Club Shaft and the Bump

Mike, I'm sorry about not emailing you back, I've had quite the experience while being here in Columbia. I have no set plans in the morning, though I'm not sure how or if I will be able to swing a club. Had a little accident soon after I left Doc's and sliced my little finger of my left hand pretty good, I'll check it again in the morning. I do, however, want to at least get together in some fashion. I'll go ahead and admit that I lost your phone number so if you want to email that to me again, I'd appreciate it a lot.
 & for everyone else, it only took 3 hours and a couple telephone calls to support to FINALLY get my wireless internet connection in my room.
I'll be giving you the low down on my Doc session here, momentarily.
Happy Golfing,
Boog

What my clubfitter did was put a black marking pen line on a golf ball, then set that marked line toward the club head and swing and hit the ball.  Then look at the mark on your club face, straight up and down=very good lie angle.  If the line on the club face is leaning one way or the other, then you can see by how much and what way the lie might be changed........... this then would be the lie based on your swing and not the static lie, which Doc says is meaningless regarding how it may be when you swing the club.  My club fitter teed the ball even with the grass when we did this.

U have no idea about swinging a long club on the the RIGHT SWING PATH to achieve 10/10

What did Doc prescribe?

Phillip

Hey CF -  Yeah, it's a little sobering to see your kid with a big tube coming out of his chest.  The doofus walked around with a collapsed lung for several days before his dad and I were able to convince him to go to a doctor.  The doc said it was a good thing he got in because the other one was in danger of going and then ... well, I don't even want to think about it.  I need him around to take care of me in my old age.

I'm always looking for someone to play with.  Doc has my contact info, too, and he has my permission to give it to you.  The bar is coming up soon, right?

Hey Doc I am looking for a couple suggestions for a new driver. I am a 9 handicap and play an old r7 taylor made. I have purchased a couple newer drivers with bigger heads and they just don't fir my eye. I like the smaller heads (400cc to 420cc) I have figured out the shaft that best suits my swing just looking for a head. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. My email is Thogan7140@msn.com Thanks again

I'am not here to promote some magic golfshaft that was tossed around this blog a few months ago. I'am talking about the proper swingplane to hit  a longer driver and it's not vertical. I gave Roger a web site that will help him with his 46" driver and maybe help him with the swing path so he can have fun on the course.
Lets not make a big deal out of this because it's all up to Roger in what he want to do. 

Yes, I HAD to turn my volume down.

My wife came running into my study to find out who was doing all the shouting !!!

Cheers  Brian

Doc, After watching your video blog this afternoon, I decided to choke down even further on my driver than I already had been, all the way down to the graphite.  I had my most consistent 9 holes with the driver, only missing two fairways, and not by much, and no big slices.  Not surprisingly, I had my lowest score so far this year. 

Qualified, quite possibly. Swing Surgeon Certified, no. Which you'd know if you checked the Certified Fitters page for the Northeastern Region (http://swingsurgeon.com/Academ... ). The closest is probably
Frank Stranick - www.swingsurgeon.com/frankstra...

Swing Surgeon Certified Fitter

FS Golf

2374 Holly Drive

Gilbertville, PA 19525

610-564-3465

www.fsgolf.net

fsgolf@comcast.netThat's south of Allentown and east of Reading. A few hours drive (to a lot of hours drive) depending where in NJ you are.

Roger, don't give-up on your 46" driver just yet. Go to www.penleysports.com and read the section on LONGDRIVE SCIENCE, u might find someone that can help u out.

Ok only a couple corrections needed.

1.  Shaft in the woods and hybrid are not X flex.  They are S flex not that flex means much.  It's the profile of the shaft.  The Blur has a very stable tip and mid section for feel and control.

2. The irons will have X flex.

3. We're working for release not right hand overtaking.

4  He swing as fast as DJ, not LIKE DJ.

4.  Boog, it's a Bluetooth, I'm not talking to myself.  LOL (oopss, did it again sorry, Karl)

comment removed for goofiness.

You are correct.  The arms do extend, in the correct swing and they do not extende towards the ball unless you were over reaching at address in the first place.  The idea of "staying back on the ball" will create the extension that is targetward which is taking the club into the mit on the FUS just as you extend the arms going into the mitt of the back swing.  The actions are basically mirror images. The difference is that the bump starts the arm fall and bringing them slightly from inside the target line to the point that the club head travels on the target line in the  ON ON ON position.

Roger, that sounds like a good plan. I have had some success with lead tape after I cut my old driver from 45 to 43.1/2. As terry mentioned, he simply chokes up a little for his. My new one will be 44.1/2 but I will easily be able to comfortably choke down a 1/2 or full inch (if needed) because I will have the Jumbo Max grips that have a larger cap end.

