Zach Dinnen

From the perfect swing to the perfect shoe, Zach Dinnen keeps his eye on the ball.

Several years ago, Zach was doing exactly what he’d planned, earning a degree in welding technology and working in the trades just as both his grandfathers did. Yet something about it didn’t sit right. Even though it paid well, he felt as if something was missing. 

“In any welding shop,” Zach says, “they're trying to get you to pump out numbers, and they're paying you the same wage as the next guy, which wasn’t incentivizing. I believed that if I were to go out on my own, I could incentivize hard work, and I decided that welding 70 hours a week wasn't all that God had in store for me.” 

So he put in his two-week notice and started a job working as a ranch hand in New Virginia, Iowa where he baled hay, mowed fields, and took care of the colts and fillies. One day, when the farrier came to trim their feet, Zach could feel his career plan moving towards an exciting new path.

The leap into farriery

Zach remembers: “I saw the farrier pull in. He had a really nice pickup truck and a Stonewell trailer. I thought, ‘I’ve gotta find a way to make that kind of money!?’ I made a bold move and offered my help.”

As the farrier worked, Zach asked him questions. Finally, he just came out and offered, “Hey, if you ever need any help, I can hold horses for you…or push a broom.”

He didn’t know it at the time, but Zach’s life had just reached a crossroads. The farrier accepted his offer, and Zach began his two-year-long apprenticeship.

“The whole leap into farriery,” he says, “going from a high-paying welding job to working on a ranch and jumping in the truck with a farrier—it was a huge risk. Everybody around me was like, ‘What the heck is a farrier? You're not gonna be able to make money doing that.’ They were just so unsure of what I was doing.”

The people who matter most

Fortunately, he had the support of the people who mattered most,  his parents Travis and Stacy Dinnen. 

“My immediate family was very supportive, ‘You're young. Go learn. Do what you need to do.’”

For the next two years, Zach apprenticed, shoeing some of the top western pleasure horses in Iowa and the surrounding areas. When his two years were closing in, he decided it was time to go out on his own.

That meant Zach was shoeing early in the day and then welding during the night shift, building his client book morning by morning. But, just like he did in the welding shop, Zach started asking questions:  Maybe, he thought, there were smarter ways to balance life and work.

The long drive

Around that same time, the COVID-19 pandemic started, and Zach finally found himself with enough spare time to pursue other hobbies like bowhunting and long drive.

As a kid, Zach and his dad had watched “long drive” competitions on TV, where golfers had 6 attempts to drive a golf ball as far as possible, typically hitting it well over 300 yards, with the record being over 500 yards.

“My goal was to drive the ball over the range into the cornfield, and that seemed impossible at first,” he says. “I think pushing club head speed at the local range helped me sort a lot of things out quickly in the swing. From there it became an addiction.” 

During his work travels, Zach stopped by longer driving ranges, often driving the golf ball further than the average PGA Tour pro. With some help from the proper equipment, like a 48’ Driver and 5-degree head, and coaching from Dad, things were really looking up for his future in the sport.

“She won everything under the sun.”

Meanwhile, Zach’s farrier work was going well. In 2021, he met Claire McClintock and started shoeing her show horse, April. Little did he know, Claire would go on to do some really big things that year.

 “She won everything under the sun that entire year. It was awesome to be a part of it all,” says Zach, like “the ABRA World Show, the All American Quarter Horse Congress, the NSBA World Show, the Iowa Ranch Horse Futurity, just all kinds of shows.”

As Zach started getting more work toward Southern Oklahoma and North Texas, the pair, now a couple, eventually decided to get married and move to Texas.

“As soon as we moved down to Texas,  Claire mentioned,” ‘Hey, you're really into this long-drive stuff. You should enter one of these competitions!’”

“The adrenaline became addicting,”

At the first event he entered, the Ultimate Long Drive in Austin, Texas,  Zach was awarded 2nd place. He was hooked.

“The adrenaline became addicting,” Zach says. “It doesn't seem like golf would be this adrenalizing, but a 400-yard drive definitely is! The standard format allows you six balls to make the best shot, swinging as hard as you can with a crowd of people watching you. It's nerve-wracking at first.”

