Louis Oosthuizen in 500-yard drive

LOUIS Oosthuizen already averages more than 300 yards per drive on the European Tour this season, but not usually in the manner he did in the Ballantine’s Championship yesterday.

Oosthuizen’s tee-shot on the 583-yard first hole at Blackstone Golf Club was pushed right of the fairway and bounced on to a winding cart path running down the side of the hole. It then rolled downhill for more than a minute and a half, picking up speed after almost coming to a halt at one point and trundling past two bemused spectators before coming to a halt against a kerb - around 500 yards from the tee.

From there the world No 7 took a free drop and pitched back on to the fairway, eventually recording a par-5 on his way to a round of 71 and four-under total of 140.

The longest drive ever recorded in golf history was hit with a persimmon driver. The man who did it was 64 year-old Mike Austin, who crushed a monster of a drive 515 yards in 1974, at the National Senior Open Championship at Desert Rose, Las Vegas.