Germantown’s assistant fire chief was once the best driver in the world.

Not on fire trucks. Will Hogue once sat atop the World Long Drive tour rankings in 2016. He slammed golf balls on average farther than anyone else in the competitive long-driving game.

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While he isn’t as limber these days and has been hampered by the lingering problems from an ankle injury, Hogue, 37, is headed to Atlanta later this week for the World Long Drive Championship. He will tee it up Thursday morning, and with experience and preparation, he isn’t too nervous about the challenge.

“It’s like you’re getting ready to play a big game,” he said. “You’re excited. You’re ready to go. Got the butterflies. At this point, I’ve hit enough golf balls in my life and over my career, and I trust my swing. I feel prepared enough to not feel nervous.”

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Hogue grew up in Germantown and casually played golf at Windyke Country Club. When he decided to pursue baseball at Houston High, he put away the clubs. He was an outfielder at Austin Peay but returned home after graduation.

During an outing at Windyke with his father, Hogue mashed a drive about 410 yards. His father tried to convince him to take a shot at the long drive competition after seeing the event on television, but his son wasn’t interested. Finally, his father offered to pay the entry fee, and Hogue competed in his first event in 2013. He finished third in the World Long Drive Championship.

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Today, he’s considered one of the best long drivers to have never won the world championship.

Hogue believes he was better when he was ranked No. 2 in 2018 than when he reached No. 1 status two years earlier. In 2018, he won three events, including one international competition.

His success was partly due to practicing four to six times per week.

“I was consistent, and won a lot of tournaments,” he said.

As a husband and father of five, he hasn’t practiced as much in recent years. He has prioritized his family, and before he was promoted to assistant fire chief in July, he worked 24-hour shifts. 

“(Hogue) puts his best effort in everything he does. Pays a lot of attention to detail,” Eric Grizzard, Germantown fire chief, said. “He works really really hard on all aspects of his job and performance. ... It doesn’t matter what he’s doing. He just goes hard at everything he does.”

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That work ethic translates to long driving, an offshoot of golf judged on distance and accuracy. In World Long Drive events, competitors have 2 1/2 minutes to hit six golf balls to qualify as their scoring shot. The ball must land within a 60-yard-wide fairway.

Hogue has remained one of the best in his game. His current long drives average about 369 1/2 yards, the 21st-best in the world.

As assistant chief, he can practice more, sometimes after his kids go to bed. He usually goes to Putt-Putt Golf & Games if he practices at night. However, during the day he often hits at Vantage Point Golf Center. He doesn’t have a reason, but it’s what he’s done throughout his career.

And it’s worked.

In recent years, he knows his distance has diminished from its prime seasons. In 2018 — the year he was ranked No. 2 — he broke his left ankle by simply stepping off the fire truck. He “came down on it wrong” breaking the ankle and tearing all the ligaments.

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The injury continues to affect his swing, which during competitions results in uncoiling your whole body at impact with the golf ball.

“When you swing a golf club, you have to shift your weight to your left side. With a broken ankle and torn ligaments, I was unable to do that and now I still have a hard time doing that because (my ankle) is still a little loose.”

Despite the injury, Hogue won the Bluff City Shootout, a Memphis tournament, the following week. Organizers would allow him to withdraw but without refunding his entry fee.

“I thought ‘Whatever. I’ll show up,’” he said, knowing he could add points to his world ranking. “I ended up winning the tournament. I hit one ball, and thought ‘I could hit another one.’ I went one at a time all the way through the finals and ended up winning.”

After COVID-19, the injury and his family, he acknowledged his training isn’t at the same level as during his best years. He’s never been back to where he was prior to the ankle injury, he said. 

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His longest drive in his career is 426 yards, but he doesn’t think he will surpass that. His body, he said, can’t handle the four to six days of practice each week like it once did. Although he’s practiced two to three times days per week for the Atlanta event, he’s spent six days weekly in the gym, spending most of his time on weights.

He planned to retire from his long drive run at the end of this year, but his wife encouraged him to continue at least one more.

“Her argument is if I retire at the end of this year without putting the work into it, I’ll regret it later,” he said. “So I should give it one year working as hard as I can, then if I decide to leave I can leave knowing I tried my best.

“But if I do well enough, and I think I could still do it, then I’ll stick around.”