. Everyone looks directly to him when it happens. Jamie has the immediate, I’m in trouble, look on him.

    Breed needs to relax a little

  2. corey

    Aug 21, 2013 at 9:10 pm

    first off, i dont doubt that the video is real but my question is why did that happen. i understand with his LD driver but a screen shouldnt break from the ball speed of a 230yd shot (yes damn impressive that it was a 7iron). do yall think the screen is pulled too tight and the netting protecting it isnt sufficient? just curious

    • Matt

      Aug 22, 2013 at 12:40 am

      I’ll give you a simple answer, its just a guess but makes since to me. With him creating driver like speed with a 7 iron the ball would be spinning much faster than with a driver therefore the torque and friction placed on the screen from a ball traveling that fast with that much spin would cause the screen to kind off grab the ball and rip easier.

  3. Beast

    Aug 20, 2013 at 10:15 pm

    Meh…… looks like a set-up to me. Looking at Gary “My Mouth is Too Loud” ‘s face, the whole thing looks fishy. Why would they not fix it and have it ready for Sadlowski’s return, knowing what happened before? With all the money they have at the Channel, why would they not upgrade their most-used simulator for TV? Duh.

  4. Wes G

    Aug 20, 2013 at 8:47 pm

    Just because you guys don’t think he’s that long, doesn’t mean that he isn’t that long. I’ve competed in the remax long drive qualifiers with my standard driver, and never hit anything over 380, but if I hit a 7 iron 230 I would call it a mishit. People have called me long, but that guy is a freak, you just cannot fathom how long he is until you see it in person. It will literally make you feel like a lesser person.

  5. naflack

    Aug 20, 2013 at 5:30 pm

    Breeds response is priceless…

  6. Dave

    Aug 20, 2013 at 3:29 pm

    According to the video, that 7 iron wasn’t “just under 300 yards”. It was probably about 230, but that’s still an incredibly long 7 iron.

  7. 4rheel

    Aug 20, 2013 at 2:54 pm

    “Ay, don’t be yelling at me …” Hahahahahaha

  8. Golfer X

    Aug 20, 2013 at 2:20 pm

    No biggee… Tiger’s ex caused a lot more damage with a 9…

  9. Kadin Mahmet

    Aug 20, 2013 at 1:53 pm

    7 iron just under 300 yards…yea, I put it in the bag. 😉

  10. NoShanks

    Aug 20, 2013 at 12:54 pm

    Why is everyone acting so surprised?

  11. Nick

    Aug 20, 2013 at 12:03 pm

    The best part is Breed saying “What do you mean we’re going to get in trouble for this?” Hahahaha.

    Whose idea was it to use the EXACT set up he destroyed before. I get it was a seven Iron this time but c’mon, not smart. What is that saying, “fool me once…”

    • 8thehardway

      Aug 21, 2013 at 5:52 pm

      Whoever said that to Breed was two steps up from an intern. The TGC should have asked him to try a pitching wedge, SW, even gap wedge for future segments and then get a new screen.

  12. golfer

    Aug 20, 2013 at 12:01 pm

    “what do you mean we’re going to get in trouble for that” – lol

  13. Big_5_Hole

    Aug 20, 2013 at 11:31 am

    Yeah but is he really that long? I mean sure, he hits it pretty good but I bet lots of guys on tour could hit it just as far of they wanted. Those LD contests are all at altitude so the numbers are inflated, he uses a 65″ driver, he hits pinnacles, drinks protein shakes, exercises and has a strong grip. I mean really.

    Just kidding of course, this kid just flattens it. Awesome to watch. If you ever get a chance to see it in person, make sure you do. You’ve never seen anyone hit it like him.

    • chris

      Aug 20, 2013 at 8:45 pm

      I was getting ready to tell you how wrong you were until I got to the second paragraph… lol I liked watchin him hit a putter almost 300. Then his little driver he hits well over 300 haha. Ceazy because he’s not that tall. Awseome to see live

    • Tit

      Aug 20, 2013 at 10:11 pm

      Yes, he is unbelievable. He IS that long.

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Opinion & Analysis

The 2 primary challenges golf equipment companies face

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As the editor-in-chief of this website and an observer of the GolfWRX forums and other online golf equipment discourse for over a decade, I’m pretty well attuned to the grunts and grumbles of a significant portion of the golf equipment purchasing spectrum. And before you accuse me of lording above all in some digital ivory tower, I’d like to offer that I worked at golf courses (public and private) for years prior to picking up my pen, so I’m well-versed in the non-degenerate golf equipment consumers out there. I touched (green)grass (retail)!

