Mike Austin passes: Mike Austin, the world record holder for longest drive in a professional golf tournament, died Nov. 22, 2005 of natural causes at the Motion Picture & Television Hospital in Woodland Hills. He was 95.

Austin is best known for a 515-yard drive made during a 1974 U.S. National Seniors Open championship in Las Vegas, when he was 64. He used a steel-shafted persimmon wood driver and a balata-covered ball and had a 27-mph tail wind. The drive is recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records.

Born on Guernsey in Britain's Channel Islands in 1910, Austin lived in Scotland, Boston and Atlanta before moving to Los Angeles in 1939. He had brief stints as a professional golfer, but his short game was problematic. His best finish was 37th at the 1961 Ontario Open in Canada.

Austin earned bachelor's degrees in physics and engineering at Emory University and Georgia Institute of Technology. He also earned a doctorate in kinesiology at Georgia Tech. He applied his scientific background to develop a swing that relied on efficiency of body movement.