Thomas Broders isn’t a typical college athlete. He isn’t a part of the NCAA, he doesn’t compete in a club sport and he doesn’t train with other Miami University athletes.

Broders is preparing for the World Long Drive Championship. In the competition, golfers have eight chances to hit a golf ball as far as possible down an open field. The men’s 2018 winner, Maurice Allen, took first with a 393-yard drive.

“The furthest I ever drove was 398 yards,” said Broders.

He has six more months to train. The 2019 championship is scheduled for six days in late August and early September.

Broders aims to increase his distance by increasing his club head speed. His routine involves weight lifting, cycling and of course, the driving range.

He recently began filming some of his practices at the driving range for a YouTube channel.

“I go out there and I have to find fresh things to do,” he said. “I’ll do trick shots, I’ll bring my buddies out to compete with. This one video I made I hit my drive through pumpkins.”

Before starting his channel, Broders didn’t know how to edit a video at all.

“Thanks to my job and my friend who does YouTube, I was able to start,” he said. “I got a camera and I just watched a lot of videos on how to do different things and tried them for myself.”

Broders will continue his training in the hope of taking first place in this year’s World Long Drive Championship.

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