As a sports performance coach at SandersFit Performance Center in Dallas, Bobby “Speed” Massa teaches his clients to hit the ball farther, just likely not as far as he does. With driver clubhead speeds up to 130 mph and ball speeds more than 190 mph, Massa hits the ball farther than the average PGA Tour player.
While his driver is arguably his greatest strength today, it was a double-edged sword during his five years playing professionally on the mini-tours and the cause of much mental anguish. If you would have told Massa when he stepped away from professional golf more than 10 years ago that his game would be where it is now, he probably wouldn’t have believed you.
“I never wanted to stop,” Massa said. “I didn’t play much [when I left pro golf] because when I stopped playing it was embarrassing to play. I couldn’t break 85. But I’d still go hit balls. I never lost the love for it. To be honest I never thought I was going to be decent again.”
This week, Massa and his older brother Cody will tee it up at Desert Mountain Club in Arizona in their first U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championship. For Bobby, it’s the first big tournament in a big year. The 38-year-old Texan has a chance to represent the United States at Lahinch Golf Club in the Walker Cup this September; he was one of three mid-amateurs invited to the practice session conducted last December.
“It would mean everything,” Massa said. “I never thought this could happen when I got my amateur status back. I just enjoy playing [competitive] golf.”
As a kid, Massa focused on basketball and baseball, but he fell in love with golf when he was 12.
“I was obsessed with how hard it was and I just wanted to get better,” he said.
While he stands more than 6 feet tall now, Massa was less than 5 feet tall going into high school. It was difficult for the undersized kid to continue to compete in baseball and basketball, so he followed his brother into competitive golf. The brothers were instantly competitive with each other.
“He liked to practice more than I did and I liked to play more than practice,” Cody said. “He would grind in the backyard and hit balls for hours. I would pretty much do anything else and couldn’t wait to get to the golf course.”
“I started asking people around the gym how they had certain muscles and how to do it and that’s where the quest all started. I guess I knew if I wasn’t playing golf I was going to do something in the fitness world.”
Bobby Massa
Because he hated being small, Massa started going to the gym two times a day during his junior year of high school. At the time, it had nothing to do with improving golf speed.
“I started asking people around the gym how they had certain muscles and how to do it and that’s where the quest all started,” he said. “I guess I knew if I wasn’t playing golf I was going to do something in the fitness world.”
Massa continued to train and also had a growth spurt. Between his junior year of high school and sophomore year of college, he grew more than a foot. With that came distance, power and overall improvement for a player who had limited success as a junior.
At the University of Texas at Arlington, he played golf and helped train members of the golf team. Although he says he saw the path to professional golf open up, his swing was wild.
“I didn’t really have control over my golf swing,” he said. “I just had the benefit of being able to hit it far and chip and putt well.”
Massa would be exposed if courses weren’t suited to him, and his scores ranged from under par to over 80, he says. It became mental, and his driver yips were the worst during his senior year.
“My coach at the time wouldn’t let me take a driver to probably four events because he needed my score to count,” Massa said.
After graduating in 2010, Massa turned pro and won a couple of mini-tour events. He loved the experience.
“I’m a minimalist type of person so traveling in my car, staying in hotel rooms was nothing for me,” he said. “I was single at the time as well. I just liked to compete. The only bad part was that my game wasn’t good.”
Massa’s driver yips continued. He says he became nervous and embarrassed for his fellow competitors to see him play. In 2015, he made the tough decision to step away from professional golf.
Bobby Massa swings away during the 2025 U.S. Mid-Amateur at Troon Country Club.
STEVE GIBBONS, COURTESY USGA
Massa started pursuing his other passion: fitness. In 2015, he was training clients in an apartment gym when he met retired pro basketball player Melvin Sanders, who was working at the gym. The pair hit it off, and Massa became a professional trainer for SandersFit, which in 2017 opened a gym in the same apartment’s basement and has remained there ever since.
Massa loves his job and seeing his clients progress.
“Whether it’s to hit the golf ball farther, lose weight or whatever it is, you see people gain confidence in themselves that they didn’t know they had,” he said.
In the beginning, Massa worked with all sorts of clients, including professional athletes from different sports. However, in the past five years he has shifted his focus exclusively to golf and helping his clients hit the ball farther by improving body strength. He credits Bryson DeChambeau for the explosion of interest in distance training.
“That made everyone see the possibilities of what you could do with training and how far you could hit it,” Massa said. “It just makes the game easier.”
While Massa hadn’t played a lot himself since leaving professional golf (he still had the yips), he still loved the game. He started studying different swings and teachers and suddenly something clicked. So when he got his amateur status back in 2019, he was ready to compete again.
His distance, once a double-edged sword, became his greatest strength and drew the envy of his competitors, including his brother.
“He hits it probably 15-20 yards past me,” Cody said. “His distance definitely helps, but it’s the fact that he hits it that far and as straight as he hits it.”
Massa has become one of the best mid-amateurs in the country. Career highlights include his 2024 U.S. Amateur round-of-16 match against Ashton McCulloch, in which Golf Channel viewers saw him drain a long putt on the fifth extra hole to advance to the quarterfinals. Later that year he was runner-up in the U.S. Mid-Amateur.
Massa says the tournaments he most wants to win are the Crump Cup, the U.S. Amateur and the U.S. Mid-Amateur. He might have to make a run in one of those USGA events if he wants to make the Walker Cup team.
And he’s doing it on limited practice. Between his job and his responsibilities to his wife and kids, Massa plays twice a week. While the long hitter’s game and practice schedule have changed since leaving professional golf, his mentality hasn’t.
“[Mid-amateur golf] feels the same to me as professional golf did,” he said. “If I’m going to a tournament I’m trying to do my best and want to win.”
“I know I’m on the outside looking in,” Massa said. “Stewart [Hagestad] is always going to be the favorite if it’s close because he’s proven himself. If I’m going to be selected I’m going to have to kick the door in.”
Cody knows how important representing the United States would be for his brother.
“That’s probably the biggest step in amateur golf,” Cody said. “There’s not anywhere else other than winning the U.S. [Amateur] and playing in the Masters, that would be number two. So that would be pretty incredible.”
But first the Massa brothers will compete in their first U.S. Amateur Four-Ball after failing to qualify four previous times.
“Winning would be great, I really hope we can put it together,” Massa said. “To win any USGA event is an amazing thing and it would be awesome to share it with him.”
Top: Bobby Massa’s prodigious tee shots are often something to behold.
EDWARD M. PIO RODA, COURTESY USGA
