I think we’ve become too focused on the swing and the myriad positions and movements we create. There are too many tips, too many analysts, and too many so-called Gurus telling you how to swing the club. It seems we’ve lost sight of the end goal and what we are trying to accomplish.

The solution to simplifying your game, removing all the clutter and confusion, and bringing fun back to your game is to adopt a performance-based approach.

I’ve been talking a lot lately about Performance Based Golf for one reason: It’s the most effective approach I’ve found to make lasting improvement to your game.

Watch the video to see an explanation of performance based golf from one of my seminars.

Performance Based Golf

Performance based golf is the approach that helped me win a second World Long Drive Championship title – nine years after the first one, and coming back from rotator cuff surgery.

It’s what I call a “top-down” approach.

It takes a page from Stephen Covey’s “Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” and his second habit: Begin with the End in Mind.

The benefit of beginning at the end is that you know where you are going. You know what the outcome should be. It enables you to be proactive and to take control of your game.

Golf Made Simple

Plus, it’s simpler.

Here’s what I mean, and how simple it really is.

In the end, no matter what changes you may be trying to make to your swing, there are only four “ends” you can improve.

That’s it! Just four.

Once you know what these four outcomes are it is relatively easy to evaluate your performance against them. Either you are improving these performance measures, or you are not.

Once you begin to measure your efforts based on how well they improve performance, your job becomes much easier.

Here are the four critical performance outcomes:

• Center Contact
• Directional Accuracy
• Distance Control
• Shape Control

Keep The Main Thing the Main Thing

In the video I mention the 80/20 rule (Pareto Principle) and how you can use it to help you focus. 80% of your improvement will come from 20% of the game.

Turns out that is very similar to Covey’s third imperative: Put First Things First. Or as Yogi Berra would say, “Keep the Main Thing the Main Thing.”

How would that apply to your game?

Are you spraying your driver all over the course?
Don’t fix your swing. Look at one of the four “ends” – your Center Contact. How often do you hit it in the center of the club face?

Missing greens on your approach shots?
Work on your Direction. How often can you land a ball within the width of a green?

3-putting the greens?
Work on your Distance Control. How often can you lag a putt inside a 3-foot circle?

My Long Drive Performance Metrics

When I was preparing for the Worlds I paid attention to just two performance measures:

• My Smash Factor (which told me how well I was making center contact),
• and my Ball Speed.

EVERY swing change and equipment tweak I made was evaluated based on how well they improved these numbers.

It wasn’t guess work.
And guess what? It works!

I encourage you to take a look at your game and begin to evaluate the results based on these four performance measures. It’s the next evolution of teaching golf, and you are on the cutting edge.

RELATED POSTS:
Antidote to the Mechanics Trap
The Performance Pyramid
Journey to the Worlds 2012 (see the whole process)

And it’s not your fault.

The current model of golf improvement is upside down, and it’s keeping you from playing your best golf.

Watch the video to see  why the focus on technique and the mechanics of the golf swing actually leads to lower performance levels on the golf course.

Then we’ll outline a new approach.

An approach taken by US Olympic athletes more than 25 years ago that dramatically improved athlete performance and the medal count. An approach that can have the average golfer lowering their index and shooting a new career best low round. This year.

The big switch the US Olympic athletes made was focusing on performance. Not just technique. It’s time the golf industry adopted these newer training methods and newer approaches that have been proven effective in other sports.

Performance-based golf is the answer, and it will help you play better golf.

Here’s what I mean.

If you think of golf from a performance perspective you recognize that you experience different “levels” of play.

Some good days. Some not so good days.

On the very best of days you might experience being “In the Zone” and playing really well. Golf feels effortless, focused, easy, fluid, timeless, and joyous.

By contrast, the worst days are the opposite: golf feels like a total grind, difficult, exhausting, and a complete battle.