T, you're killing me, down here!

Nice looking sticks Boog!
I wish there was a Surge swing fitter/instructor in Australia.

Robert, too many honey do's and helping my son today to meet you at range. I have made a 1:57 tee time at Piute snow mountain for Friday though and you are welcome to join me if you can.

Glad to see you back!!!

Really enjoyed this video Doc!

Cheers Keith

Doc, you just made the big time. Josh wanted to make sure I thanked you for him on your gifts to him and as we were saying his prayers or his blessings as he calls them. He added you to his list right after "Kiddo", who is my welding/rigging partner, it doesn't get any better than that in his book.

Nope, and doesn't this just make you wonder why so many club builders and companies such as Ping say that they can do fittings for lie angle from static measurements?

T. Hate to be a PIA, regarding irons.....

I assume the combo lofts are the irons and not combo hybrids?

What type of shafts were installed? Graphite or steel?....flex?

Did fitter add any weight to ports?

Phillip

Thanks again

Presuming that the length of the clubs are correct, is there an ideal lie anger for a vertical swing based on a person's size, e.g., wrist/ground measurement?

Your traveling is taking you to a great experience Boog. Yipee! Good night Boog.

Hey, Steve, thanks a lot. Now I have one more thing to overthink...lol.

Unfortunately, it looks like I probably won't make it out of the house at all again today. Have a great round.

I'm planning on doing both, Robert, to the extent it doesn't slow us down. I'd hate to be a hindrance to the procedure.I have the wife trying to find the camera even as I type, I think it may out in Matt's bass boat.I've noticed he has been posting a lot of pictures of his catches on facebook, lol.

The goal is to have it click at what would be the point of impact or very near that point. The numbers indicate (roughly) how fast you are swinging the club at that point. Each twist increases the tension spring, requiring a greater swing speed (and thus more momentum pulling the ring toward the outside) to make it click. As we could have guessed, Steve Smith has VERY fast swing speed, even when he's exhausted from tossing steel around all day. I may need to go back to farm work to catch up to him. ;-)

Actually I do have that and haven't used it yet. I use the "golf buddy". It can measure shots too. I was thinking about the laser type you can aim.Guess Im spoiled andjust need to use what I have.

So you would say this is not a vertical swing? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

Doc, I feel this has been your best video yet, tying several key points all together. Super! Of those little adjustments that you elluded to are adjusting the lies on our irons because often the vertical change in downswing approach causes the club to seem too flat(in addition to too long). That again is one of those relatively cheap but vital fixes we can have done along with cutting down the lengths if needed. Often too we remember that a shortening the shaft can make it seem Stiffer so tip weighting by a professional could bring the swingweight back and or we could experiment with lead tape as disscused in detail a couple of days ago. Also you have said it before but it bears repeating that a great way to "mark" our grips as we choke up and test a shorter length is to simply wrap a rubber band as we go. Again awesome Doc. Great stuff that I'm sure will get lots of feed back over the next 24 hours.
PMG!

