Today's question comes from Marilyn Wheat, a regular visitor to the blog. Marilyn only started playing golf five years ago but she's made some good progress since she began learning the Peak Performance Golf Swing in the summer of 2009. From her after-action reports, it looks like she regularly shoots nine hole scores in the mid-forties and occasionally flirts with a forty. Keep up the good work, Marilyn.
"Don,
Just wanted to tell you thanks for all of your tips!!! They have really helped me a lot, if only I could remember all of them!
The most important for me is the loading right. Sometimes I just don't do it enough. The other is coming up the tree straight and bending the elbow. Darn, sometimes I don't come up far enough either. Can you help?"
Well, Marilyn don't feel too bad about forgetting things from time to time. It happens to everyone, even us old pros. Hopefully, you will get to the point where most of these will become ingrained in your approach to the game so that they become autonomic in nature and you won't have to consciously think of them. Just like breathing!
Now to the two areas you asked about. We'll start with "pre-loaded, heavy right" as this is a critical part of the setup. It's important because it allows us to stay behind the ball so that we can push off and up through the FUS. Most of the instructional world tells you to stay dead center while you make a big turn and move your weight over to your right side as you make your backswing. If you make this kind of weight transfer, the question becomes "Where do you stop?". If you turn and shift too much, you'll lose your dynamic balance and probably initiate a cascading series of swing faults. I feel it is better to make this weight transfer before the swing begins--it's easier to learn and it helps us keep our lower body quiet during the swing.
Marilyn asked a really good question: "How do you know if you are pre-loaded, heavy right enough?". A simple way to test this is if you can pick up your forward foot, (the left foot for a righty). If you can't, then you don't have enough weight on your right leg. This is somewhat hard to convey in words so watch the video and you'll see what I mean.
With regard to how your elbows should bend in the FUS, I don't want you to focus on them at all. Instead focus on where you want your hands to finish the forward swing. For a righty, that will be over your left shoulder with your hands close to your ear. If you can get the feel of that position and focus on it, your elbows will automatically bend when they need to. And your elbows should be perfectly folded and level for a picture-perfect T-Finish.
Keep it vertical!
The Surge
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