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As we stand on a driving range, big-hitting South African Wilco Nienaber sounds a bit like a super hero discussing his super powers when he says, “It’s really key for me to choose wisely when I use it.”
This is no infinity ring he’s talking about, or an ability to bend steel with his brain. But in the world of professional golf, Nienaber does indeed possess a super power. He hits a golf ball the kind of distances that would make Elon Musk and SpaceX sit up and take note. In fact, it was enough for Captain Protein himself, Bryson DeChambeau, to briefly follow him on Instagram just to see what all the hype was about.
And the hype is real. A 20-year-old kid from Bloemfontein, the capital city of the largely agricultural Free State province in South Africa, may be the new future of golf while we’re still talking about the old future of golf.
In 2020, Nienaber’s average driving distance on the European Tour was 340.47 yards. He was roughly 36 yards farther than the field average. In the first round of the 2020 Joburg Open, Nienaber averaged 416.5 yards off the tee. He was 85 yards longer than anybody else that week. The drive that caught the most attention was an effort of 439 yards on the par-5, fourth hole on Day 1.
In 2020, DeChambeau’s average on the PGA Tour was 322.1 yards. And to add further tears to DeChambeau’s torque, whereas he is built like an ox, Nienaber is as thin as a 1-iron.
“I have two words to describe him: Next generation,” says fellow big-hitting South African Dean Burmester, who was given a glimpse of the future at the high school both he and Nienaber attended.
“I’ve known him from when I lived in Bloemfontein. We were at Grey College together. At 14 years old he was already hitting it past me. I knew for a long time he was going to be the longest in the world. I was long when I came out on Tour, but I’m nowhere near as long as him on average.
“He hits a lot more 3-woods than I do in Europe. I think when Bryson really goes after it and gives it a smack, he hits it long. But Wilco hits it well within himself and gets the same distance. I think he’s by far the longest in the world. Wilco is going to be special if he keeps going the way he is.”
If the rest of professional golf is surprised by Nienaber’s distance, then so was he when he first started playing professional tournaments while still one of South Africa’s top amateurs.
“As an amateur, when I played a golf course where there was a professional tournament, it did surprise me that I was hitting it where the pros hit it,” he said. “Then when I started playing in professional tournaments as an amateur, it was a bit of a shock for me to see that I was hitting it past the professionals.”
The secret to his distance is surprisingly, well, normal. There’s no secret gym routine, no elastic bands and stretch routines, no protein shakes or anything like that. There’s just the story of a young kid trying to keep up with the bigger kids, and a dad who refused to give him everything he asked for.
“When I was playing junior golf, I played about four age groups ahead of my age group,” Nienaber said. “So I always wanted to try and hit it as far as the older players. It’s no fun being the shortest hitter when that’s what it’s all about at that age. Also, my dad never wanted to buy me a driver, so I was hitting a 3-wood. I also played most sports, not just golf. So that developed quite a few other muscles.”
For most of his young life, Nienaber didn’t think too much about driving distance. Then he turned 15.
“It’s always been a thing for me,” he said. “I’ve always hit it long. But I’d say from about 15 to 16 years-old I could really feel the shift of distance.”
When it comes to his technique, Nienaber explains it as follows: “The thing for me is to always focus on having the club in the right position at the top so that I can give it the right amount of force on the downswing. If you’re not in the right position at the top a lot can go wrong at that speed. So I really focus on my backswing and developing a nice slow rhythm and finishing my backswing properly. From there I can really launch it.”
But as much as he relishes being able to hit it where not even a rolled-back ball would make a difference, Nienaber is equally pragmatic about what this means for his game and potential as a champion.
“Hitting it far does help, but you’ve still got to get the ball in the hole,” he said. “For me, it’s really important to get the right lines off my tee shots.”
And then this.
“I actually don’t hit my drive 100 percent on the golf course, or on the range. I hit it about 85-90 percent. So when I really need to, I know I’ve got another 10-15 percent carry in the bag.”
You read correctly. He’s currently holding back.
Park the Batmobile in the Batcave, Robin. There’s a new superhero in Gotham City.
E-Mail Michael