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Dalen DeMary of Gilbert, AZ out-drove 6,412 amateur contestants from 148 qualifying sites in the U.S. and Canada to win the 2008 Exceptional Driver Championship in Mesquite, NV. The 28-year-old DeMary, a plus-1.1 handicap player who has aspirations of one day playing on the PGA TOUR, demonstrated TOUR-caliber grit, power and poise under pressure in capturing the $100,000 prize as well as the title of “Best Driver of the Golf Ball in North America”.
Check out a couple photos from the 2008 Exceptional Driver Championship below.
DeMary got bitten by the EDC bug in 2006. Intrigued by the concept of a competition that rewards both power and accuracy, DeMary paid his $20 entry fee and participated in a local qualifier. In his first attempt DeMary hit all five balls as well as his bonus ball in the grid. He won the qualifier with an impressive score of 59 points. However, he didn’t fare as well at the 2006 Championship, where he got bounced in the first round. “It’s easy to post a good score in any one round”, explained DeMary, “but it’s another thing altogether to put up good scores round after round after round.”
Undaunted, DeMary qualified for the Championship again in 2008. He started slowly; his combined Round 1 and Round 2 scores of 31 points placed him in the losers bracket, where he’d have to compete in an extra round. However, a strong score of 42 points in Round 3 got him back on track. He then posted scores of 50, 34 and 73 and 38 points to advance through Rounds 4, 5, 6 and 7, respectively. He was now one of the eight finalists who would advance to Saturday’s match play finals.
In the quarterfinals, DeMary defeated David Dover 38 to 10. Demary’s performance in Round 7 had placed him as the #5 seed. In the semifinals, he would now face the #1 seed, Casey Fowles, who posted 55 points in Round 7. In the semis, with the pressure mounting, Fowles was only able to find the grid twice, scoring 22 points. DeMary’s fourth shot spelled the difference, a 12-pointer that gave him three in the grid, a 34-point total and the victory. In the head-to-head finals, with only two balls remaining, DeMary trailed in his match with Rick Dimick of Eagle Pointe, OR by 14 points. A smooth swing on his fourth attempt resulted in 12 points. A great drive, but not enough to overtake Dimick. He still needed a ball in the grid on his fifth and final ball. DeMary put the same smooth cut swing on his fifth drive and rejoiced immediately after impact. He knew he had caught the ball squarely. A few anxious seconds later, his intuition was confirmed. His drive had come to rest on the right side of the grid, over 300 yards downrange, for a score of 11 points. He had won the EDC Championship by a score of 35 to 28. We recently caught up with Dalen and asked him a few questions:
PINNACLE: Congratulations on your big win, Dalen. Has your accomplishment sunk in yet?
DALEN: It’s starting to, but I really haven’t come off the high yet.
PINNACLE: Tell us about the competition. What was your strategy?
DALEN: Well, I usually favor a draw when I play, but in EDC I played a high cut. I sacrificed a little distance, but with the high fade I knew the ball was going to hit the grid and hold. There were quite a few players who played a low running shot. More times than not I’d see them land in the grid and roll off. Zero points. It’s hard enough to fly the ball on line without worrying about funny bounces, too. So I definitely think my strategy paid off. It took a big variable out of the equation.
PINNACLE: So is accuracy more important than distance at EDC?
DALEN: No, I’d still say distance is key. If you look at the scores throughout the Championship, players are probably only averaging 3 balls in the grid out of 5 per round. So when you do hit the grid, you have to make sure you’re getting rewarded with high point totals. Three balls in at 11 or 12 points each is a lot easier than four balls in at 7 or 8 points each. Forty yards sounds like a wide landing area, but it really looks tiny when you’re 300 yards out. You know you’re going to miss the grid occasionally, so you have to make your good drives count.
PINNACLE: You had lots of 11 and 12 point shots throughout the competition. What kind of distance does that equate to?
DALEN: If you’re right down the middle and get the bonus point for landing in the 20-yard-wide Exceptional Zone, a drive between 290 and 300 yards will earn you 11 points. If you’re on either the left or right side of the grid, you have to hit it 300 to 310 yards for an 11-pointer.
PINNACLE: Is that a typical distance for you? Do you swing comfortably to hit it that far?
DALEN: Yeah, like I said before, I usually play a draw and I’ll typically drive it between 320 and 330 yards in an everyday round of golf. The ball also flies well in Mesquite, so I was able to put a smooth swing on it and get right in that 300 yard range with a slight cut.
PINNACLE: Were you ever tempted to hit it as hard as you could?
