Well Surgites, you've heard me say it before. The Peak Performance Golf Swing trademark in the setup is the wide knees outward pressure position. Without it, you won't be able to maintain any sort of consistent vertical swing.
Jim Ruberg took it upon himself to record some of his swings. What he found shocked him, but it also made him understand what needed to be fixed.
Dear Surge,
I am 76 soon to be 77. I stopped playing golf for about 10 years. I was playing so bad it no longer was fun. About 2 years ago I found your website. Golf is now fun again! One day I was having a very bad round. The ball went everywhere but where I wanted it to go.
During the round I tried to figure out what I was doing wrong. Nothing helped. My swing felt smooth and my follow through felt good. When I got back home, I got out my camera and recorded my swing. I could not believe what I saw. My left knee was kicking in and my backswing was way too big. I played the next day and concentrated on keeping the outward pressure in my knees and golf was fun again. This brought home how important each part of the setup is to the overall swing. Thank you for your daily videos, they are a big help.
Jim Ruberg
Cincinnati, OH
I'm so glad that Jim was able to correctly diagnose his swing flaw. Along with alignment, this part of the setup is one of the most common things people have trouble with. We are the only swing style that teaches this type of setup.
I'm going to keep it short today because the video shows it all. Just remember this one thing. Call it one of my latest Surgisms if you will. If you want to make better swings and shoot lower scores, the knees are the bees. If you move them, you're going to get stung!
Keep it vertical!
The Surge
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Comments
Not Stung
Good one Surge, just looked at my last video and my knees were steady like a rock, I have found by flaring my feet a little more than Don does, keeps the knees more stable. Don't forget that squeezing down into the knees, stops them from moving also.
Too late but nice confirmation Surge : - )
Thankyou for confirming what I have been doing recently for coming up a couple of weeks. My shortening the backswing in the BUS and taking the club back more slowly, has made a big difference in my swing. Still raining hard here, so only checked it out on the course once. Sun breaks through and it is still chucking it down as I write this. A couple of swing sessions and chipping yesterday between squalls on the front yard swinging and chipping range, had continued to convince me that the steadier lower body during the BUS with a steadier and slower backswing is absolutely the bees knees.
Nice to know I am on the right track! On the last outing [so long ago boohoo! : - [ , the majority of shots went much further than previously.All with less effort, amazing.
Wishing DJ all the very best in the Zurich this w/e. Now who will I support? hahaha. May the best player on the day win.
Needed reminder
As usual, I needed this reminder. Stable outward pressure of the knees makes all the difference in my results. When I let that front left knee come in I know it's because I am reaching for more power in my little brain but it always amazes me that I always get as much and usually more power and distance if I keep the knees and lower body quiet and the swing to only 3/4's. This gets the club back to a centered strike and the ball flies long and straighter too. Often it will be on a shot where I say to myself, okay I just want to lay up on this par five so I'll hit my 6 or 7 iron and just get in position for my wedge. A simple 3'4 swing that I predict 150 yards suddenly goes 180 to my surprise and it feels like I barely swung it. Truth is I did it with stable knees and a quiet body and just nutted it. Now to do that on purpose..... hmmmnnn....
Yep
That's pretty much what I said in a much more joking manner in my note to Dick on yesterday's video. When my knees get moving, my accuracy goes down and so does my distance. When I can keep myself steady below the waist, my accuracy and distance both go up.
Off-topic but ...
Tuesday, I started a new practice routine. Instead of hitting my tube of 24 balls, picking them up, and hitting them again, I now hit 2 balls from 2 locations at the same target. Then, I take off my glove, walk along the edge of the yard until I get close to the balls (my target line is usually diagonal across the yard), pick up both balls, and walk all the way around the perimeter of the yard back to where I hit from. The walking is roughly equivalent to a 213-yard Par 3. So, I play like a 9-hole Par-3 course; I get my exercise and practice together.
I have found that I am more relaxed by walking between shots. Tomorrow, I will do the walk after every shot and pretend it is an 18-hole Par-3 course. I noted a couple of interesting things today that I believe Surge has mentioned in the past.
One of the things I was doing wrong the past couple of days is dropping my chin. When my shoulders turn, my left shoulder would hit my chin, forcing my head to turn slightly and raise up an inch or two which caused me to hit a bunch of tops, thins, and low slices.
Another thing I was doing wrong was standing over the ball too long before swinging. This caused a lot of tension to set in, making it very difficult for me to swing properly. Watching Surge's swings, he doesn't spend more than 2.5 seconds over the ball. He takes a practice swing, sets up, and pulls the trigger. I have been thinking too much about mechanics instead of just trusting the swing (I know exactly what I am supposed to do).
Today, I picked my target line and my intermediate point, set up to the ball without looking at the target again, and swung away. Every swing was much more fluid and 16 of 18 shots went straight at the target with good trajectory and distance.
I can't wait to get out on the course with it. I'm just recovering from a knee injury from an encounter with a 40-foot Southern Yellow Pine. Fortunately, it was not a direct hit.
