Hurlbut Likes a Long Drive to Work

Mike Hurlbut isn’t playing his best golf these days, but he couldn’t care less. What’s a few more bogeys when you have won nearly $2,000 in the last month swinging a club?

Hurlbut, a history teacher and volleyball coach at San Clemente High School, is using his summer vacation to make a go of it in the world of professional long driving.

Here the objective is to whack the ball farther than the other guys.

Hurlbut, 33, has always been able to hit a golf ball a long way and for the past few years friends and family have been telling him him could make some money with his skill.

Turns out, they were right. Hurlbut won his second event as a professional, July 4 at NorthWood Golf Center in Irvine. Hurlbut’s winning drive was measured at 359 yards 2 feet 8 inches and earned $1,000.

In his first professional event, Hurlbut finished seventh and won $875 in June at a $30,000 event in Pomona. The winner, defending world champion Jason Zuback, got $9,000. Gerry James, a club professional at Strawberry Farms in Irvine, took home $5,000 for second.

Surprised--and pumped--by his early success, Hurlbut has decided to attempt to qualify for the Remax World Long Drive Championship in October in Mesquite, Nev. The prize money will help fund trips to qualifying events. The world championship has a purse of $250,000 with $75,000 going to the winner.

“This is a lot of fun,” Hurlbut said. “I enjoy hitting the golf ball as far as a can. I love the competition. And the money is nice too. That is 1,875 times as much as I thought I was going to make in my first two events.

“I didn’t think I was going to win a dime. That has freed me up to travel some and pursue this, and I’m going to give it my best shot.”

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Hurlbut was introduced to golf when he was 8 by his father, Ron, and immediately took a liking to the sport as a leisure activity.

For competition, he stayed on the court, playing basketball and volleyball for San Clemente High. He played volleyball at USC, helping the Trojans to three consecutive runner-up finishes in the NCAA Championships.

Along the way, and with little formal training, he became a decent golfer. “I’m going to be a 10 handicap no matter what,” he says. His drives, however, were exceptionally long.

Mike Armstrong, a PGA teaching professional at Pacific Golf and Country Club in San Clemente, got his first look at a Hurlbut drive a couple months ago.

“I stood there with my jaw open,” Armstrong said. “I couldn’t believe the height of the ball and how far it was going. Picture an eight iron going 250 yards.”

Armstrong said Hurlbut’s 6-foot-4, 220-pound frame generates club-head speed in excess of 140 mph. “It’s a tremendous rarity to have club-head speed over 140 mph,” he said. “That’s Tiger Woods level, that’s more than almost all tour players. The hard part is taking that club-head speed and controlling it.”

Armstrong is now trying to help that effort. Hurlbut, who hadn’t had a lesson in about 15 years, is taking lessons with Armstrong.

They have set him up with the right equipment, a stiffer shaft (from Harrison Sports, which signed him to a sponsorship deal at his first professional event) and a Zeider 4.5 degree club-head.

Now they are working on consistency. Competitors in long-drive events have six shots at a 40-yard wide grid. Hurlbut shoots to hit the grid with at least three of his first four shots, establish a distance, and let fly with his final two attempts.

Hurlbut’s daily practices run about two hours, starting with stretching, to limber up, moving into warm-up shots with his seven-and five-irons. Then he pulls out the driver.

“I’m having reasonable success so far and [Armstrong] will tell you I don’t even know what I’ doing yet,” Hurlbut said. “I think I have another 15 or 20 yards in me and he’s going to get me there.”

Of course, the singular focus on distance comes with a price. “This has really messed up my golf game,” Hurlbut said. “I’m putting it the same way I’m hitting off the tee.”

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Parker victory: Dana Point’s Perry Parker rallied from three shots down and won a Canadian Tour event Sunday in Winnipeg. Parker, a former Foothill High and UC Irvine standout, shot two-under-par 69 to beat Don Fardon by one stroke.

Parker birdied two of the final five holes and won $22,500 for his fourth Canadian Tour victory and first since 1993.

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Major duel: We were scratching our heads last week, wondering why two “junior majors”--the AJGA’s Rolex Tournament of Champions and the Junior World Championships--would be held during the same week.

The Tournament of Champions at Coto de Caza battling the Junior Worlds at Torrey Pines is like the Masters going against the British Open.

Turns out Junior World organizers were forced to move their tournament from its usual calendar spot to last week because the U.S. Amateur Public Links are being held at Torrey Pines this week.

It says a lot about the growth of junior golf that each tournament had a strong field. Cases in point: at Coto de Caza the boys’ winner (John Lepak) finished at five under; at Torrey Pines the winner (Taro Hiroi) was four under.

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Senior Open: Two Orange County players qualified for the U.S. Senior Open, which will be played July 23-26 at Riviera Country Club.

Irvine’s Ray Carrasco shot 68 at Del Mar Country Club to tie for medalist honors.

Carrasco, a teaching pro at NorthWood Golf Center, has qualified for the last two Toshiba Senior Classics.

Bob Risch of Fullerton also tied for medalist honors, shooting 69 at Redlands Country Club. Risch won the 1970 U.S. Amateur Public Links championship.

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The Orange County Golf Notebook runs regularly. Suggestions are welcome. Call (714) 966-5904, fax 966-5663 or e-mail Martin.Beck@latimes.com or Steve.Kresal@latimes.com