So, he continued to compete. 

The following year, he and Claire loaded up the Bronco and drove all the way from their home in Pilot Point, Texas, to Memphis, Tennessee, where he competed in the 2023 regional qualifier. Being a top competitor at that level would require excellent stress management on any day—but on this day, he was battling a nasty flu, which was sapping his strength and energy reserves. “I went from being at 100% energy and feeling like I was going to go and do great in this tournament,” Zach says, “to, three days later, being at like 70% and unable to roll out of bed.”

Fighting through the symptoms to compete was massively challenging, but Zach wasn’t backing down. Even so, his scores fell just short of moving to the next round of events.

The following season, in May 2024, he decided to test his luck at the regional qualifying competition at the World Long Drive event in La Salle, Colorado. 

One obstacle after another

This time, Zach wasn’t hit by the flu; instead, his home was hit by an EF4-ranked tornado—just five days before the Colorado Tournament.

“We lost two windows, siding, and a walkthrough door,” he says, “ I had to brush it off and tried to stay focused on the task at hand, which was getting to Colorado and winning that tournament.”

With the tornado still on his mind, Zach and his Dad, Travis, were preparing to board their flights to Denver when another storm shut down air traffic at the Dallas Fort Worth airport. All flights were grounded. Undeterred, the two drove three hours to Oklahoma City and boarded a new flight to Denver, making it onto the plane with just two minutes to spare. 

After landing in Denver, Zach waited at baggage claim for his golf clubs to arrive.

“The carousel just kept going round and round, and my golf bag wasn’t on there. I went to talk to the baggage claim lady, who told me, ‘Oh no, it appears they sent your bag to Phoenix, Arizona.’ I started to lose it. I was thinking, ‘Phoenix, Arizona? What are you talking about? We're in Denver. I've got to hit tomorrow at noon! These aren't drivers you can just go buy at Golf Galaxy!’”

Despite the chaos of the trip there, Zach made it out of the local qualifier and moved on to the regionals. Once there, he stayed in the zone.

To make matters worse, the weather that started their misadventures in Fort Worth still wasn’t over. When they left the airport, a massive hail storm destroyed their car, leaving golf ball-sized damage on the body of their rental. 

Finally, to end the streak of mishaps, Zach’s clubs miraculously arrived—just in time for the competition. 

“It was an out-of-body experience.” 

After all the stress leading up to the competition, Zach needed to focus. The Denver tournament was a qualifier for the World Long Drive Championship. Winners would move from the local tournament to the regional qualifier, competing the same day, and winners of that tournament would go on to the World Championships in Atlanta. The stakes were high. 

“My dad's been my coach for many years,” says Zach, “baseball, football, all the sports. So he was really able to get me in the zone that day. We came up with a game plan, took a deep breath, and just went for it.”

Zach and his dad walked down to watch how the balls were flying.

“We got a game plan together. We just had to let everything be in the past and go after that perfect ball. You have six balls and two and a half minutes to hit that one shot. That was the only thing I focused on the entire day. Honestly, it was an out-of-body experience.” 

Winning the mental game.

“We knew exactly what we were supposed to do,” Zach says, “Walking up to the final set, I gave myself the this is it talk. Music was blaring, fans in the crowd screamed, and I reached down to tee the ball up as my hand trembled with adrenaline. I stood up and got ready to fire my sixth ball down the grid as the clock continued ticking down the last 20 seconds of the match. I looked back at my dad, who gave me a thumbs up as if to say, ‘You got this; come on!’ I walked up to the tee box and let my body take over. I rocked back and forth and then swung out of my shoes, connecting with a ball that was absolutely throttled as it melted off the driver face, making it 429 yards, the furthest ball of my life. Adrenaline still pumping, I hopped over the fence to celebrate with my dad. We knew I had made it!”

What takes some long drivers many years, Zach achieved in two. But for him, it’s no accident that he’s been able to excel in both golf and farriery.

“Golf is a very mental game, like being a farrier is also very mental. You have to be attentive and pay close attention to what you're doing. They both teach you a lot of things about yourself and require both strength and patience,” he says.

The World Long Drive Championship
At the World Championships in August, Zach showed up ready to give his all.

