Surge Self Analysis

Surge,
           What a welcome home this video is! We have been busy after our 9hour drive to my son's wedding. The journey up in atrocious weather, and the 9hour drive back in very pleasant weather. The number of golf courses we passed on the way amazing.
           So we have been 'nose down, derierre up' for a couple of weeks. Then come back and discover I haven't been doing that in my set up consistently!!!That will change as of today Surge. I know that I hit the ball much better when stable. So it will be 'nose down [looking at the ball], and b*m up [for added balance] from now on.
           A sunny day here and we may go and tread the hallowed turf after lunch. May? You have got to be kidding me. Had to have a wasps nest eradicated yesterday, so used the time to get rid of all the dead insects on the front of the car and wash my golf trolley. Swung a little on the rear mat, in between being dive bombed by wasps until the gentleman pest control guy, wiped them out. So off for a swing tout suite! ; - ) Keep it long and straight where ever you are. DH with a smile on his fizzog PMGAS

Thank you Doc.
Tom

 Steve

I learned a long time ago to stay off of those things.  I got on one once, and it said "One at a time please." 

Dick

Back again. Only had a few swings on the rear deck mat with a 7iron, with the slightly up-tilted butt and the difference was immediately noticed.The club 'burned' the artificial surface. What hurts my knackered old shoulders, is when the club 'thumps' the mat or ground on the course. [Steve Smith, he of the also knackered shoulders, may suffer the same way occasionally] So a small minor adjustment to my already almost ingrained set up makes such a difference in seconds.
Surge, A grateful and smiling DH in sunny NZ : - )

Tom,
If you turn the shoulders and keep the outward pressure on the knees, the hips will automatically turn as a result of the shoulder turn.  It's not something you have to think about.  The hips will follow the shoulders.  When you turn to 70* with the shoulders the hips move to about 40* to 45*.  The key is to not try to move the hips.  That is the point of the outward knee pressure.  When I'm working with a student, I teach them to think about keeping the lower body absolutely still.  Of course, this is impossible but it will prevent overturning and swaying and produce the desired turn.

Let's also make sure we are on the same page as to the shoulder turn. You turn the shoulder until the shaft is parallel to the toe line. This is not yet 70* however. But, when you lift the club into it's proper position it will PULL the shoulder a bit further and this is the complete 70* turn. If you have kept the outward pressure on the knees correctly, the hips would have moved to a maximum of 45*.

Great Poem

Your a poet and I did not even know it. Maybe you should try selling them.

Doc,
Well said. To "think about keeping the lower body absolutely still" particularly by maintaining the outward pressure on the knees, noteably the front knee(left for righties) is indeed key and something I always go back to when I miss hit a shot. Usually the miss can be traced back to too much movement in the lower body which throws the rest of the body off enough to not return squarely to the ball and on target.
My favorite lesson that we can view again and again is Surge with Matt:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

Steve,

I think you just desrcibed Surge's site perfectly.  Good job.

 Oooh! Sounds not nice at all Steve. Being an ex-Medic I understand perfectly from your description. I have been taking some practice swings pre-lunch to loosen up, and darn me, if the nerve which gets trapped in my neck, decided to start giving me a hard time : - ( 
It would be funny were it not such a nuisance.
Hope that your journey soon sorts itself out with your guidance. DH in a sunny and warmer Wgtn NZ
The guy who killed the wasps yesterday is a South African who live in Greely, Colorado just off the I-25. Small world indeed. PMGAS

 Totally agree with your assessments on the take away. No two people will be exactly alike and IF by chance they even are, they will explain and feel it differently.

One more item I find conflicting is the arm rotation, and therefore have tried to stay out of the fray. I am hesitant even to mention it here, but I am one of those who feel that I have no rotation.

If I do a drill of taking my address position, lift the club straight up in front of my body to ground parallel, then turn to the toe line, I am parallel to the ground over the toe line, and have not had any arm rotation. I feel that my natural take away also arrives at this same location/position without any arm rotation, Other than in the shoulder socket. Right or wrong. it is what I feel.

No two people will feel the same, even if they are the same. So we just have to work it out for ourselves while staying within the parameters of PPGS.

Interesting exchange between you and Steve.  I've found a slight early rotatation is more natural and less contrived for me.  It requires less thought and is a much smoother feel and less thinking during the swing is ALWAYS better for me.  It may get me a bit less vertical, but I have to work with what I've got.

During the back swing I know that the shoulders turn slightly to the toe line , but do the hips also slightly turn or do they remain parallel with the aiming line?

 As Steve posts the takeaway is very hard to put into words. Also the point T made about arm rotation.

As to moving the hips first to initiate the swing it is a subtle move, perpendicular to the spinal tilt and similar to the motion that the rebound from a forward press creates. This creates an angle for the hips and shoulders to rotate perpendicular to the spine  and not at a tilted. Once the initial movement starts it is continued by the back elbow and shoulders so it turns the club to the toe line.

Another point in the BUS is the movement of the back elbow. Since the back hip "clears" at the start it enables the elbow to move back from the toe line so it widens the gap to the front elbow. This enables the back arm to brace against the centrifugal force that the club head has in the rotation away from address. The bracing is necessary to get the shaft at 12:00 or 12:10 at the top.

A third point in the BUS is the arm rotation/arm fold. The rotation has a lot to do with the reference of toe up. Toe up to the spinal tilt or gravity? Or somewhere in between.