Off-topic but....
Sorry to here about the knee Kevin, hope it starts to behave itself soon.
Your comment on the chin dropping was a good reminder for me on my chip and swing session : - ) The Hitting at the ball which both Surge and Dave mentioned is a ruination. I set up everything and then focus my eyes on a spot just in front of the ball. Problem solved.
Lunch calls, a new addition to the menu today Rou Gian Mo like thick pancakes which you add pork to. Together with egg, tomato and seaweed soup ; - ) Off topic but we need energy to swing a club right? Regards DH in NZ where the sun is out : - )
Knees, etc.
Thanks for good wishes for my knee, DH. It better get better - I have a week long golf trip to Lake Tansi, TN with my brothers in 2 weeks.
Lunch calls for you - time for my late evening snack. I shall go peruse the kitchen and pantry.
Knees, etc
your are welcome Kevin. Good luck with the trip. Slight typo on my earlier food comment. It is Rou Jian Mo not Gian. On the same topic. A food renowned for being an 'anti-ageing' and excellent for your joints, legs and feet [ The Chinese sincerely believe this, and they don't make you fat either],are 'pigs trotters'. Easy to prepare. Just put them in a 'slow cooker' with some cooking wine and sliced or crushed ginger, until it is cooked. Then the lazy way is to eat the flesh dipping it in crushed garlic and a little Soya sauce [or any sauce you prefer]. It is very tasty and I can attest to it's efficacy on joints etc.
The lunch was scrumptious. The pancakes were looked more like hamburgers when filled with belly pork and pork ribs flesh. I was ravenous and could only manage two!!Guess what is for dinner? hahaha.
My swing session with 7iron,5iron and 3W was very good and fun too. I only have a small front yard. The chipping has become very good with every club in the bag. Chipping balls for instance with a PW, 4iron and driver the same distances was a challenge, not anymore : - ) No aches etc after a vigorous swing session. Not one 'thump' or thin swing at all either. Good Luck. DH
Rou Jian Mo
DH.....
Kindly share recipe please.
Sounds delicious!
Thank you,
Phillip
Rou Jia Mo
Just about to finish off the last of them for lunch in a few moments. My typo's now stand at two. The Subject line today is the correct one : - )
See my comment above to Kevin with the details. Enjoy DH I intend to do so with a swing session afterwards to hone in the correct setup etc.
Share recipe
Just finished and could only manage a couple of them Phillip
A couple of links I found just a minute ago [One is actually in Las Vegas. No doubt Robert Meade's ears will be burning hahaha!]:
culinarytrends.net-Rou Jia Mo Street Sandwich.html or,
www.foodnetwork.co.uk/recipes/rou-jia-mo-spicy-pork-sandwiches-ru314928.html
You can have hamburgers in future, I am hooked ; - )
Second swing session, re: Bees knees imminent, if I can get up hahaha! DH
Rou Jia Mo
Thanks DH
Easy to make too!
Will follow up with results of foray in kitchen adventure.
Phillip
What?!
DH,
There are so many restaurants here that I will never visit half and many the tourists will be more informed about than I am- lol!! we have several local eateries near -by my neighborhood yet miles from the Las Vegas strip. Cindy is an excellent cook too so we don't eat out very often:)
On another note, I wanted to update you on my newly built driver. My Taylor Made Burner performed wonderfully this morning for my morning ( before 8am). Cindy was able to join me for our 6:15am tee off. So beautiful and cool that time of the morn. I hit 4 of the 7 fairways and two that missed were both in good shape just off the edge in light rough. The other was in a bit of trouble on #15 (more later). I started out wonderfully with 3 straight pars. Then on the par 5 #13 I hit another good drive but decided to lay up to a good wedge distance for my third rather than go for green in two. Push it into the tree to the right, ugh! I did have a gap under the limbs and punched it just short of the green leaving about 35 yards. Hit a lovely pitch and run and after landing on the green it was rolling nicely from right to left toward the cup ............. yes! it went in for and unexpected birdie.
Next hole was the long up hill par 4 #14. Hit a super drive but it just took a bounce that left it in some trees on the right. Had a gap that a well struck shot might leave it in thick grass right of the green but I thought it wiser to just go out to the fairway which I did. From 95 yards left my gap wedge just a few feet short of the green but chipped it in too from about 40 feet -another par. Next was the par 5 #15. On in three and a two putt par. -1 after 6 holes. Then the wheels came off a bit and I finished bogie, bogie, double for a 39. Two chip ins, 5 pars and a birdie always welcome.
All in all some very good play. Cindy played well too. So far I like the new driver.
Way off topic
I notice that most of the spam-type comments that have appeared on this blog of late have to do with research writing. I would hope that the individuals perpetrating these comments could learn to write proper English; their writing does not match their subject matter ;-P
Usted les dice Kevin
Usted les dice Kevin
Dee Milliner
Dee Milliner to the Jets.