DALEN: I was only going to try to kill it if I found myself way behind and if I needed to do something special. The way it worked out, I was never really in big trouble, so I could focus on tempo and stick with the same comfortable swing every time.
PINNACLE: You’re a plus-1.1 handicap. What kind of advantage has your distance given you in attaining your level of play?
DALEN: I’d say it’s a big advantage. As long as I stay reasonably straight, I’m able to hit wedges into virtually every par-4 I come across. You can score a lot better hitting wedge or sand wedge into greens than you can hitting 7 or 8 irons.
PINNACLE: Did you use any special equipment for the EDC?
DALEN: No. I’ve used the same Titleist 905R driver for several years now. It’s been extremely reliable.
PINNACLE: What other equipment do you play?
DALEN: I’ve always been a Titleist guy. I play a set of 690 MB irons and I use a Scotty Cameron putter. And I play a Titleist Pro V1 ball. I have to say, though, it was fun to drive Pinnacle Platinums all week at EDC.
PINNACLE: How has this win impacted your life? Do you have any immediate plans?
DALEN: Yes, actually. The $100,000 is huge. I’m going to invest a lot of it in myself, in my game. I want to take a shot at a playing career. I plan on playing in 5-10 Golden State Tour events next year and I’ll also take a shot at some Monday qualifiers on the west coast – the Nissan, Tuscon, FBR. I’ll try to qualify for the U.S. Open, too. And I hope the notoriety of winning EDC might open some doors, too.
We hope so, too, Dalen. Congratulations from all your friends at Pinnacle! We wish you the best of luck in reaching your goals!
Dalen was also featured as Long Drivers of America’s LDA Player of the Month. Check out Long Drivers’ interview with Dalen by clicking the link below:
http://www.longdrivers.com/ldaplayer.php?id=25
And if you missed The Golf Channel’s original airing of the Exceptional Driver Championship, TGC will be re-airing their broadcast, featuring Dalen, on November 11, 2008 at 10 AM EST as well as on December 4, 2008 at 2:30 PM EST. Click below for more details:
http://www.thegolfchannel.com/core.aspx?page=26000&select2=10347
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|October 3rd, 2008
Watch the Exceptional Driver Championship Thursday at 10pm ET on Golf Channel
EDC Television Schedule
August 28, 2008 10 PM EST PREMIERE!
September 1, 2008 3 PM EST
September 2, 2008 9 AM EST
September 29, 2008 6 PM EST
November 11, 2008 10 AM EST
December 4, 2008 2:30 PM EST
|August 28th, 2008
2008 Exceptional Driver Championship Finals Are Underway. Pinnacle is the official golf ball of the EDC, the amateur competition that tests nerves, power and accuracy. 140 EDC competitors are battling against the grid and each other for the $100,000 prize. Click the link below to check out the live scoring, competition photos and story updates, courtesy of Long Drivers of America, as we learn who will be crowned “The Best Driver of the Golf Ball in North America”:
http://www.longdrivers.com/edc_cw_proam.php
Titleist Sales Representative Bobby Andrews has advanced to the Friday rounds. Bobby will be checking in to give us a competitor’s-eye view of the Finals, so be sure to check back soon!
Bobby’s Notebook:
Friday, June 13th, 11 A.M. – Well, I cleared another hurdle. I entered this morning’s elimination rounds as one of 50 remaining contestants and posted 48 points for the two rounds of 5 balls, good enough for first place in the group. Two of us now advance to the afternoon rounds, where the field will be cut the the final 8. The televised 8!
So far I feel pretty confident. My swing is holding up and I’m hitting the grid with regularity. I know that anything can happen out there, though. One of my fellow competitors had a pretty impressive 39 points in his first round, but he couldn’t hit the grid once in the second round. Zero points, and it prevented him from moving on. It’s tough, so I know I’ll have to be sharp this afternoon.
Friday, June 13th, 11 P.M. – You always hear that it’s a game of inches. Not that you need it, but I’m walking proof. I made it this afternoon’s rounds as one of twenty competitors. If I could score well enough to get in the top eight I’d move on to the final televised matches tomorrow. After two rounds I finished tied for the eighth spot. Playoff.
I was pleased with how I was hitting it and pleased with how I was handling the pressure. In the playoff I had a great rhythm going — bang, bang , bang in the grid. I just knew that I had put all five balls in the grid so I reached for that all-important sixth bonus ball. An official held me up, listening to the crew out on the grid. My third ball had roll a yard outside the grid on the right side. And that was the difference between the final 8 and going home. Missed it by that much!