The angle of the spinal tilt has a lot of influence in determining the arm rotation. The steeper the tilt the more the arm needs to rotate to keep the toe up to gravity. Less rotation will keep the toe up to the spinal tilt angle and appear to be shut going back and open after impact.

Shallower spine angle tilts will be easier to get the toe up to gravity without very much arm rotation. Toe up to the steeper spine angle works well with a power move as it is easier to "trap" the ball with more back spin. Toe up to gravity makes it easier to hit higher shots with less backspin. Both will work within the PPGS positions.

The arm fold is another variable to ponder on. Don's swing has the forward arm swinging across his chest with the toe up to gravity. This gets the arm and club parallel to the toe line quicker than the way that T explains in his post below. The back elbow is in a strong position to keep the club head from bringing the rest of the club into the SBG. The move also increases the amount of kinetic energy that wants to take the club head into the SBG.

T's practice move gets the club parallel to the toe line later in the BUS and the back elbow maintains the distance to the forward on and only widens past the toe line. Much less kinetic energy to resist against.

The difference in the two styles does create different energies in the shoulder rotation in the BUS. The fold across the chest is easier to keep the turn to the 70* while the second way creates a need to be careful that the momentum of the club will want to go beyond the 70* angle.

In summation the arm fold toe up to gravity style works together well as does the late arm fold toe up to the spinal tilt style. And variations between the two. All can be down within the parameters of the PPGS. Because of the variations available it is easy to fluctuate to the point it seems though one has a different swing every day.

Seems like a good place to end this post before too many Surgites go glassy eyed thinking about how there are a lot of small variations that still can fit the PPGS check points for the BUS.

Surge Nation

I had a terrible incident at the driving range this afternoon.  I guess my shorts were a bit too tight.  I was standing there by the sidewalk trying to do the drill Surge showed us today.  I got bent over into my athletically ready position, shoved  my butt back and up a bit, and that is when the trouble started.

Some wise guy rode up and tried to use me as a rack to park his bicycle.  I guess I should just be glad he was not part of a foursome.

Keeping it vertical, and looking over my shoulder, in Oklahoma,
Dick

Dick, that has to be the best argument for baggy shorts I've seen. ;0)

Surge

YOU are really the best.  You explain well what we sometimes intuitively question.  Thanks.

Bill

Now you have me feeling like I'm on the short BUS. ;-)

SURGE  ---  ARE YOU IN EFFECT GIVING UP THE ACCORDION  APPROACH TO YOU SET-UP  ????     IT SEEMS THAT THIS APPROACH KEEPS YOU MORE UP RIGHT   ----  I HAV' NT HAD A CHANCE TO TRY IT YET BUT IT DOES LOOK LIKE IT SHOULD GIVE YOU MORE STABILITY ON YOUR TAKE AWAY    ----  TKS FOR YOU THOUGHTS       IRV    --  85 YR OLD FAN FROM WEST DES IOWA

Surge,

You have just solidly confirmed something I have discovered for myself. That little push back of my hips is making a big difference in how solidly I hit the ball. I am trying to incorporate this move into my conscious set up. When I don't I just don't hit the ball as well as I know I can. When I do make a conscious effort to push the hips back ball contact is so much better. Thanks!

No he's not giving up the accordion effect. This is a note tacked on to the end of the setup, not a whole new setup. 

I think it's not precisely "keeping the spine straight" but maintaining the natural curvature of the spine, rather than the reverse bow that happens when we slump over. 

And your blaming the shorts for being too tight

You and I have discussed this a few times, on and off these boards. I know I prefer an early rotation of the arms going back, because I want that movement done in reverse in the FUS, rotating the arms through the hitting zone. DJ has a particularly fast rotation of the arms in his takeaway, which is what has led to so many people saying he must be setting his wrists early.

One thing of note, of course, is that it is rotation FROM THE SHOULDER SOCKET, not just the forearms as some people may imagine when talking about rotating the arms. 

I always enjoy your frank honesty about your own game and knowing that you are a little bit like the rest of us always seeking improvement and seeing how we can improve our fundamentals. Of course what you covered today is actually covered in one of the posture and stance lessons available for all. There in you actually say that when we accordian down, simply bending our knees in a manner as if were quote "running to the outfield and getting down (into the athletically ready position) and when we get into this position it also creates a kind of arch in the back right where your beltline is. That's very important because that arch creates a little stretch in the muscles from the hips through the legs and from hips up through your back. .... it helps restrict the hips from moving too much in the backswing.... and if we're not moving too much in the backswing that allows us to turn a little bit and then like stretching an elastic just snap us and explode us right up into the finish..."unquote.
So although explained in a slightly different context it was explained by you (Surge) in that lesson on posture and would be good for others to review. It's in the original PPGS lesson videos. That explaination helped me then and this one today is a nice addition.
It all makes perfect sense to me and is in harmony with the idea of holding the legs (and posture - which includes the lower back) and allowing the arms to swing faster.
Posture is hugely key in this swing and certainly a key for me in getting back to the ball square and hitting it where I aim with a centered strike.

 Russty

No sir, it is my fault the shorts are too tight.

I guess I'll have to take all the credit, or in this case all the blame for this whole situation.

I just wanted to get the word out to the rest of the Surge Nation that you should all be careful when you stick your butt out in a public place.

Keeping it vertical, and still trying to get the tire marks off my shorts,
Dick