Golf’s newest big hitter has a ball speed of 200 mph… and bends 2 irons?

Chris Gotterup, we learned this week from his nearly hour-long encounter with GOLF’s below average podcast, don’t strap on your golf glove. He feels “limited” when he does, he says. We also found out that he had heard a few stories about the now mysterious Anthony Kim. Both played their college golf in Oklahoma.

If you’ve been following the pro game over the past month, you might also know that Gotterup flirts with the top of the leaderboards. At the US Open last month, he tied for a respectable 43rd place. A week later, at the Travelers Championship, Gotterup was eight places better. Last week at the John Deere Classic he was even better, tied for fourth. Of course, if you know your college golfer, you might know he’s in familiar territory. At OU last season, he won the Jack Nicklaus Award and the Haskins Award.

All of the above details are noteworthy. As is this, who can line it up for more success:

Gotterup can pop it. Like really, really pop.

“You know, talking to one of your assistant coaches, Bill Allcorn, he was telling me a bit about your game, said if you want you can increase it up to a ball speed of about 200 mph . True?” below average co-host Colt Knost asked Gotterup on the podcast.

“Yeah, I hit 200,” Gotterup said.

“It’s quick,” below average said co-host Drew Stoltz wryly. “That’s good, good job.”

In effect. For perspective, PGA Tour leader in ball speed, Cameron Champ, has hit a season-high 194 mph. Knost then turned to another story of speed.

“And he [Allcorn] also said, you cracked a 2 iron,” Knost said. “I’ve heard of cracking drivers. Now, have you cracked a 2 iron? »

“I just cracked one last week at the Open, so TaylorMade had to build me a new one,” Gotterup said. “Yeah, the one I use, they have the same, I don’t know what it is, like Speed ​​Foam or whatever, and the face – I hit it so much that the face curves a bit on me, so when it starts to get really squirrelly, I know it’s probably not me, so if they start going left, they’ve probably caved.

“How far do you carry a 2 iron?” Knost said.

“Um, like 265, probably,” Gotterup said.

It is far. For perspective here, that number would rival the driving average of some of the shortest hitters in the Tour.

Knost then wondered if Gotterup had “always, since junior golf and all, just smashed.”

“Yeah, I used to have a crazy long swing, like a little John Daly-esque, like, it went all the way down to my hip on the other side,” he said. “So I’ve always had speed and played lacrosse for a while, so that’s kind of where I think my speed comes from. Just kind of quick tears.

“And I think that sort of translates into golf and yeah I’ve always had speed but once I started going to the gym I got a little bit faster, that’s sure.”

You can listen to the entire Subpar episode with Chris Gotterup below.

Nick Piastowski

Golf.com Editor

Nick Piastowski is an editor at Golf.com and Golf Magazine. In his role, he is responsible for editing, writing and developing stories in the golf space. And when he’s not writing about ways to hit the golf ball farther and straighter, the Milwaukee native is probably playing the game, hitting the ball left, right and short, and drinking a cold beer to clear his score. You can contact him about any of these topics – his stories, his game or his beers – at nick.piastowski@golf.com.