Journey to the 2010 Worlds: Center Contact

As I continue my journey to the World Long Drive Championships I’ll share some of the little tips and tricks I’ve learned along the way that help me compete better.

This post is a little ninja trick I learned to help me understand how well I am making contact in the center of the club face.

If I am just 1/4 inch off-center I will lose about 5 to 7 yards. If I am 1/2 inch off-center I’ll lose 12-15 yards. If I am as much as 3/4 inch off-center I’d lose up to 40 yards! And 3/4 inch is only the width of a dime.

So for me it pays to know where on the club face I am striking the ball.

I know my tendency is to hit my long drivers on the inside part of the ball. So earlier this year I changed my eye position to 8:00. Imagine 12:00 is always toward the target. 6:00 is directly in back. the 8:00 position is much more inside, and it helped me to make contact in the center without changing my address position.

In this video I show you how I use a sharpie to make a small circle on a ball. I tee the ball up with the mark directly in back, at the 6:00 position. When I hit the ball a mark gets transferred to my club face, and I can see where I am making contact.

The good news is that I am hitting the ball in the center!

This is a cool trick to try on the range. If you are not hitting it in the center of your club face, try either changing your eye position – where you look at the ball when you swing – or adjust your stance to move either closer or farther away until you can strike it in the middle.