Club Shaft and the Bump

A little while ago I did a tip on "The Bump" and how important it is to make good solid contact with the ball at impact. Well, as it happens, that inspired our Director of Club Fitting, Lynn Griffin, to go even a little deeper. He wanted to emphasize the third element I touched on...club length.

In this video Lynn gives an excellent demonstration of "The Bump" and what it actually looks like. Lynn's emphasis is on club length, especially the driver. He shows that if the driver is too long it's physically impossible to "bump" which is key to power and distance in the Surge Swing.

Club length also has to do with your ability to consistently hit the sweet spot with the driver. If the shaft is long, it's harder to control and lack of control means the possibility of more errors. Lynn uses his own "8/10 rule." You have to hit the ball in the sweet spot 8 out of 10 times. If that's not the case, check your club. (Of course my personal rule is 10/10, thank goodness Lynn can take some kidding.)

"The Bump" is power. "The Bump" is distance. Don't swing without it.

Keep it vertical,

The Surge!

If you can't view the YouTube video above try CLICKING HERE. You must allow popups from this site for the link to work.

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Not bad in the wind Robert. I

Not bad in the wind Robert. I've even seen "easy" courses like the one I play turn into a bear if the wind picks up, and putting well in the wind is very hard sometimes.

All day might be a little

All day might be a little boring too! Ha ha.
I figure 3 or 4 is where I'll do most of my practicing after loosening up.
Of course I will still be me though and that means I will occasionally have to see what I can really do. LOL
Kind of fits with how I play, not always too smart but never afraid to "go for it".

Hey Steve....was just stating

Hey Steve....was just stating a feel I had that helped me.....no need to get all technical...I know how to hit the ball...this helped me!...was just tryin to share with someone.

Hey Tim,

Doc uses 355cc KZG heads on the drivers he builds for those of us who've used his distance fitting driver form. It's a very nice club head. Likely you've received an email from him with more information about the distance fit program for the driver. Quite a few of us on here can recommend it. :)

The force is strong with this

The force is strong with this one................................

Phil, Good morning. I'm not

Phil, Good morning. I'm not the night owl that some of you appear to be, unless there is outside activity involved.
I like my clubs very much. I have the 730cl Driver, 20* and 26* Hybrids, 5, 6/7, 8/9, in the irons. It should be noted though, the 5 is actually a 6-loft at 30*, the 6/7 @ 36*, and the 8/9 @TeeOn13:disqusÃÂ 42*, I then have the 3 wedges 48* P/W, 52* G/W, and the 56* S/W, in the Wishon PCF Micro. The only thing I am considering is the possibility of getting a 2-Hybrid in the 15-16* range.
I was not sure at first about the combo #/Loft irons, but am getting used to the distance differences as I play them more often. Most holes seem to require a Driver, one of the Hybrids, and then a wedge or putter. The irons are not required very often for other than very short Par 4s and 3s. I do like only having 10 total clubs in the bag though. If I add the extra 2 Hybrid, I'm still at 11.

I'm waiting on the rain to

I'm waiting on the rain to ease up & working out mine.Though Josh is having a whiney day. i think he played to hard at daycare and is really tired.I'm thinking bed time will be shortly after 7:00 for him tonight.

Bob, my fitter in San

Bob, my fitter in San Fransico (Leith Anderson) highly respects Russ Ryden and recently spent time with him at the PGA show and in Dallas Texas talking shop and the latest in golf.
Sounds like you'll have agreat experience if you get fit with him.

Karl, these are not the "dumb

Karl, these are not the "dumb" LOL's you are looking for. In fact, these LOL's (laughing out loud ) are quite audible. The laughs you may be looking for are my laughs, LIBIITL (Laughing Internally Beacause I'm In The Library). LIBIITL may be classified as dumb because they are incapable of sound (I am in the library after all).

Hmmm! If Boog has a swing

Hmmm! If Boog has a swing like DJ he has been sandbagging hasn't he?
I better take a few days off to practice before he and I play a round.
Well now that he's getting the fitted clubs maybe it needs to be a week.;-)

Good job!

Thanks!

I've ordered 12 of them but I

I've ordered 12 of them but I gave some of them to Mike. He was pretty excited about it and has been reading some books on different kinds of protein and what it means to be sure you are getting enough, especially when working out a lot. He works out twice a day in the gym and broke a couple of his personal records for weight lifting since starting the protein supplement and a much better diet, and is down to 175 lbs. Maybe coincidence but probably not.

