Born and raised in Québec, Savannah Meyer-Clément found her way to Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, where she was a defender on the women’s soccer squad and graduated with a major in French studies. As she transitioned from soccer to golf, Savannah made waves in World Long Drive. In 2023, she achieved a personal best of 358 yards at an event in Colorado. She has two top 8 finishes in 2024. She's currently no. 10 in the world rankings.
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Q&A with Savannah Meyer-Clément, professional golfer and performance coach specializing in World Long Drive competitions.
So, you and golf. How did it all start?
Golf has been part of my life since I could walk thanks to my dad being a PGA professional. But my sporting journey has been quite diverse. My first love was actually soccer, and I played at the highest level through university, including five years of women’s varsity at Queen’s.
Two concussions ended my soccer career, but I felt I hadn’t reached my full potential and that was difficult to accept. It drove me to see how far I could go in golf.
After graduating in 2018, I moved to Québec with my now fiancé. He’d never even picked up a golf club before moving in with me! When he started coming to the course, he picked it up quickly and showed exceptional distance off the tee. We realized he should enter some long drive competitions, and that ultimately inspired me to do the same since I’d always been known for my distance.
Today, at 29, I’m a PGA of Canada professional, a performance coach, a mental performance coach and a World Long Drive athlete.
Why long drive?
What drew me to long drive competitions was the chance to travel and compete alongside my fiancé. It’s a shared experience we cherish—supporting each other while pursuing our individual goals.
The long drive environment is incredibly engaging: high-energy, fast-paced and filled with a supportive community. This was refreshing after tournament golf, which I found somewhat isolating. Long drive offers a healthier balance: I’ve formed genuine friendships with amazing women in the sport, and we can be close off the grid while still bringing our competitive edge when it counts.
Beyond the community aspect, long drive has been transformative for my personal growth. I’ve always been self-conscious and overly concerned with others’ opinions, but competing has built my confidence tremendously. Performing on a world stage, on live television, in front of crowds with countless distractions are all things the old me would have found impossible. I’ve developed a self-belief that allows me to see myself as a true competitor capable of great achievements, and that’s something I’m profoundly grateful for.
Heading into a long drive competition, how do you prepare?
My preparation for a long drive competition involves a multidimensional approach to physical fitness to ensure I’m ready for the explosive power and precision long drive requires, while maintaining the balance and mobility essential for consistent performance.
I recently discovered Pilates, which has been incredibly humbling despite my lifelong athletic background. It’s the most balanced full-body workout I’ve experienced. And since a golf swing requires perfect bilateral balance, Pilates has really optimized this aspect of my fitness.
I weight train once or twice a week for performance and for long-term bone density and overall well-being. Electrical muscle stimulation and speed training are also crucial components of my physical preparation.
For the mental aspect, as a performance coach myself, I focus heavily on the concept of acceptance. So, being able to fully let go and perform freely without fear or judgment. Acceptance is often misunderstood as giving up or resigning, but it’s actually the ability to release tension and move forward in a positive direction. Stable confidence that isn’t solely tied to results allows me to access my full potential even under competitive pressure.
How do you maintain consistency when hitting such powerful shots?
My consistency in competition comes down to maintaining a strong external focus. While it might seem that long drive is all about raw power, my number one priority is always delivering the club into the precise direction I’m targeting.
Being intensely target-oriented is absolutely crucial for competition success. You can swing with tremendous speed, but without a specific directional focus, it becomes extremely challenging to keep balls in play. By staying externally focused and locked in on well-defined targets, I’m able to channel that explosive power effectively and maintain consistency even when swinging at maximum velocity—balancing the power needed for distance with the precision required to keep the ball in the competition grid.
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What’s the biggest misconception about long drive athletes?
That we can hit it far but lack accuracy or can’t play good golf! That couldn’t be further from the truth. In reality, it requires significantly more precision to maintain good results in competition when swinging at maximum velocity.
Many of us come from strong golf backgrounds and play very solid traditional golf. The skills required for long drive—timing, coordination and body control—all translate to the regular game. Far from being one-dimensional power hitters, long drive athletes are highly skilled players who have mastered one of the most difficult aspects of the game: generating extreme speed while maintaining sufficient control.
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What does golf mean to you?
Golf has been transformative for me, particularly as an athlete. Had I not immersed myself in golf and long drive specifically, I genuinely wouldn’t be the person I am today.
The sport has pushed me to consistently step outside my comfort zone and liberated me from being overly concerned with others’ opinions. It’s significantly reduced my self-consciousness and helped me develop a stronger sense of self.
I’m profoundly grateful to golf for proving to me that I can succeed independently, without the team sport environment I was accustomed to for so many years. There’s something uniquely rewarding about witnessing your own individual success and continuing to push for greater achievements.
While competing still brings moments of uncertainty and nervousness, overcoming those challenges has built a resilience in me that extends far beyond the course. Golf has become more than a sport—it’s been a vehicle for personal growth that has reshaped how I see myself and my capabilities.
What achievement are you most proud of in your long drive career?
My proudest achievements in long drive span from the beginning of my journey to recent success. First was simply stepping into my initial competition in Mesquite, Nevada—the spiritual home of long drive. What made this moment especially meaningful was that we competed under the lights at a large soccer complex. As someone with a soccer background, those 9 p.m. games under the lights make up some of my fondest sporting memories, so I felt an immediate sense of comfort in an otherwise new environment. It felt like coming full circle, allowing me to relax and enjoy the moment despite it being my competitive debut.
What are you currently overspending on?
Competition expenses are definitely our biggest financial challenge right now. Between entry fees and travel costs to attend events across the country, our long drive passion requires significant investment.
We’re actively seeking solid sponsorship for our long drive competitions to help alleviate some of this financial pressure. Having a partner who believes in our potential and wants to support our competitive journey would make a tremendous difference, allowing us to focus more on performance and less on the financial aspects of competing at this level.
What is the last thing you saw that made an impression on you?
I’ve been deeply impacted by several sports documentaries on Netflix, particularly the Drive to Survive and Full Swing series. They reveal the human side of professional athletes—the struggles, vulnerabilities and personal challenges behind the public personas.
It’s fascinating to get this intimate perspective on how elite competitors handle adversity and bounce back from setbacks. As an athlete myself, seeing the behind-the-scenes reality of what it truly takes to compete at the highest level is both enlightening and validating. There’s also something refreshing about recognizing that even the world’s best athletes face similar emotional and psychological challenges that we all do. These documentaries strip away the mythic quality often associated with sports stars and show them as complete human beings navigating tremendous pressure while balancing personal lives.
Witnessing how they process defeat, manage expectations and maintain resilience through difficult moments provides valuable insights that extend well beyond sports—lessons I find myself applying to my own competitive journey in long drive.