What a great experience, though. I had a lot of fun and learned a little bit about myslef in the process. LDA and Pinnacle - all the sponsors staged a first-class event. I hope to compete again. 36 inches away is just irritatingly close enough that I need another shot. Thanks for the support out there!
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Wednesday, June 11th — A quick preface on the format for the Exceptional Driver Championship: In the EDC the 140-man field is broken into two groups of 70. From each group of 70, 7 sub-groups of 10 players are formed. So I started the day hitting with nine other guys. The competition begins with two rounds of hitting 5 balls (plus 1 bonus ball if you hit all 5 balls in the grid). The combined points from Rounds 1 and 2 are added up and the top three drivers from each sub-group of 10 advance to the next stage of competition on Friday. The remaining 7 players go into the “losers bracket” and have to compete in two more rounds (Rounds 3 and 4) to try to advance to Friday.
What an intense day! I knew from local qualifying for the Exceptional Driver Championship that the pressure can really build in this format, but here at the finals you really feel like every ball is crucial. You have to put points up with every shot possible and you can’t do that if you miss the grid. As you advance and the competition gets stronger and stronger the bonus ball becomes the key to winning and losing. I qualified for Mesquite by relying on my bread and butter, a little cut shot. I can hit it farther with a straight ball or slight draw, but the cut is very dependable for me. And it was working perfectly in the Round 1 – I hit 5 out of 5 balls in the grid. I missed the grid with the 6th bonus ball, unfortunately, but I was still sitting pretty.
For some reason, I started to press a bit in Round 2. I strayed from my cut shot in an effort to get a little more distance and paid the price, missing the grid several times to the left. I got only 2 out of 5 in the grid. When the combined points were added up I sat in fourth place. Had I stuck with that cut shot I probably would have made it in the top 3, coasted into Friday qualifying and had a nice relaxing afternoon for myself. As it turned out, though, I had to wait it out a few long hours for the next round.
I went back to basics in Round 3 and drove four out five balls in the grid. The cut was working fine and I got back into a good groove again. More of the same in Round 4 and I made it. I was one of two in our losers bracket group of 7 to advance to Friday’s Rounds. Now that I can breathe again, I think going into the losers bracket may have been a positive for me. I think the extra rounds of competition have gotten me used to the pressure and helped me feel comfortable with the competition surroundings.
I hit a lot of balls today, warming up, trying to build a comfortable rhythm and routine, testing how hard I could go at without sacrficing accuracy. Add to that the mental toll that the pressure takes and you have a pretty draining day. I’m going to head back the hotel, have a good meal and get a solid night of sleep. It was great to advance through the first day, though. I’m looking forward to getting back out there on Friday morning. Wish me luck! Hopefully I’ll have some more good news when I check back in.
–Bobby Andrews
|June 12th, 2008
Check out this article from the Army’s Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation Command (FMWRC) about Ryan Hixson, champion of the inaugural Military Long Drive Championship. Hixson defeated four other finalists in Mesquite, Nevada as well as more than 650 competitors from 25 qualifying sites at military installations around the country to earn the $10,000 first place prize and a surprise exemption into the 2008 RE/MAX World Long Drive Championship.
Coast Guard Airman Hixson wins Military Long Drive Championship
By Tim Hipps, FMWRC Public Affairs
MESQUITE, Nev. – U.S. Coast Guard Airman Ryan Hixson won the 2007 Military Long Drive Championship presented by Cadbury Schweppes with a drive of 367 yards Oct. 25.
“Unbelievable,” said Hixson, who prevailed against four other finalists under the lights at Mesquite and more than 650 competitors from 25 qualifying sites in the summer-long Army Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation Command event. “To have an opportunity to come out here and be treated the way we’ve been treated, and then to come away with a victory, it’s overwhelming. I’m still kind of surreal about it all.”
With the victory, Hixson earned $10,000 and an exemption into the 2008 RE/MAX World Long Drive Championship in Mesquite.
“I want to thank Art Sellinger for giving me the invitation to the open division next year,” Hixson said. “I couldn’t imagine.”
“We’re very proud to provide this competition for members of the Armed Forces,” said Sellinger, owner of Long Drivers of America and producer of the RE/MAX World Long Drive Championship in Mesquite. “It’s a great way to honor these heroes, and I hope it’s the start of a great golf tradition.”
The military golfers put on quite a show.
“Once I got it going, it was fun being out there on the grid,” said Hixson, 25, a native of Milan, Ind., who’s stationed at Coast Guard Air Station, Savannah, Ga. “I’m normally not a rah-rah kind of person, but it was a good time out there.”
