I received a good question the other day from Dave Armit, a relatively new Surgite who hails from Cape Cod, not far from where I grew up. Dave wanted to know:
"Do you still employ "into the catcher's mitt toe up" for, say, 50-70 yard pitch shots?"
Absolutely, Dave! With the Peak Performance Golf Swing, a shot of any length, other than a putt, requires arm rotation to get the proper amount of power. That's a distinguishing mark of this swing. We rotate the arms and club to get the club into a toe up position in the backswing and then rotate them the opposite direction in the forward upswing until the club is square at impact. Then as we accelerate through the ball we continue that arm rotation to get the club toe up again in the forward mitt. As long as you are trying to properly hit a golf ball, you can't ignore the concept of On, On, and On, Square & Solid. For those not familiar with this Surgism, that's where your club must approach the ball On the aiming line, strike it On the line while Square, leave accelerating On the aiming line and hit it Solid on the sweet spot while doing the first three.
In the Surge Swing, how far Up The Tree we go is dictated by how far we want the ball to fly. But whether that is a 250 yard drive or a delicate 10 yard pitch and run, we still need to rotate our arms to get the club toe up. This concept of Toe Up lives forever, because On, On, and On, Square & Solid is based on physics. It's what has to happen in order to hit the ball straight and true. If you choose to defy the the physics of a golf shot you suddenly introduce a lot of margin for error--and error here means either a mishit or a shot that does not fly straight at the target.
So practice your pitch shots by going from toe up in the back swing, back to square at impact and then toe up into the forward catcher's mitt. If you get this down, you will be hitting shots that are more solid and straight and you'll soon have the feel for better distance control. Then you'll be on your way to shooting lower scores and enjoying the game more.
Keep it vertical!
The Surge
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