What’s interesting is that by thinking in terms of performance levels you can identify a hierarchy of skills associated with the different levels of play. That’s where the idea of the performance pyramid came from: associating higher levels of play with specific skills.

The great news is that we can identify three specific skills that lead to those “in the Zone” moments. These are the three highest level “performance” skills, and if they are not present while you are playing, you have no chance of getting into the Zone state:

1. Target Focus
2. Confidence
3. Being totally absorbed in the moment

These three skills are all performance skills. There is no hint of mechanics or swing technique.

In fact, from a performance perspective swing mechanics are near the bottom of the performance pyramid. At the opposite end of the Zone experience.

And yet we obsess over swing mechanics and the nuances of technique.

Every golf magazine and TV show is filled with mechanics.

Every golfer on the range is working on some aspect of technique.

So it’s no wonder the vast majority of golfers focus on mechanics when they play.

Thinking about swing mechanics is fine when you are on the range.

But swing mechanics is at the bottom end of the pyramid.

Thinking about mechanics when playing will inevitably drag your play down to a lower level of performance.

In the next article we’ll go into some detail on the roles of your three brains – your Thinking, Emotional, and Athletic Brains. We’ll discuss how they can help or interfere with your game. You’ll understand how to compartmentalize your activities when you analyze your shot, develop a strategy, commit to your decision, and execute the shot. You’ll know how to use your three brains to get closer to the Zone state. So keep an eye out for the next newsletter.

In the mean time what I’d like you to consider is that your best path to a higher level of play will be to use higher level performance skills.

One of the best skills you can develop is the ability to maintain a target focus throughout the swing.

Here’s your take-away: The next time you play, pay attention to what you are focusing on during your swing. Mechanics? Or the Target?

The first step in making any change is awareness. If you are not aware of something, you can’t change it. So start by developing some awareness around your thoughts during the swing. If it is on the Target, you are on the right path to better golf.

RELATED POSTS:

Past Newsletters
Golf and the Performance Pyramid
Journey to the Worlds 2012 (see the whole process)

I’m really excited about this next series of newsletters because I’ll bring in specific real-world examples of the techniques I used to win the 2012 Remax World Long Drive Championship. (ESPN will broadcast the competition on Sunday, December 23rd, at 11:30 am Pacific). These are performance skills that don’t get talked about much, but should. Because they’ll help you play better golf.

For instance, in the finals it came down to my 6th and final ball. I was trailing. I had to hit my best shot.
What do you think about when everything is on the line?
Where do you focus under pressure?
How do you summon confidence and the trust you need to come through in the clutch?

I’ll answer those questions in a moment (hint: it’s NOT mechanics!)

First I need to set the context. That’s what this video is about.

After my win I was invited to speak on the main stage at the Bay Area Golf Show. I shared with the audience the Performance Pyramid. You’ll be hearing more about the pyramid shortly.

The Performance Pyramid is just a way to put into context the skills that come into play at progressively higher levels of performance. These are the skills I practiced to prepare for the championship.

At the highest level of performance you are “in the Zone.” But just below that is a level we’ll call “Peak Performance. That’s your highest level of performance without necessarily being in the zone. It’s still pretty darn good.

And there are specific skills that come into play for peak performance. Skills you can learn. Skills we’ll be discussing over the course of the next several newsletters.

Watch the video to see where “mechanics” fit in the Performance Pyramid. It may help you understand – perhaps for the first time – why you might be frustrated with your golf game or why you feel like you aren’t improving the way you think you should. This is particularly important if you  think about your mechanics when you swing.

As you see in the video there are three “High Performance” skills:
1. Target
2. Confidence
3. Centeredness

I’ll be discussing each in more detail in the next few newsletters. I’ll also provide examples of when and how the skills are used so you can find a way to apply them to your own game when you are on the course.

TARGET: It’s all about picking a specific target, and then developing the skill of knowing where the target is located even when you look away from it and focus on the ball. I used a wind-sock at the end of the grid for my target. My image of that target was so clear I could picture it’s exact location no matter where I was in the entire facility.

