| Terry Forcum | |
| Full Name: | Terry Wayne Forcum |
| Birth Date: | 4 May 1942 |
| Birth Place: | Downey, California, United States of America |
| Death Place: | Wichita, Kansas, United States of America |
| Height: | 6ft 5in |
| Weight: | 215–230 lbs |
| Yearpro: | 1975 |
| Award1: | World Long Drive Championship |
| Year1: | 1983 |
Terry Wayne Forcum (May 4, 1942 – July 26, 2022[1]) was an American golfer who competed as a professional long drive athlete, winning the World Championship in 1983.[2] [3]
Forcum was born in Downey, California, and attended high school in Ponca City, Oklahoma, graduating in 1960.[2] After high school he competed on the rodeo circuit as a bull rider for four years.[2] In 1964 he was drafted into the United States Army and served two years in Wurzburg, Germany.[2] While serving overseas, Forcum competed in football, baseball, boxing and golf.[2] After returning to the States, he attended the University of Houston[4] and opened a welding shop in Ponca City, Oklahoma, but continued playing sports recreationally.[5]
Forcum first picked up a golf club when he was 10 years old.[2] By age 14–15 he realized that he could hit a golf ball an exceptionally long distance.[2] He played on the junior high golf team in Ponca City, but opted to play baseball instead in high school.[2] He played in amateur golf tournaments in the 1960s[3] and became a professional golfer in 1975.[1] [2] Competing in the US National Long Drive Championship,[6] he won 6th place in 1976, 2nd place in 1982, 1st place in 1983 (becoming at age 41 the oldest to do so[3]), and 3rd place in 1988.[2] [7] His 1983 1st place win at the Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, California earned him the title of World Long Drive Champion for that year – see World Long Drive Championship Winners. By 1990, he had finished in the top 10 in long drive competitions in eight of the 10 previous years.[6] He competed in his last National Long Drive Championship in 2008 at the age of 66.[2]
His longest competition drive was 369 yards at a competition held in Tokyo, Japan.[2] He hit a 427-yard drive at a Professional Golfers Association clinic, and his longest recorded drive ever was 547 yards at the Lakeside Golf Course in Ponca City.[2] [3] He could hit a ball up to 300 yards out of a tee box with a 4 wood, 257 yards with a 7 iron, and once hit a 361-yard drive while on his knees.[2] He was also known for hitting "stunt shots" that included driving a ball through a piece of plywood, and hitting a ball out of a person's mouth.[2] [3] [6]
A founding member of the 350 Club, the original group of long drivers who toured the world putting on exhibitions and clinics, the Pro Long Drive Association lists him as a pioneer of the long drive sport.[2]
Forcum died in Wichita, Kansas at the age of 80.