DAUPHIN COUNTY – Call him Big Hittin’ Ben. Ben Kassman tees it high and lets it fly.
The 2014 Lower Dauphin grad can smash a golf ball a long way and hopes to measure up in a qualifying event for the World Long Drive Championship.
We caught up to Ben at Harrisburg Golf Simulator. It’s been an interesting journey from professional golf school in Florida back to Pennsylvania where he is currently the Assistant Pro at Regents’ Glen Country Club . During his travels, Ben was discovered mashing some tee shots over 300 hundred yards when a world class long driver suggested he give competitions a shot.
"I got to actually hitting golf balls and thought it was kind of fun, hit a couple over 360, 370, 380 when I first started doing it," Kassman explained. "Decided to do my first qualifier a couple months ago in South Carolina. The first time was quite nerve-racking but I got one out to 386, 385 and 386 yards, out on the grid so I was pretty pleased with it for the first time doing it."
After three and a half months of training at Harrisburg Golf Simulator, Ben's drives are averaging nearly 400 yards. His club head speed is over 140 miles per hour. He takes his swings in Memphis, Tennessee for the qualifying event. He gets eight swings in three minutes and needs to hit the golf ball long and straight to have a chance to advance.