CONFIDENCE: Confidence comes from practicing and preparing correctly. I talked about how and what I practiced in my “Journey to the Worlds” series leading up to the competition. There’s a time and place for working on mechanics and a time and place for working on performance skills. The closer I got to the competition the less I focused on mechanics and the more I focused on higher level performance skills. When it came down to crunch time I knew I could hit the shot – because I’d already practiced it.

CENTEREDNESS: One of the keys to performing well under pressure is being in the moment. That means focused exclusively on the task at hand (hitting the golf ball to the target) and not worrying about the past or the future outcome. I used breathing, visualizing, and positive self talk to help me get mentally centered in the moment. The key is to incorporate them into a pre-shot routine to make everything as automatic as possible.

This is just the tip of the iceberg. I’m looking forward to sharing more detail on the specific skills with you because I know you’ll figure out how to apply it to your own game. You’ll have a lot more fun and gain a lot more control over your game.

Please leave a comment or question.

RELATED POSTS:
Journey to the Worlds 2012 (see the whole process)

Will this be good for golf?

I think yes. Here’s why.

As we continue to growing the game of golf, players will always to be drawn to the allure of distance.

We all love distance. Hit it far and you shorten up the hole. Hit it past your buddies and you get respect. Crush it dead square and there is no sweeter feeling.

There’s something mesmerizing about watching a drive soar straight and long down the fairway. Visit any driving range and the majority of golfers will have a driver in their hand.

What the new Golf Channel contract will do is bring the excitement of long drive to a whole new audience. As is true for any sport, television really brings the sport of Long Drive alive for people – not only the mesmerizing distances that are being achieved, but also the personalities of those who are pushing the envelope.

ESPN has been great for long drive for 17 years. But look at what the Golf Channel has been able to accomplish with shows like Big Break, Chasing the Dream, the Haney Project, the Feherty show, Morning Drive, and other shows.

It’s the stories behind the story that really grab us.

And trust me, having been in long drive for 10 years, there are plenty of stories. Back in 2003 when I won my first championship, ESPN broadcasted my win — as well as my marriage proposal from the tee (see “the real prize” video clip).

Innovation Trickle-down:

So I believe the Golf Channel partnership will help build interest in long drive, and in so doing help to bring new golfers into the game, plus re-ignite the passion of existing golfers. After all, look at what Charles Barkley did for the game: his swing was so bad and his failure so epic that he had millions of golfers saying “Even I can do better than that.” and they were encouraged to get back into the game.

Then there’s the equipment side. Long drive is to golf like Indy cars are to the automobile industry: innovations tested at the extreme edge of performance eventually trickle down to improve performance at the consumer level.

I’ll give you a couple of examples: 10 years ago the graphite shafts we used wouldn’t stand up to the swing speeds we generated. I was breaking one or two shafts a month. So the shaft manufacturers innovated, doing things like adding boron strands to the tip section and reinforcing the weave of the graphite sheets. Today we have shafts that are lighter and stronger, giving every-day golfers more club head speed with a livelier “kick” that produces more distance.

In another case, the “No Brainer” club head I used took Steve Almo from Geek Golf two years to design and test. But the weight distribution configuration he achieved put more mass behind the sweet spot, and the result gave me a club I hit not only farther, but straighter too – results we documented by testing hundreds and hundreds of drives on a launch monitor.

Sports on the edge force innovation and innovation that is good for the game. Frankly, it’s good for all sports. The new contract with Golf Channel (read the LDA Press Release here), is good for long drive, and ultimately good for the game of golf. I’m excited to see what this next year will bring.

Please leave a comment and share with friends.

RELATED POSTS
Journey to the Worlds 2012 (see the whole process)

Here’s a bit more detail on the clubs and configuration.

