The Long Drive Championship has been a part of the golf landscape dating back to 1976 when the first event of the sport was contested. Over the last 50 years, there has been an increase in the popularity of this sport among men and women. In the game, distance is all that matters and there is no getting around it. There have been plenty of legendary male and female athletes in every sport and Long Drive is not an exception. However, gender differences in any sport have long been a most discussed topic in the world of sports due to the lack of inclusion and gaps in recognition or acknowledgment.
While men and women live, work, and socialize together in everyday life, sports have typically remained a gender-segregated activity. The main reason for this is that men and women have distinct physical structures. Men often have different physical attributes than women that influence their performance. Therefore competing on an equal level for the two genders is difficult in most sports. Lee Brandon, the first-ever woman to score over 330 yards at the age of 55 has defied the odds not only in the Long Drive championship but in the fitness industry too.
Her debut in the sport of long drive occurred in a very interesting way. She was dared into the game by one of her investment banking clients. What was at stake was if she outperformed him, her client would get her a golf club membership, and if she came short, she would train him for “free” for a whole year. When the stakes were high, Brandon who had never played the sport before, outperformed her client in her first attempt at Golf Long Drive.
Before making her debut in the Golf Long Drive sport, Lee Brandon had worked with the NY Jets from 1990-1991. She was the first-ever female strength and conditioning coach hired by the NFL. Brandon’s life as a fitness trainer, athlete, and long-drive champion has a story of its own.
In a career spanning over four decades, Lee Brandon has defied many odds, like the severe injury she suffered at a young age that changed the landscape of her life in 1979. Upon suffering a harrowing injury, Brandon became the first woman to receive an arm reattachment surgery in the United States. It took seven years to regain the full use of her hand. She saw a little light of hope in the distance and decided to devote her life to training athletes to the best of her power and knowledge.
On her journey to training athletes, Brandon was hired by NFL for the NY Jets as a strength and conditioning coach. Upon her arrival, due to her name being “Lee” the locker room awaited a man to appear. She had to demonstrate to the coaching team that she could handle the job’s high workloads while also offering the degree of knowledge and competence necessary for the role of Assistant Strength Coach. Although there have been several women claiming to be the first female to be ever hired by NFL. However, Brandon has old Jets gear and financial paperwork from her stint with the NFL authenticating her time with them and highlighting her as the first woman to be hired by the NFL as an assistant strength coach.
She was an Olympic coach for the 1984 Los Angeles, the 2012 London, the 2016 Rio, and the 2020 Tokyo teams, and she is currently working with a few athletes in preparation for the 2024 Paris Olympics. Brandon’s approach and proprietary methodology are used to teach champions at all levels, including mothers, delivery workers, nurses, weekend warriors, golfers of all skill levels, and top Olympians. She has taught a diverse range of individuals, from professional athletes to celebrities.
As for her career in the Golf Long Drive, she was 35 and had never hit a golf ball in her life. she won the 2001 World Long Drive Championship. Two years later in 2003, she won the Safeway Classic Invitational Long Drive Championship held at Columbia Edgewater in Portland, Ore. In 2006, she won the Celebrity Drive-off with Lisa Fernandez competing against Bo Jackson and Roger Clemens. As of today, she is a three-time World Long Drive Champion.
The life of Lee Brandon serves as an example for women to use their natural athletic talents. The shift in her life as a person, and her constantly evolving career have taken her where she stands today.