Complaints about the ills of and related to the OEMs usually follow some version of: Product cycles are too short for real innovation, tour equipment isn’t the same as retail (which is largely not true, by the way), too much is invested in marketing and not enough in R&D, top staffer X hasn’t even put the new driver in play, so it’s obviously not superior to the previous generation, prices are too high, and on and on.

Without digging into the merits of any of these claims, which I believe are mostly red herrings, I’d like to bring into view of our rangefinder what I believe to be the two primary difficulties golf equipment companies face.

One: As Terry Koehler, back when he was the CEO of Ben Hogan, told me at the time of the Ft Worth irons launch, if you can’t regularly hit the golf ball in a coin-sized area in the middle of the face, there’s not a ton that iron technology can do for you. Now, this is less true now with respect to irons than when he said it, and is less and less true by degrees as the clubs get larger (utilities, fairways, hybrids, drivers), but there remains a great deal of golf equipment truth in that statement. Think about it — which is to say, in TL;DR fashion, get lessons from a qualified instructor who will teach you about the fundamentals of repeatable impact and how the golf swing works, not just offer band-aid fixes. If you can’t repeatably deliver the golf club to the golf ball in something resembling the manner it was designed for, how can you expect to be getting the most out of the club — put another way, the maximum value from your investment?

Similarly, game improvement equipment can only improve your game if you game it. In other words, get fit for the clubs you ought to be playing rather than filling the bag with the ones you wish you could hit or used to be able to hit. Of course, don’t do this if you don’t care about performance and just want to hit a forged blade while playing off an 18 handicap. That’s absolutely fine. There were plenty of members in clubs back in the day playing Hogan Apex or Mizuno MP-32 irons who had no business doing so from a ballstriking standpoint, but they enjoyed their look, feel, and complementary qualities to their Gatsby hats and cashmere sweaters. Do what brings you a measure of joy in this maddening game.

Now, the second issue. This is not a plea for non-conforming equipment; rather, it is a statement of fact. USGA/R&A limits on every facet of golf equipment are detrimental to golf equipment manufacturers. Sure, you know this, but do you think about it as it applies to almost every element of equipment? A 500cc driver would be inherently more forgiving than a 460cc, as one with a COR measurement in excess of 0.83. 50-inch shafts. Box grooves. And on and on.

Would fewer regulations be objectively bad for the game? Would this erode its soul? Fortunately, that’s beside the point of this exercise, which is merely to point out the facts. The fact, in this case, is that equipment restrictions and regulations are the slaughterbench of an abundance of innovation in the golf equipment space. Is this for the best? Well, now I’ve asked the question twice and might as well give a partial response, I guess my answer to that would be, “It depends on what type of golf you’re playing and who you’re playing it with.”

For my part, I don’t mind embarrassing myself with vintage blades and persimmons chasing after the quasi-spiritual elevation of a well-struck shot, but that’s just me. Plenty of folks don’t give a damn if their grooves are conforming. Plenty of folks think the folks in Liberty Corner ought to add a prison to the museum for such offences. And those are just a few of the considerations for the amateur game — which doesn’t get inside the gallery ropes of the pro game…

Different strokes in the game of golf, in my humble opinion.

Anyway, I believe equipment company engineers are genuinely trying to build better equipment year over year. The marketing departments are trying to find ways to make this equipment appeal to the broadest segment of the golf market possible. All of this against (1) the backdrop of — at least for now — firm product cycles. And golfers who, with their ~15 average handicap (men), for the most part, are not striping the golf ball like Tiger in his prime and seem to have less and less time year over year to practice and improve. (2) Regulations that massively restrict what they’re able to do…

That’s the landscape as I see it and the real headwinds for golf equipment companies. No doubt, there’s more I haven’t considered, but I think the previous is a better — and better faith — point of departure when formulating any serious commentary on the golf equipment world than some of the more cynical and conspiratorial takes I hear.

Agree? Disagree? Think I’m worthy of an Adam Hadwin-esque security guard tackle? Let me know in the comments.

@golfoncbs The infamous Adam Hadwin tackle ? #golf #fyp #canada #pgatour #adamhadwin ? Ghibli-style nostalgic waltz – MaSssuguMusic

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Podcasts

Fore Love of Golf: Introducing a new club concept

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Episode #16 brings us Cliff McKinney. Cliff is the founder of Old Charlie Golf Club, a new club, and concept, to be built in the Florida panhandle. The model is quite interesting and aims to make great, private golf more affordable. We hope you enjoy the show!

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Opinion & Analysis

On Scottie Scheffler wondering ‘What’s the point of winning?’