First, the LDA (Long Drivers of America) is very strict about using conforming clubs. The club heads must pass the USGA-specified COR (Coefficient of Resistance) test to ensure that the heads are not “hot” and don’t produce an extra trampoline effect. The shafts, too, have a length restriction based on the USGA maximum length requirement.

The reason is simple: the LDA wants to showcase the talent of the athletes, not the clubs. Rightly so.

It’s not unusual for a club face to deform after pounding lots of range balls. We call it “migration”, and sometimes it can result in a club becoming hot. Last year one of my clubs failed the COR/CT test, and it was pulled from competition. That’s one of the reasons I take back-up clubs with me to the competition, and why I usually designate one club as my practice club, and leave my “gamers” relatively untouched until the tournament. Migration is the reason stock drivers can become “tired” and under perform, and one reason to upgrade drivers every few years, especially for golfers who practice a lot.  This year my No Brainer clubs passed without a hitch.

All my No Brainer heads are marked at 6 degrees loft, but I’ll let you in on a little secret – they weren’t.

John Greenwood measured the true loft of each club head, and I wound up with a 5 degree club, several 6 degree clubs (including my gamer), and a 7 degree. The winds in Mesquite are unpredictable, and the different lofts give me different options without having to change my swing.

In the morning it was cooler and we were hitting into the breeze. I started off with my 6 degree gamer, switched to my 5 degree for the last couple of balls, and hit my longest ball of that set.

But in the afternoon rounds the wind shifted to slightly behind us. I started with my gamer 6, but switched after a couple of balls to the 7 degree, and hit the two longest drives of the day. In the finals I stuck with the 7, even though the wind switched again and was swirling into us. Even into the wind the extra one or two degrees of launch angle gave me a better carry distance, and I’m glad I stuck with it. I advise most of my students to try to get a higher launch angle (14 to 16 degrees) because the extra carry will get them more distance, provided they can keep the trajectory flat. That’s one of the reasons I liked the No Brainer as soon as I hit it: the flat trajectory.

Steve Almo, who owns Geek Golf, wanted to create a ”muscle” head driver to give golfers a better MOI (Moment of Inertia), lowering spin and increasing distance. Steve’s a cool guy, and he takes his design inspiration from classics of the past. It took him two years of design and testing to create the unique heel-to-toe sole weighting system he wanted, which puts more weight behind the club face. Not only did I get more distance, but the way he distributed the weight tightened up my dispersal pattern and improved my accuracy. In the finals I hit 5 of 6 balls in the grid. It’s also a cool orange color with white stripes, which Steve says was inspired by another  “muscle” classic – the 1967 Camaro. I liked his club so much I gave him a smooch at the Worlds (he was suitably embarrassed).

If the club head is the muscle, the shaft is the engine.

John Greenwood loves to tinker with different shaft configurations, and we tested all sorts of shaft combinations. We trimmed anywhere from 1/2 inch to 1-1/2 inches off the shaft tip to make the shaft stiffer. We tried counter-weights in the butt-end of the shaft to change the kick-point (which affects trajectory and spin), and lead tape on the club head to change swing weight.  John has a proprietary butt-insert he uses for my clubs to stiffen up the grip end of the shaft, and that’s what turned out to be the winner.

Chris Hilleary, owner of Aerotech, was great about helping us with equipment. They’ve got some interesting technology in place that helps them build lighter shafts (which helps with club head speed), with lower torque (which means less twist). That means the club face is more likely to be square at impact, more often. The new micro-thin carbon fiber they use is apparently more stable than graphite composites. I used the 60-gram shaft, which is 15 to 25 grams lighter than other long drive shafts, but I got more distance and better accuracy.

Let me add one more thing – I have no equipment sponsors, endorsement deals, or contracts.

I’m not beholden to any company, which leaves me free to choose the equipment that I think is best. I’m writing about John and Steve and Chris because they helped me, and I in turn was able to help them by providing feedback from all our testing. It’s a win-win-win for all of us, because they are the guys who are innovating and pushing the envelope. It you’d like to try their equipment, I’d appreciate it. Give John Greenwood a call. Simple as that.

