Aaron McFarling

Recent columns

• D.C. drama tops in NFL
• Hokies are runaway favorite this season
• Cavs' finest? Look local
• Turnabout is fair pay for J.J.

• Column archive

Aaron's blog

• Saturday Q&A column: D.C. drama tops in NFL

Q: What do you do for a living?

A: I wear this hat.

It's a dream, he knows. Maybe an unrealistic one. But Gibson "Gip" Brown also knows that people will pay good money to watch a man hit a golf ball a long way. And golf companies, fully aware of this, want to have their logos on everything associated with the big hitters. Club shafts. Balls. Polo shirts.

And especially hats.

But wearing the hat would just be part of it. There's also the concentration, the hip rotation, the weight transfer, the violent contact. All of these things, Brown has taught himself without a single lesson. All of these things he's honed alone, while smashing bucket after bucket after bucket at the driving range.

And all of these things helped Brown, at age 48, whack a ball 380 yards last weekend to win a sanctioned long-drive event, just two years removed from breaking a bone in his back.

Brown's golf-ball wallops draw crowds on weekday afternoons. He doesn't solicit these hoards. He's just there to practice. But it starts with an "Ooh," followed by a "Did you see that?" Before long, a pack of duffers will gather behind his regular tee-mat at Lakeside Golf Center in Salem, watching him pummel pills past the protective netting and into the trees more than 300 yards away.

"Sometimes you don't know what to say," Brown said Thursday, after crushing another shot into the woods. "You try to explain why yours flew 125 yards past their good shot, and then you tell them you haven't played much golf. They think you're a shyster or something."

But it's true -- Brown hasn't played much golf. He's always been a tennis player. If he breaks 80 on a day at the links, he's thrilled. That why he has a deep respect for "real" golfers, men and women who are wizards around the green and solid putters and students of the game.

Brown's never been that. He just cranks it. But for some reason -- whether it's his 6-foot-3, 210-pound stature, his longtime background in tennis or just some strange gift -- he can kill a ball off the tee.

Brown, a lifelong Salem resident, spent four years in the Coast Guard, seven years as the manager of a home-improvement store and several more as a computer installer. But his passion has always been hitting a ball hard. He developed a fearsome serve over four decades of playing tennis. And he always seemed to be an impressive ripper of the golf ball, even though he only played about three times a summer.

But two years ago, he was playing the par-4 first hole at Countryside Golf Club with some buddies when he reached the green in one mammoth tee shot. His friends buzzed. He started looking around at the distances everyone else was hitting and figured he might have a special ability.

"I just got tired of being frustrated that some days you'd come out there and just kill it, and other days it just wasn't there," Brown said. "So I started breaking it down just like a tennis serve."

He hit 10,000 balls a month for several months, then entered a long-drive competition in Nevada. Although he didn't make the cut for the nationals, he got a taste of the specialized sport and decided he wanted to pursue it seriously.

"The long drive is the slam dunk of golf," Brown said. "It's where the excitement is, I think. And a lot of people think that."

But two weeks after the competition, he got rear-ended while stopped at an intersection in Salem. The seat back of his car broke. So did a bone connected to his sacrum, the triangular bone at the base of the spine. His immediate desire was to get up and cuss out the other driver.

Only one problem: He couldn't get up.

"I went from [ticked] off to 'where's my mama?' in one second," Brown said. "It was very humbling."

Months of rehab got Brown to the point where he could swing a tennis racket again, however timidly. Three months ago, he picked up a driver again and hit the range. Only now -- with the help of over-the-counter pain medicine -- does he feel close to normal.

"I kind of feel like an athlete again," Brown said. "When I was down, you'd be surprised how much you don't realize what you've got with your health."

He comes to the Lakeside range twice daily, tweaking his swing to find the optimum distance. On Saturday, he drove five hours to Greenville, S.C., to compete in a Long Drivers of America local qualifier.

Competitors pay $40 for six chances at the longest drive. Brown won the senior division (45 and up) after drilling his second ball 380 yards.

"That was something special," said Robbie Biershank, owner of Shank's Golf Range in Greenville and director of the local qualifier. "That is strong as a bull there."

Brown, who qualified for the district event Aug. 9 in North Carolina, said he was so excited that he barely remembers driving home that day. Biershank was equally impressed.

"Broke his back two years ago -- unbelievable," Biershank said. "The torque in a swing like that? Good Lord.

"What a lot of people don't realize is you have to be an athlete to play golf. A lot of people think it's a sissy sport. That's a bunch of bull."

If Brown gets through the districts, he'll qualify for the RE/MAX World Long Drive Championship in Mesquite, Nev., a stage that has spurred numerous sponsorship offers.

Because of a settlement from the accident, Brown doesn't have to work and can dedicate his efforts to bashing balls.

His family -- wife Joanna, daughter Rachel and son Max -- are all supportive of the quest.

A hat-based career is the ultimate goal.

"If you're out there bangin' and winnin', they want you to have their name on you," Brown said. "Hopefully that'll come to fruition. That's my dream, anyhow."