Surgites,
Hello from Columbia, South Carolina.Here is a recap of my fitting experience with Doc Griffin this morning beginning around 11:35 am. The wife dropped me off and I pulled out my bag with those sticks I don't like much and my swingrite. Doc told me to put those back into the truck unless I wanted him to check them. Big NO there, I don't like them much & only use them because they were handy. When I finally got back to him, it seems he and Josh were deep into conversation about a  sump pump or something of the sorts. Anyways, We directed the wife and Josh to the local Walmart since they didn't want to stay ( so no pictures,RM, the camera was in her bag.) and we moved into the fitting center.
 Doc had me warm up with my swingrite and then brought out a 5 iron test club (38" club) and I warmed up with that for a few moments. I was nervous beyond belief and topped about every 3rd swing. I actually lost count of how many balls I hit in this period, trying to shake my shakes.
Luckily I heard Doc mumble something through the door, it might have been a comment about me nearly shanking one off the other building in the right foreground but regardless, it made me laugh and all the tension was gone.I told him I was ready and then proceeded to hit away. It seems with the original test club or one of the ones that followed I suffered severe toe down so he made some changes.I'll say this now and it concerns the whole session, I topped quite a lot of shots and Doc told me why, i was poptarting way before the toaster was heated up.He told me, and it's one of the things I will continue to work on, is to just swing naturally and quit trying to segment the swing ala connecting the dots.Thanks for that,Doc. About this time Doc, had what he needed from his equipment as to the particulars of my iron swing, I need a little work on that, seems I'm coming way from inside because I take it outside a bit in the take-away.So next, we moved to feel of shafts, I made several swings with 4 models that were within what his program said was optimum for my swing. After I made a selection as to that, he presented me with 4 models to determine what fit my eye.I've always been kind of a classic guy so I chose a model with a thin top line. I don't like over-sized anything. We did use contact tape and a lie board and got my shots to the center as we went along.Then we proceeded to repeat the process with the drivers.
 As to swing paths, I need to work on my irons, to much from the inside on the downswing.My driver was nearly spot on axially but my angle of attack was off a tad. We,or Doc, noticed that my ball position was way off, I had the ball to far back. We made adjustments and I'll will continue to work on that and all others "suggested" now that I have some down time. We moved my ball position up to what felt like to me was 6" in front of my left foot but by the mirror was just inside my instep and I hit & hit but kept hitting pushes.He had me go with a stronger right hand and after a while I went to hitting them straighter.
 So from a swing prospective, I need to work on my iron swing path and getting my right hand stronger so I can properly release into the ball,especially with my drivers.
 Okay, I know this is way longer than that epistle Doc wrote last week so here is the goodies that you've been waited for.
  Doc said I used the same 38" test club  that DJ used and could swing it...to a speed of 94.5 mph.
My average driver speed was 106 mph
( Steve, he once said while I was hitting irons, "Boy, you hit it a long way!" to which I replied "it's a  bama thing, I guess.")

So all of that brings about the following club selections:
(to the best of my remembrance & chicken scratch notes)
Doc feel free to correct any of my miscues, if you will.

Alpha 8.5*-9* 360cc driver with  fuji blur shaft s-flex 441/2" and properly choked ;)
Alpha 3 wood T steel shafted in the same manner
Alpha #3 Hybrid T steel  with graffalloy  pro launch red shaft same s-flex as the others
KZG EC2 Irons 4-PW with steel shafts that sounded like Ken Brayley, but I'm just guessing.
KZG  X95 sand wedge at  54 degrees with medium bounce, if that, I play rough sand
My lie is 6* upright since I'm about DJ'd height...6'2"
My long irons will be + 1/4 inch as well
MOI in my driver  is 2850
MOI in my Irons is 2800

This one made my chest swell a bit, I can play any tour caliber ball but I'm choosing the
Bridgestone B330 low spin version, Doc says I create enough on my own..if I can just get my right hand to release at impact.( I was 13 degrees open until we strengthened my right hand)
I will say this, it was almost worth the fitting fee alone to hear his mini-discourse on the various  golf balls available... " ****, just shoot yourself now!"

Some of this may be off but it was a hot day and my writing is hard to read, lol.
In closing, and I'm sorry for this length but I may not have a connection tomorrow, Let me say a big thank you to Doc. He gives you more than a fitting, his tips are even better in person. Class A gentleman, even if he does seem to talk to himself a lot.
Thanks again, Doc...your the best.
 Booger

Additionally if you go to the swingrite web site they have several video tutorials that will give you more info on use. So far Philip, I've found you don't want to over swing it in an effort to dial down toward # 1. Just work with it at the higher numbers for a few days and then you'll find you can gradually get it down to 6 and 5 and so forth. It's not competition to get to a number but a means to get better tempo, release and lag. The speed part will come with time. Rythym is nice is'nt it? Enjoy.

Roger, Just in case things fall into the cracks in your mind, as in my case. Remember to test the 1/2" at a time choke down method with the driver. Mine is at 44 1/4, but I have found a 1" choke down gets better results for me.  Good luck

Understand that one of the basic principles of the Swing Surgeon Swing is that the ball doesn't know what club you're using. We don't WANT to have a different swing path for a driver than we have for every other club. It just introduces error. If you're not interested in swinging EVERY club on a maximum incline vertical plane, why are you spending months hanging around this site? Doc says very clearly in this video that it is perfectly possible to hit any length driver you can pick up, but your swing would necessarily flatten, which we do not want.

Oops - I meant to say I have tons of SURGE videos to catch up on, not Doc.  I got my specialists mixed up!  See??  It's been too long!

I think it would depend on how the new shafts are tipped, but Doc (or your fitter Greg) would be better equipped to answer that question.

welcome back phil!!!!

Sorry Ron, i'am not used to bloging and I hit the wrong reply 

Doc,
As usual a great job on explaining the bump and the affects of having clubs that don't fit.
Thanks for all you do.

Thanks for the corrections, Doc, you da man!
Yup, working on the release, I misspoke on that one.