Quick question to Doc.Too

Quick question to Doc.
Too much " Bump " ?ÃÂ Surge touched on itÃÂ yesterday or day before.ÃÂ Openface at impact?
Other symtoms?

Boog

I'm thinking that my overtinking is a thought I should NOT be thinking about.ÃÂ ;0)

Dear Doc Griffin,Is there

Dear Doc Griffin,
Is there anyone who can fit clubs in Australia to Don Trahan's specifications?ÃÂ ÃÂ I currently use 10 year old Hawk Eye Callaway clubs which were professionally fitted for me and appear to work reasonably well.ÃÂ I do however suspect these clubs may be a tad too long.ÃÂ I am 5 foot 2 inches tall and the length of my wrist to ground is 2ÃÂ foot 5 1/2 inches.ÃÂ Do you have any suggestions?

For anyone that happens to

For anyone that happens to read this little chat:
Whenever I explain to someone that I have certain problems with my leg that cause a few inconveniences I am certainly not crying the blues about it and never did. I just find a way to perform an athletic move with the limitation.
When the injury first happened in high school I had no ability to lift my left foot (drop foot) and had to tie an ace bandage around my knee and use one of those screen door springs attached to it and my shoe to be able to do much of anything.
At a high school baseball game just as I was stepping to the plate I heard someone in the stands say "hey look at that guy with a spring on his leg". After hitting the next pitch over the left field light poles I never heard another word out of them. So I am used to people making fun of some of the things that I do.

The nerves did come back after about the first year just enough to allow me to pick the foot up just enough to clear the ground as long as I am not barefooted. When I am barefooted the toe hangs down a little so I trip a lot causing even my wife to laugh at me.

So that is why I make sure to not trust any balance on my left leg for very long and makes swinging to a nice pretty finish fairly hard, although I do get through the ball and to my left side at contact. It's after contact that my body is telling me I better cut that finish a little short and regain right side control. Rolling over the left ankle is out of the question, period.

I've done a good job of hiding the slight handicap in everything I have done and almost none ofÃÂ the people I played football or baseball with ever even knew once I didn't need the spring anymore.

The two places that I have found it impossible to hide it were in Karate, where there were certain things like a left front kick that I just physically couldn't do, and golf, where balance is so important that anyone can see something is not quite right even though they may not pinpoint what it is. In Karate I just had to be better and faster than other people at the things I could do. I'm just trying to do the same with golf.

BTW to JB: My swing is actually pretty vertical. Sometimes my turn is a little too much but the shaft is usually vertical unless I am trying to hit more of a draw. Even then it isn't very far from vertical. I don't try to judge that from some random camera angle. Rather I check many times with the camera right on the toe line and rarely go more than a few inches behind it.
And the nerves in my leg won't be coming back. I'm just thankful that enough of them came back all those years ago to allow me to be a pretty good athlete, and enjoy playing sports.

So that's the story.

Nice to see you on the blog

Nice to see you on the blog again Phil. I was going to send you a message just yesterday to ask how things were going but about that time my wife decided she wanted to talk about a trip we are making to Texas, then Oklahoma, then Missouri and it distracted me. I told her we were only circling half of the country. LOL

There are times I wish

There are times I wish natural selection were a stronger force.

You can go to www

You can go to www.docgriffingolf.com or www.thegolfstop.net (both go to the same place) to find his location and scheduling information.

I do and it does not work

I do and it does not work vertically I have a 46 " driver that I hit in the center of the face every time I swung it at my fitting yesterday 15 shots hit with impact tape on the face and every shot was on top of the next shot with no deviation in impact but I cannot swing this club vertical and not going to waist anymore time trying.
Roger

Lynn, Doc & talked about this

Lynn, Doc & talked about this this morning as we covered my wanting to get the pop tarts before the toaster was hot. It dealt with the bump and how hard it seems for some of us on here. He had me face him and then told me to walk to the rear wall, that was to my left and to lead with my left foot.So I did and he responded, "what step did you have to think about?"
When I replied the first,he said and all the others just happened.That's the way the swing should be.

laughing out loud, no, it

laughing out loud, no, it doesn't mean lot of luck

I was wondering the same

I was wondering the same thing. A bit confused as to the tie in. Agree with the arms extended at impact, but do not see how an after action,(arms extended at impact)ÃÂ leads to a pre-action (the bump) when the effect stated is actually an after effect of a pre-cause. I think I just confused myself a bit.
Edit: I was just poking a bit of fun at the cause/effect factor, sort of a chicken/egg thing. I would have added a LOL, but Karl might be reading it. Sorry Karl

Morning Robert F. You get a

Morning Robert F. You get a chance to hit balls yesterday?