If you have more equipment questions just leave a comment below.

RELATED POSTS
Journey to the Worlds 2012
Driver Distance Training Videos

After a long and grueling day in the desert heat of Mesquite, Nevada, against a deep and talented field of long drive professionals, I succeeded in reaching a major goal:  winning a second long drive World Championship title.

I’d like to share four keys to the day that helped me win the title, in the hopes that the next time you face a pressure situation on the golf course, you’ll have some strategies to be successful.
1. Practicing and training effectively
2. A solid pre-shot routine
3. Trust
4. Being in the moment

Preparation: A Consistent Golf Swing Starts with Effective Practice

Although my tournament only lasted a day, and the finals are over in 3 minutes, the tournament was won in the weeks and months leading up to the day.

One of the biggest keys to coming through in the clutch is being prepared, and that means practicing effectively.  Effective practice is about more than working on technique. It’s about getting prepared to compete.

Working on technique is an important part of that process. Don’t get me wrong. At 6 feet tall and 195 lbs, I’m one of the smaller guys in long drive, so my swing technique HAS to be outstanding. I start out getting prepared by focusing the majority of my efforts on technique – to the tune of 90% of my practice time.

10 years ago I started breaking down the golf swing to understand which parts influenced distance. The result, of course, was my training program The 5 Keys To Distance. But my point is that 8 weeks prior to the Worlds I put myself through that very training program and the BLAST framework – Balance, Leverage, Arc of Swing, Speed, and Target focus. I started with balance to get myself as athletic as possible. I worked on my leverage to maximize the power in my swing (heaven knows I could use every ounce I can get). Once I re-mastered these two fundamentals, I worked on my swing arc width and my core speed.

That process took 6 weeks. The key to proper technique practice is to focus on one fundamental at a time, master it, and then move on to the next one.

Two weeks prior to my competition I tapered off the technique practice and switched to competition practice. At that point -  less than two weeks out – there is very little I can do to change my swing. So the key is to learn how to maximize what I have, so that my best can come out in competition.

I’ll have much more to say on competition practice soon, but virtually 100% of my practice time when I am that close to competition is devoted to simulated competition and strategy development. Which brings me to my second key: my pre-shot routine.

The Magic of a Solid Pre-Shot Routine

On the day of the competition, having a solid pre-shot routine was one of the most important assets I brought to the tee, and a really important take-away for you from this newsletter.

I had made a number of minor changes during my technique work: I moved the ball back in my stance 1-1/2 inches, teed the ball a little lower because the sweet spot is a little lower on the new driver head I was using; closed my stance slightly to create a draw; rotated my chin to the right before swinging for more shoulder rotation; extended my left arm while tucking my right elbow closer to my left to help with lag, and narrowed my stance an inch for more speed.

These are all minor set-up changes, but I wanted to make these changes as automatic as possible. The LAST thing I wanted was to be on the tee running through my checklist of changes. That would have been a major distraction. I had to KNOW that when I was on the tee I was putting myself in the best possible position for success.

And that is precisely the point of the pre-shot routine, and why it is so important to deliberately practice it. It is every bit as important as practicing mechanics when it comes to competition day. Perhaps more so, because it contributed directly to my third key to success: Trusting my swing.

TRUST: The Secret to Distance and Consistency

In the finals I hit 5 of 6 balls in the grid – when the pressure was highest. The key was the trust I developed practicing my routine and taking myself through simulated competition situations. That’s virtually all I practiced the final two weeks.

Trust allows me to swing tension-free, which produces a golf swing that is not only faster, it’s more accurate. And the process for building trust is the entire process of working through the mechanics, then spending the time to focus on competition training.

