Amateur Long Drive
Amateur Long Drive Championship
At the heart of grass roots events for aspiring long hitters is the ALD Amateur Long Drive Championship. The ALD Series is a competition for non-professionals that awards trophies, prizes, and divisional titles. Long drive participants compete in age brackets within local leagues across the United States and Canada as well as participate in Regional Major Qualifiers. There are multiple pathways for getting to the ALD World Championship finals. While advancing to the Amateur Long Drive World Championship, competitors earn world ranking points at both league competitions and ALD regionals. Amateurs tee it up in male and female divisions that includes youth 13 & under, junior 14 to 17, open 18 to 44, senior 45 to 59, super senior 60 to 69, and 70+. At ALD Regional Majors, event organizers may add military and adaptive long drive divisions. Aspiring long hitters can either earn enough points in league events or qualify through regional majors to compete for year-end titles and awards.
ALD League Series and Regional Majors
Improvisation is something sports organizers and event planners have globally embraced as the new normal in 2020. Although affected by the coronavirus pandemic, the Amateur Long Drive Championship Series was fortunate in many ways. First, it involves a sport that is conducted outside on a playing field with plenty of open spaces. Moreover, social distancing is the norm for long hitters, after all anyone swinging a 48-inch club deserves ample room. Since ALD League Series and Regional Majors are family-oriented sporting events, many family members were able to meet the CDC guidelines and still attend many of the events. Since the ALD 2019/2020 season teed off in September of last year, the aggressive start allowed Amateur Long Drive competitors to complete about 30 events prior to sheltering-in-place orders. Due to state and local restrictions, regional major qualifiers in Texas, Arizona, California, and Nevada were combined into a Super Regional qualifying event at the Home of Professional and Amateur Long Drive in Mesquite, NV. This year’s Golf Mesquite event also served as the roll-out for Jeff Crittenden’s Xtreme Long Drive Tour.