Sure I do. I was the Mid

Sure I do. I was the Mid Central Western areas Southern Long Drive Champ for 28yrs in a season. I used a 78" mega stiff flex aluminum poly bonded mixture of alloys special tempered shaft. I had to stand on the fourth rung of a step ladder to swing the thing. I also had a special made head that started at 460 and actually increased in mass as the speed increases. It was probably about 750cc by the time contact was made. My longest drive was 987yds carry and another 183yds of roll out. I finally had to give it up though, the step ladders were getting too expensive.

Your welcome,Ma'am, I also

Your welcome,Ma'am, I also look forward when I will hearÃÂ some mumblings as I come off the tee box. I hope to hear some the last Friday in July, I may get to be the D player in an Alabama Power Tourney on our Local's team.

I went to pull up that page

I went to pull up that page (having seen it before), then noticed you'd posted the chart. However, I also noticed that Doc gets a shout-out on the SwingRite home page. :)

Robert,ÃÂ I normally share

Robert,ÃÂ I normally share the www.agcpforum.com website with our international friends. Though each golfer needs to do there homework as to who qualifies as a proper fitter, these are certified professional fitters who have followed the Tom Wishon approved fitting phylosophies and usually have thier qualifications listed. In the absence of a SS approved fitter this is probably thier best source.

Steve Smith:

ÃÂ ÃÂ It is the Old Bulldog idea -- "Never say die!" LOL

ÃÂ ÃÂ Amos

It's based on club head speed

It's based on club head speed.ÃÂ If you don't have the speed, you'll never get it to click on 1.ÃÂ So, you want to steady progress to the point where you can not get it to click with your normal swing.ÃÂ Then back it up one.

The best way to avoid

The best way to avoid sticking the toe of the club into the ground is to go to a fitter and get your lie angles checked. You should not try to "fix" the problem by bowing, cupping, cocking, or flexing your wrists, as that won't actually fix what's wrong and will introduce other error. Note that lie angle is not about the static address position. It's about what happens when you swing the club. The force of the swing will cause the toe to droop (varying amounts depending on your swing and your clubs (shaft strength, tip strength, weight of head and distribution of that weight, etc). Any good fitter should be able to adjust your lie angles for you at relatively low cost.

Pretty much the same advice

Pretty much the same advice Doc gave me a while ago.

Phillip, I will definitely

Phillip, I will definitely share the experience. I'm carrying my laptop with me as well as a notebook & camera.
ÃÂ As to my current clubs,they're a set of Bridges' from the West Georgia Golf Company out of Carrollton, Georgia. I think they may actually belong to my oldest son.Matt, my soon to be middle son, has the other set of Bridges'. I had a set of Titleist D something or another a few years back but Mike, the oldest, now has those since I had to give up the game 3 years ago due my back injuries. From what I understand these clubs I have now are clone of sorts of some Ping irons and I'm sorry I don't know which.
ÃÂ Pardon me, Doc, but I gotta do it...
"Remember better golf is just two days away!"
Happy Golfing, Booger

I wasn't criticizing what you

I wasn't criticizing what you said at all. I am just trying to figure out my own problems with my own swing. I even thanked you for bringing up the subject so it gave me the incentive to study my swing as opposed to DJ's.
I think getting technical is what this site is all about. I spent 5 years hitting balls with absolutely no technical thoughts whatsoever, and that got me nowhere.
Oh, glad you know how to hit the ball. So do I. Just not very well.

I'am talking about a longer

I'am talking about a longer shafted driver swing plane vs what the doc. said in his video in-regards to vertical. ( Not ) a shorter shafted wedge that doesn't look like it's 35" long. A verticle swing to me would be :ÃÂ swinging upÃÂ a side of a wall without the club leaving the wall with a driver thats no good. I used to practice standing up against a wall with my 53" driver to keep me from having a flat swing. Thank You

No. You must be checked on a

No. You must be checked on a lie board by a professional.

thanks,Phil, I can't wait to

thanks,Phil, I can't wait to until I'm able to break them in.