“The venue was absolutely amazing,” he says. “The adrenaline was off the charts. It was great to see the world’s longest hitters all in one place, and to be standing amongst those competitors felt like an accomplishment in itself.”

Zach came in with a plan and had a good team behind him. But the grid was extremely demanding, and several of his biggest shots bounced out of bounds. He didn’t make it to the final round but plans to be back with a vengeance.

“My chin is still high, and I’m extra motivated to train hard this off-season and come back even stronger next year,” Zach says, quoting Joshua 1:9, “Be strong and courageous. Don’t be fearful or discouraged because the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

Q&A with Zach Dinnen

We met up with farrier and long drive competitor, Zach Dinnen, to see how he’s managed to balance a demanding career in Texas alongside his family's needs, while also reaching his ambitious goals as a long-drive competitor. Here’s what he had to say:
 

Tell me a little bit more about what your business looks like. What’s your week to week? 

I do try to take four healthy workdays, whether that be Monday through Thursday or Tuesday through Friday, to get everything I possibly can done. And I don't overwork myself. I believe that if you take your time and do a good job on four or five horses instead of 10, you’re going to produce a better product. You're not getting the same quality product if you're rushing through.
 

What else have you done to maintain a work/life balance?

The first thing that comes to mind is that you have to make time for yourself. In the horseshoeing business, it's very easy to get lost in trying to make everybody else's dreams come true. It’s very easy to get lost in your client book, if that makes sense.
 

How do you prevent that?

I first started noticing that I was doing more traveling around and hardly home, paying for a house I didn’t live in, so to speak.  I started prioritizing my own goals and responsibilities. As soon as you’re skipping over those personal goals to please your clients, I think that's where you start noticing the change in the direction of your business. 
 

If someone came to you and said, “Zach, I'm so overwhelmed. I'm getting burned out. I wish I had more time in my day.” What advice would you give them?

I would suggest they take a look at their business radius. How far are you traveling to appeal to your clients? Maybe consider slimming down how far you're driving because that truck time does and will eat up most of your day.

Have you had to make some difficult decisions about that in your own practice?

Absolutely. I was running a successful business in Iowa. I would drive to Iowa City from the Des Moines area. I had a big barn of training horses out that way and would turn around, drive clear over to Omaha, and service that area as well. Getting the bill at the end of the month for diesel and supplies,  I was like, ‘Man, I'm doing all this work, and I'm only making, you know, $600.’ It was hard to let some of those clients go because they were so appreciative,  professional, and doing great things within the horse industry. Plus, working for professional trainers kind of gives you a sense of pride. 
 

What do you think a healthy client relationship looks like?

I believe the keyword in a healthy relationship would be respect. I believe that if you respect their training ability and facility by cleaning up after yourself and respecting their horses while you work, it goes a long way in establishing professionalism.
 

What does it mean to you to be a competitor?

I think it's important to be competitive in at least part of your life. I believe it holds you accountable to your goals and disciplines you as a person.
 

What are some things that you do to keep yourself positive? 

I believe life and success are all about who you surround yourself with. If you're constantly hanging around negative, lazy, or excuse-making people, you're going to fall into the same hole. Separate yourself from negativity and surround yourself with people you can learn from and trust.
 

Do you have any advice for people starting out?

It's okay to just take a leap of faith and go learn something new. Put yourself out of your comfort zone! That’s what I did, and it really paid off in the long haul. It’s definitely not an overnight success story, but if you stick to it, you’ll thank yourself later.  If I could go back and tell younger me not to listen to the naysayers, that they don't know what they're talking about, I would definitely do it. There will always be that negativity in your life, especially if you’re going somewhere special. Believe in your goals because sometimes that's all it takes to overcome the obstacles standing in your way.
 

What in your life are you feeling really good about right now? 
I'm very thankful for where my life is right now, and I couldn't do it without all the people who have supported me along the way.
 

What are you looking forward to in the next couple of years?

I really look forward to potential business and long drive opportunities. I think just having an open mind to different things is always a good way to move forward. You never know who is going to pick up the phone and call when they need a professional farrier or scramble partner for charity events.

If you’d like to learn more about Zach, you can find him on Facebook and Instagram.