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Last week, I came across a reel from BBC Sport on Instagram featuring Scottie Scheffler speaking to the media ahead of The Open at Royal Portrush. In it, he shared that he often wonders what the point is of wanting to win tournaments so badly — especially when he knows, deep down, that it doesn’t lead to a truly fulfilling life.

 

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“Is it great to be able to win tournaments and to accomplish the things I have in the game of golf? Yeah, it brings tears to my eyes just to think about it because I’ve literally worked my entire life to be good at this sport,” Scheffler said. “To have that kind of sense of accomplishment, I think, is a pretty cool feeling. To get to live out your dreams is very special, but at the end of the day, I’m not out here to inspire the next generation of golfers. I’m not out here to inspire someone to be the best player in the world, because what’s the point?”

Ironically — or perhaps perfectly — he went on to win the claret jug.

That question — what’s the point of winning? — cuts straight to the heart of the human journey.

As someone who’s spent over two decades in the trenches of professional golf, and in deep study of the mental, emotional, and spiritual dimensions of the game, I see Scottie’s inner conflict as a sign of soul evolution in motion.

I came to golf late. I wasn’t a junior standout or college All-American. At 27, I left a steady corporate job to see if I could be on the PGA Tour starting as a 14-handicap, average-length hitter. Over the years, my journey has been defined less by trophies and more by the relentless effort to navigate the deeply inequitable and gated system of professional golf — an effort that ultimately turned inward and helped me evolve as both a golfer and a person.

One perspective that helped me make sense of this inner dissonance around competition and our culture’s tendency to overvalue winning is the idea of soul evolution.

The University of Virginia’s Division of Perceptual Studies has done extensive research on reincarnation, and Netflix’s Surviving Death (Episode 6) explores the topic, too. Whether you take it literally or metaphorically, the idea that we’re on a long arc of growth — from beginner to sage elder — offers a profound perspective.

If you accept the premise literally, then terms like “young soul” and “old soul” start to hold meaning. However, even if we set the word “soul” aside, it’s easy to see that different levels of life experience produce different worldviews.

Newer souls — or people in earlier stages of their development — may be curious and kind but still lack discernment or depth. There is a naivety, and they don’t yet question as deeply, tending to see things in black and white, partly because certainty feels safer than confronting the unknown.

As we gain more experience, we begin to experiment. We test limits. We chase extreme external goals — sometimes at the expense of health, relationships, or inner peace — still operating from hunger, ambition, and the fragility of the ego.

It’s a necessary stage, but often a turbulent and unfulfilling one.

David Duval fell off the map after reaching World No. 1. Bubba Watson had his own “Is this it?” moment with his caddie, Ted Scott, after winning the Masters.

In Aaron Rodgers: Enigma, reflecting on his 2011 Super Bowl win, Rodgers said:

“Now I’ve accomplished the only thing that I really, really wanted to do in my life. Now what? I was like, ‘Did I aim at the wrong thing? Did I spend too much time thinking about stuff that ultimately doesn’t give you true happiness?’”

Jim Carrey once said, “I think everybody should get rich and famous and do everything they ever dreamed of so they can see that it’s not the answer.”

Eventually, though, something shifts.

We begin to see in shades of gray. Winning, dominating, accumulating—these pursuits lose their shine. The rewards feel more fleeting. Living in a constant state of fight-or-flight makes us feel alive, yes, but not happy and joyful.

Compassion begins to replace ambition. Love, presence, and gratitude become more fulfilling than status, profits, or trophies. We crave balance over burnout. Collaboration over competition. Meaning over metrics.

Interestingly, if we zoom out, we can apply this same model to nations and cultures. Countries, like people, have a collective “soul stage” made up of the individuals within them.

Take the United States, for example. I’d place it as a mid-level soul: highly competitive and deeply driven, but still learning emotional maturity. Still uncomfortable with nuance. Still believing that more is always better. Despite its global wins, the U.S. currently ranks just 23rd in happiness (as of 2025). You might liken it to a gifted teenager—bold, eager, and ambitious, but angsty and still figuring out how to live well and in balance. As much as a parent wants to protect their child, sometimes the child has to make their own mistakes to truly grow.

So when Scottie Scheffler wonders what the point of winning is, I don’t see someone losing strength.

I see someone evolving.

He’s beginning to look beyond the leaderboard. Beyond metrics of success that carry a lower vibration. And yet, in a poetic twist, Scheffler did go on to win The Open. But that only reinforces the point: even at the pinnacle, the question remains. And if more of us in the golf and sports world — and in U.S. culture at large — started asking similar questions, we might discover that the more meaningful trophy isn’t about accumulating or beating others at all costs.

It’s about awakening and evolving to something more than winning could ever promise.

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