Roger,What is your wrist to

Roger,
What is your wrist to floor?
I messed around with 44 1/2" for a while determined that I could make it work. I can only describe the results as half way OK. I had to pull either up, back, or around at impact, none of which are desirable and robbed me of power, if I wanted to really utilize the power source of being vertical.
When I went on down to 44" with one of my drivers and 43 3/4" with the other one I could feel the unrestricted power that I had in my irons (almost). I'm not sure but I think 43 1/2" might have given me the freedom for even more club speed.
BTW my wrist to floor is 36". At least that is the best measurement I can come up with either measuring myself or trusting my wife to read the tape. LOL
May not be 100% accurate but should at least be pretty close.

My new clubs had to stay in

My new clubs had to stay in the living room. She was'nt going to let them come to bed with me. WhenÃÂ I got up this morning they were still fine. Tell you what is the coolest toy among them.the Nickent 4DX Evolver Driver with easy shaft changing technology. I have both the 9 degree and the 10.5. They came with 6 different shafts. It's going to be fun trying out all those choices finding out which gives me the best flight and distance.

I agree. It's just hard to

I agree. It's just hard to imagine that happening for the time being.

Phil.....My daughter heads

Phil.....My daughter heads for New Zealand and Australia on June 30 thru Jul 29.

What type of weather can she expect?

Thanks. Phillip

That would also be 9:30, the

That would also be 9:30, the clock is viewed from behind looking down line.ÃÂ The club also doesn't go STRAIGHT up. Straight up would be over your head.

Hey Robert,I agree that it

Hey Robert,
I agree that it would be fun. Maybe I would go crazy trying to figure out what to use but I go crazy anyway not having the options.;-)
I did hit some really good tee shots in the scramble today (one of the few "highlights" of my day) but never used any of them. Somebody always had one just a little bit better but hey at least my drives were getting beaten by my teammates. LOL
One of them was pretty impressive and I just couldn't beat his distance and some of mine were a little over 300 yards.
He usually plays with one of the local guys that made it to Mesquite for the long drive championship and I think it must be rubbing off on him.

Steve I agree.

Steve
I agree.

I am stuck in between with the driver still leaning a little toward a
flatter swing with the driver. He was a little afraid to go shorter
right now than 44 1/2 and have me work with a shorter driver until I got
used to it with 8 - 10 tournaments left I will a least keep it in the fairway at 44 1/2. He said we would look at it again after the season and he can
make any adjustments easy enough. So I am going to work my way into the shorter shaft after the tournament season and into this winter.

ÃÂ I agree that I will not be able to get completely vertical with the
driver until I go shorter with the shaft and I would never say that I
was swinging it vertical at that length.

My 3w and 4w and irons are not a problem I swing them vertically with ease.

The settlement that I got from the insurance company is giving a little
room to play a little with this. I thought I was going to have to return
a portion of it after getting my irons back but I talked to my agent
today and he said to not even say anything about getting them back to
the insurance company sense my tools are gone and he felt that they did
not give a fair replacement value on the tools. Which half of them will
unlikely be replaced because i will never use them.ÃÂ I came way out
ahead.ÃÂ

As goofy as this sounds or (Twilight Zoneish LOL ) I am taking this one
step at a time andÃÂ by the end of this winter I will be playing driver
at the shorter length If it was not for these tournaments that I have
left I would have went all they way to 43 1/2 .
One of the tournaments that I have left is a qualifier for the World AM at Myrtle Beach at the end of August .If you win your flight in our tournament our tour pays the 500.00 entry fee for the World Am.

As far as talent I don't no about all that LOL . Your the one with the talent shooting the scores you shoot.

Roger

Robert,

You cannot help people that are not willing to help themselves.

I told somebody just last

I told somebody just last week when the wind really picked up just before the thunderstorm that forced us to quit that I thought putting was affected more than any other shot.
It really is an adjustment if your distances change. Even now I know what distance my irons are going but STILL can't bring myself to pull the right club on certain shots because I played so many rounds where that club would have been ridiculous.

On a separate note, whatever happens over the next two days with this kid Cantlay, they'll be chasing him for a long time since he set a new course record with his second round 60 this afternoon.

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Club Shaft and the Bump

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