By the time I worked through this whole 8-week process, I had a strategy for virtually every scenario I was likely to encounter on the tee, and I hit balls in practice simulating actual competition circumstances, so I could feel comfortable no matter what I faced.  My last ball at 369 yards was my best, and the drive that won. And I practiced the scenario where I was behind and needed to hit a big ball on my last swing. When the moment of truth came, I already knew what my strategy would be. That’s what set me up for the next key to success: being in the moment.

Peak Performance Starts with Being Centered In The Moment

One of the keys to peak performance is being centered in the moment. It’s also a zone precursor – something that must be in place before you can get into the zone.

Centered means two things: being physically balanced and athletic; and being mentally “in the present.”

I relied on my pre-shot routine to get me physically centered.

To get myself mentally centered in the moment I limited myself to just two things:

1. Having total target awareness (The T of the BLAST Fundamentals)
2. Having one simple swing thought

There was a wind-sock at the far end of the range that I used for my target all day. I got to know where that wind-sock was so well that even when I was concentrating on my ball I still had total awareness of where the target was. The location was so clear in my mind that my body instinctively knew exactly how to turn toward it. It’s that clarity of image – what Flow experts call a “clear and unambiguous goal” – that frees up the swing. You don’t have to try to control or steer the shot if you already know exactly where it is supposed to go.

That freedom allowed me to have a simple swing thought: hit the ball as squarely as possible.

This was the simple combination that allowed me to hit the ball I absolutely need to hit, when I needed to hit it.

Great golf doesn’t have to be complicated.

Thank you for joining me on my journey to the 2012 World Long Drive Championship. It’s an honor for me to be the new Champion and to have had the chance to compete against so many outstanding athletes.

Eric Jones
PGA Professional and 2012 World Long Drive Champion
If you have a comment or would like to share your thoughts, please use the comment box below. I’d love to hear your perspective.

RELATED POSTS
Journey to the Worlds 2012 (see the whole process)

Swedish long-drive competitor Sandra Carlborg earned her second straight RE/MAX World Long Drive Title with a record-setting 339 yards blast at the 2012 RE/MAX World Long Drive Championship powered By Dick’s Sporting Goods.

Joining Jones and Carlborg on the podium at the Mesquite, Nevada Sports and Event Complex were David Brinker in the Legends Division (60+) and Jack Crutchfield in the Grand Champions Division (55+). Brinker who lives in CreveCouer, MO, posted a winning distance of 330 yards to secure his first world title. Crutchfield, who lives in Brewton, Alabama, drive it 354 yards to claim his first title as well.

Competition at the 2012 RE/MAX World Long Drive Championships continues in Mesquite, Nevada through Thursday October 25, 2012, when ESPN 3 will broadcast the finals of the Open Division and Senior Division beginning at 2 p.m. pacific time. Carl Wolter of Lehighton, PA, is the defending champion of the Open Division and David Mobley of Hunterville, NC, is the defending champion in the Senior Division. Live scoring continues from the tournament at http://www.longdrivers.com

As he did in 2003, Jones relied on his 6th and final ball to blast the winning drive, out-driving Mike Barbarossa by just 3 yards in a battle that went back and forth with three lead changes. Jones explained that on his last ball he knew the key was to “stick with the same routine that got me to the finals, and focus on making square contact with the ball, letting the result take care of itself.” Playing with a 7 degree “No Brainer” driver by Geek Golf and a Claymore shaft by Aerotech, Jones’ clubs were all custom-assembled by Northern California-based clubfitter John Greenwood. Steve Almo, owner of Geek Golf, who takes his inspiration for club head designs from classic club heads of the past, explained that it took two years of design and testing to create a new “muscle” head driver, with unique heel-to-toe sole weighting which puts more weight behind the club face, increasing MOI, which increases distance and lowers spin. The distinctive orange color and white stripes of the No Brainer was inspired by another “muscle” classic – the 1967 Camaro.

