Journey to the Worlds 2012

In this video I’m going to talk about how a recent corporate outing, and aiming to only half the fairway, helped me to work on my driver consistency and my accuracy. There’s a lesson you can apply the next time you are on the golf course.

As I mention in the video, with a little over a week to go before the competition my driver testing is over. John Greenwood built a couple more drivers to the specs that are working best for my swing, and we’ll do some field testing on the launch monitor to make sure they are performing as expected.

Then I shifted to working on two parts of technique, combining two of the drills I include in my training program The 5 Keys To Distance: the Tee Back drill, and the Slant Board drill.

By using these two drills in combination, I can very quickly accomplish three things:

1. Make sure my club path and swing plane are correct;
2. Widen my swing arc, and use the laws of physics to help me generate more club head speed;
3. Maintain my leverage position, which in turn allows me to make maximum use of the power in my core muscles and initiate the swing with a strong lower body move.

I talk about how to set up the Slant Board in my Distance Training Videos.

In this video you’ll see how I use a rods on the ground for my alignment and ball position, and then where I position a tee in the backswing to help me with a wider golf swing. With the Tee Back drill, my club will make a “tick” sound as it hits the tee on the back swing. If I miss the tee, I know I’ve either hinged too early and picked the club up, or I’ve brought the club back off-plane (usually inside). If I don’t hear the tick, I stop my swing and do it all over.

This combination of drills really helps with distance: it gives me the widest swing arc and maximum core power.

Lastly, the corporate outing really helped me prepare for the Worlds. After an exhibition prior to the shotgun, I stationed myself on a par-5 and hit drives all day for the 4-somes as they came through.

The outing was a good test for me because I got a chance to really get to know my new drivers under performance circumstances: I had an audience, and they were expecting me to be both consistent AND long.

It also allowed me to work on my driver accuracy, and that’s one of the key lessons from the event any golfer can use.

I challenged myself to hit into a 30-yard wide fairway all day, and more specifically to the right side of the fairway (that gave the groups the best angle in to the pin).

The lesson you can take to the golf course the next time you play is to challenge yourself to hit to one side of the fairway or the other. You can use this technique strategically to put yourself on the side of the fairway that gives you the best angle in to the green. But forcing yourself to play to half the fairway will help you to become a more accurate driver of the ball. I know that this experience will help me when I am in my competition: The 50-yard wide grid at the Worlds will feel like a luxury.

See you down the fairway!

Eric Jones
PGA Professional and World Long Drive Champion

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