Chris Gotterup, we’ve learned this week through his nearly hour-long sitdown with GOLF’s Subpar podcast, doesn’t fasten his golf glove. He feels “restricted” when he does, he says. We also found out that he’s heard a few stories about the now-mysterious Anthony Kim. Both played their college golf at Oklahoma.
If you’ve been following the pro game over the past month, you also may know that Gotterup is flirting with the top of leaderboards. At the U.S. Open last month, he tied for a respectable 43rd. A week later, at the Travelers Championship, Gotterup was eight spots better. Last week, at the John Deere Classic, he was better still, tying for fourth. Of course, if you know your college golf, you’re maybe aware that he’s in familiar territory. At OU this past season, he won both the Jack Nicklaus Award and the Haskins Award.
All of the details above are notable. As is this, which may line him up for more success:
Gotterup can pop it. Like really, really pop it.
“You know, in talking to one of your assistant coaches, Bill Allcorn, he was talking to me a little bit about your game, says if you want, you can get it up to around 200 mph ball speed. True?” Subpar co-host Colt Knost asked Gotterup on the podcast.
“Yeah, I’ve hit 200,” Gotterup said.
“That’s fast,” Subpar co-host Drew Stoltz said, tongue-in-cheek. “That’s good, good job.”
Indeed. For perspective, the PGA Tour’s leader in ball speed, Cameron Champ, has a high of 194 mph this season. Knost then looked into another speed story.
“And he [Allcorn] said also, you’ve cracked a 2-iron,” Knost said. “I’ve heard of cracking drivers. Now you’ve cracked a 2-iron?”
“I just cracked one last week at the Open actually so TaylorMade had to build me a new one,” Gotterup said. “Yeah, the one I use, they got the like, I don’t know what it is, like the Speed Foam or whatever, and the face — I hit it so much that the face just kind of curves a little bit on me, so when it starts getting really squirrelly, I know it’s probably not me so if they start going left, they’ve probably caved in.”
“How far does a 2-iron carry for you?” Knost said.
“Uh, like 265, probably,” Gotterup said.
That’s far. For perspective here, that number would compete with the driving average of some of the shortest hitters on Tour.
Knost then wondered if Gotterup has “always, since junior golf and everything, just smashed it.”
“Yeah, I used to have a crazy long swing, like a little John Daly-esque, like, it would go down to my hip on the other side,” he said. “So I’ve kind of always had speed and I played lacrosse for a while so that was kind of where I think my speed came from. Just kind of quick rips.
“And I think that’s kind of translated into golf and yeah I’ve always had speed but then once I started hitting the gym I got a little faster, for sure.”
You can listen to the entire Subpar episode with Chris Gotterup below.