About Eric Jones

Eric Jones played college golf at Stanford University and later served as Junior varsity team coach. He’s the 2003 Re/Max World Long Drive Senior Champion, the 2004 LDA Tour Rookie of the Year, and has competed in the World Championship in each of the last 10 years, notching four top-3 finishes and 2 wins. Eric is a PGA Class “A” Teaching Professional who also holds a Master’s degree in Sport Psychology. As founder of the Seaver Golf Academy, Eric has been recognized for his innovative approach to instruction, most notably his High Performance Golf Coach Program. He is the author of numerous articles and books on golf, including “The 5 Keys To Distance”, “How To Practice Your Golf Swing Like The Pros”, and “Strategic Golf: Course Navigation.” Two new books and online training courses are slated to be released later this year.

About Target Centered Golf

Jones developed the website http://www.TargetCenteredGolf.com in 2008 as a comprehensive online resource to help golfers take their game beyond technique and play more confident, consistent golf. Jones explains that the name “Target Centered Golf” captures the essence of being in the zone: playing golf with automaticity, allowing the natural athlete to emerge through the mind of imagination with the target as the central focus of the swing. His blog, which can be found at http://www.targetcenteredgolf.com, features real world solutions from his own Golf Coach Program and encompasses all aspects of the game, from how to hit for distance, to scoring shots, to putting, chipping, pitching and bunker play. But he goes beyond mere standard instruction to cover topics seldom explained by mainstream media yet critical to high performance play; scoring-skill development, shot-making, self-management, game management and course management; as well as how to play in the zone more often.

As one of the few PGA reaching professionals formerly trained in both swing mechanics and sport psychology, Eric believes that the mechanical and mental sides of the game should not be separated because that is not the way we play golf.

As his teaching practice has evolved it’s become clear to Jones that golfers benefit most when the best of both worlds are combined: Sometimes students benefit most from a mental shift, sometimes from mechanical change. The key is to put the right solution in front of the student at the right time, which explains why his innovative teaching produces breakthrough results.

About Eric’s High Performance Golf Series And Golf Coach Program

Information about Eric’s High Performance Golf Training Series and his Golf Coach Program can be found athttp://www.TargetCenteredGolf.com. His teaching practice was developed in honor of his grandfather Charles Seaver, a past president of the Northern California Golf Association, medalist at the 1931 U.S. Amateur, and one of the premier amateur players of his era.

Orinda, CA (PRWEB) October 23, 2012

Check out the video, where I show you the swing fan, stretching pole, heavy driver, alignment tools, Orange Whip, and even how to use a sharpie.

The whole point of using training aids is to heighten awareness. The key to making any swing change, for instance, is being able to tell the difference between the old swing and the new swing. Training aids can help by focusing attention to that area of the swing and the feel of the position. The learning process is always “awareness first, change second.”

My goal with all these training tools is simply to put myself in the best position to be successful. I want to train on the range until the motion I want is automatic.

Even when that happens, though, it pays to continually do “refresher” drills. I know that every year when I begin training up for the Worlds, I start with the basics, and then take myself through every step and drill that I put into The 5 Keys To Distance. That means I start with Balance, then work on Leverage. I re-master these two steps first, before I even try to move on to widening my swing arc or working on speed. Then, especially as I get closer to Tournament time, I spend more time on Targets, the last step in my program.

I hope this quick review of training aids will help you be more productive on the range.

Please leave a comment below, and let me know if you have favorite training aids and how you use them.

See you down the fairway!

Eric Jones
PGA Professional and World Long Drive Champion

RELATED POSTS
Journey to the Worlds 2012
Driver Distance Training Videos

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

RELATED POSTS
Journey to the Worlds 2012
Driver Distance Training Videos

In this video I talk about “contingency” practice. Contingency practice is “what if ..” practice, and it’s a key component of mental toughness training. I imagine all kinds of different scenarios and circumstances, then simulate those scenarios in as close to competition conditions as possible, then test different strategies and ways to handle those circumstances.

