The Kyrie Irving-Uncle Drew phenomenon has reached the golf world. Just a few weeks ago, Skratch ignited the golfing grandparent craze with Troy Mullins going incognito as “Grandma Gladys,” and now Cleveland Golf has one-upped them with two-time World Long Drive Champion Jamie Sadlowski dressing up as “Grandpa Jamie” to promote their new Cleveland Launcher HB Driver.
Sadlowski won back-to-back World Long Drive Championships in 2008 and 2009, but his competitive makeup has led him to attempt to play full-time on the PGA Tour. Sadlowski will tee it up in 2018 on the Mackenzie Tour in Canada in hopes of earning his Web.com Tour card next season.
‘Grandma Gladys’ Smokes 300-Yard Drives
In a conversation with GolfDigest.com’s E. Michael Johnson, Sadlowski talked more about how Cleveland Golf talked him into the idea and the push — or sip — that allowed him to fully embrace the character.
“Cleveland had the idea and they rolled around with it a bit with my agent,” Sadlowski said. “When they finally came to terms they pretty much told me what we were going to do and to start preparing. I didn’t have much say, but I thought it would be fun. And it was once I got out of my shell.”
Sadlowski has never been much of an actor, but he gave credit to Irving’s portrayal of an elderly hoopster for verbal cues and mannerisms that he used in his Grandpa Jamie character. While the makeup applications took nearly five hours, once Sadlowski was in character, some liquid courage helped him to embrace the role.
“It’s kind of fun being that person that can say anything they want to and have a free pass,” he said. “So I used that up a little bit. No repercussions or anything? Yeah, I liked that. I had a couple vodkas to start the day to calm my nerves because I’m shy and quiet and for this to happen I needed a little liquid courage to loosen me up. By the middle of the shoot I was feeling pretty good and let’s just say there’s some pretty classic stuff that ended up on the cutting room floor that I probably shouldn’t have said.”
Hopefully, that blooper reel is the next thing to come out from Cleveland.