Runner-up Army Staff Sgt. Bryan King of Wuerzberg, Germany, echoed that sentiment. He qualified for the finals with a 381-yard drive at Fort Hood, Texas.
“Hopefully, we impressed upon the fans and some other people that while we may not be up to the professional level yet, we definitely can put the ball out there,” said King, 29, a native of Mesquite, Texas, who launched the longest drive of the night – a 368-yard, second-round blast that pitted him against Hixson in the two-man finals. “The military always has some of the best people in the world.”
Army Sgt. Joey Bozik, a triple-amputee who served in Iraq, launched the ceremonial first drive standing on prosthetic legs during an elaborate opening ceremony. The competition will air on ESPN and ESPN2 during the Christmas holiday season.
The Army’s “Black Dagger” skydivers dropped onto the driving range to deliver an American flag and the ceremonial first ball, which, based on the crowd’s response, sounded like Bozik launched into orbit.
“It was great to see Joey hit the ceremonial first ball,” Hixson said. “He got the recognition he deserved from the crowd, and the support. I was looking around at a couple of the guys and they were a little teary-eyed. I was, too. It was a very touching moment.”
Hixson followed by winning the first round of six balls apiece on a 365-yard drive with his final swing.
Army Sgt. 1st Class John Merritt of the Human Resources Command in Alexandria, Va., who qualified with a 386-yard drive at Fort Meade, Md., finished second in round one of the finals with a 357-yard blast. His home course is Fort Belvoir (Va.) Golf Club, an Army MWR facility that features two 18-hole courses.
Merritt was followed by Air Force Staff Sgt. Carl Taylor (348) of Troy, Ill.; Utah Army National Guard 1st Lt. Jeremy Williams (338), who qualified at Fort Carson, Colo.’s Cheyenne Shadows Golf Course; and King (338).
“I really didn’t get a good piece of any of the first six balls,” said King, who had one of the sweetest swings among the finalists. “Then I went back to the range and started getting some good pieces of the ball. It’s just a matter of staying controlled and not trying to really over-swing. It’s a strange thing: You’re trying to hit the ball as far as possible, but if you swing as hard as you can, you just shank it.”
King settled down and won the second round with a 368-yard blast, followed by Hixson (362), Merritt (347), Williams (343) and Taylor (314).
“Get in there!” King shouted while pumping a fist after his final second-round swing produced the 368-yarder that elicited a roar from the crowd.
“The fans were great,” King said. “On that ball I got in to make it to the final, they pumped me up. They were clapping and cheering. They knew I needed something.”
Fourth-place finisher Taylor needed nothing. He fulfilled a long-drive dream by merely being in Mesquite.
“I’ve been chasing the open guys around for three years, trying to make it out here,” Taylor said. “I missed it by just five yards last year at Indianapolis. It’s an awesome sport. I’m addicted to it. I’m so pumped up about it that I told my wife: ‘One way or another, I’m getting out there this year.’”
About a month later, Taylor discovered that the inaugural military division of the RE/MAX World Long Drive Championship would award five tickets for an all-expenses-paid trip to Mesquite. He qualified for the finals with a 384-yard drive at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., about a 4-hour drive from his home.
“I told my wife: ‘Honey, I’m going to Mesquite,’” Taylor said.
“You’ve got to balance it,” said Hixson, who qualified for the finals with a drive of 346 yards at Fort Stewart, Ga. “In the finals, I hit one 366 in the grid and was pretty comfortable with that, so I felt like I could just rear back and let it go.
“Then again, when you swing that way, it’s kind of tough to hit the grid sometimes.”
Such as Hixson’s 379-yard blast in the first round that came to rest just four inches out of bounds.
“If I could have hit another one of those on the grid, then I’d have been very happy,” said Hixson, who wanted to thank all supporters of his mission in Mesquite. “This has been an incredible experience – more than we could ever ask for. From all the equipment we received, the meals, the way we got catered around to – it’s something I’m not used to. It’s very nice, and we’re all thankful.
“I hope they continue this tradition for a very long time.”
|November 6th, 2007
It was an all-Military night in Mesquite on Thursday as the LDA hosted its first annual Military Long Drive Championship under the lights. The idea arose after Pinnacle Distance Team members Art Sellinger and Brian Pavlet visited the troops in Iraq last Thanksgiving. The event was won by U.S. Coast Guard AMN Ryan Hixson from Indiana who qualified at Taylor’s Creek Golf Course in Fort Stewart, GA. It was a patriotic, emotional and exciting evening right from the start. We’ll let the pictures tell the story. Check out the slideshow …
View Slideshow
|October 26th, 2007
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