I do contingency practice because I want to have all my strategy decisions made in advance of the tournament, so that I don’t have to try to figure out what to do under battle conditions. It helps me to stay calm and focused. Check out the video for more.

A part of being mentally tough in golf is being able to bounce back from adversity. There’s a reason golfers who have been on the Tour a while perform better under pressure: they’ve experienced it already, and know what to expect and what to do.

The way to fast-track that experience is to practice it on the range, in advance. After competing in Long Drive for 10 years, I’ve seen quite a lot.

The most common circumstance we face in Mesquite is the wind. As a rule the prevailing wind in usually slightly into our faces, quartering from left to right. But I’ve had everything from dead calm to 25-mph head winds to brutal side-winds.

At least three times I’ve had a club break while on the tee, in the middle of my set. So I practice switching clubs.

I’ve had situations where one of the guys on the tee with me (we hit 3-players at a time), made lots of noise – usually in the middle of my swing (but not on purpose … that just happened to be the timing of his shots and he grunted like a tennis player).

Several times I’ve had the shadow of the player next to me flickered across my ball, and I had to either move, or time my shots so that he wasn’t hitting when I was hitting.

One year the artificial tee box we hit from became so compacted from the many golfers hitting over the course of 4 days prior, that I couldn’t get my tee into the turf. I had to literally turn my club upside down and use it like a hammer to get the tee far enough down to the height I like to hit (on my next set I snapped 6 tees in half and brought them with me to the tee).

I’ve been pulled off the tee three times during the middle of a set – twice due to rain, and once due to excessive wind.

I’ve been blown off balance in the middle of my swing due to wind. I’ve had dust blown into my eyes so badly I could barely see the ball (I now bring a bottle of water to the tee in case I need to rinse my eyes! And a towel to wipe off with after.).

One year the turf got slick and it was almost impossible to keep my footing. Had to really narrow up my stance for that one.

Then there’s dealing with injuries. The major one for me, of course, was tearing my rotator cuff a couple of years ago (my shoulder is 100% now, by the way). But I’ve had to have cortisone shots in my left elbow, my right elbow, my left thumb, and my left shoulder. All in different years. I now keep a supply of ibuprofen and cloth sports tape close by.  A couple of my competitor friends are chiropractors. I know who they are and where to find them if I need them.

I bring 12 drivers with me to the competition. Last year one of my drivers failed the COR (coefficient of resistance) test and got pulled from my bag.  It’s not that unusual for the face characteristics of a driver to change after hitting hundreds and hundreds of range balls.  The LDA is very strict about having competitors use clubs that conform to USGA specifications (which I applaud and is good for the sport). But the year prior one of my friends had all 4 of his clubs pulled. Imagine losing all your clubs! He and I hit similar clubs (Geek club head, with Aerotech shaft), so I gave him two of my clubs for the competition (he made it to the final 8). He brought more clubs to the tournament the next year.

Then there’s the circumstance of the actual competition itself.

What am I going to do on my first shot of the tournament? (I like to make an 80% swing and get my first one in the grid)

What will I do on my last ball in the finals? Especially if I have to beat a competitor who has posted a big drive.

What will I do if my first ball goes out of bounds? First two balls? First three, four, or five balls?

What happens if I fall into the loser’s bracket and have to fight my way back into the finals?

How will I feel when I’m in the finals? What will I say during the interview afterward? What will I say when I win? Can I imagine myself in the trophy presentation ceremony? Will I allow myself to be successful and win?

There’s a lot that goes into performing at a high level, and doing it consistently. I’ve left out more unusual situations than I’ve covered.

I find this kind of contingency practice fun and intriguing. It’s a definite break from always working on swing mechanics. But it’s also the kind of practice that tells you a lot about yourself. I hope you give it a try.

See you down the fairway!

Eric Jones
PGA Professional and World Long Drive Champion

RELATED POSTS
Journey to the Worlds 2012
Driver Distance Training Videos
 

PS – Please leave a comment, and forward this video along to your friends.