The PGA TOUR is home to the best golfers in the world. But even the best players can sometimes struggle at certain points in their career. My son, DJ, was a fully exempt player on the PGA TOUR for nearly a decade, and I couldn't be prouder of him for it. However, the past couple years have been more of a struggle than he's used to during his time as a professional.
This year, DJ had partial status on Tour because of his finish inside the top 150 on last year's money list. Only the top 125 are granted full exemption for the following year, which he just missed out on by a few spots. So, he hasn't been able to play as many tournaments as he usually does in a year. Nevertheless, DJ had another solid ball striking year, and the stats certainly speak to that.
One of the things that has been holding him back is his putting. The same can be said of other top players on Tour as well. Heck, even Tiger Woods went nearly two years before returning to the winner's circle.
Today I'm going to assess where DJ's game is at right now. I've already eluded to his trouble with the flat stick, but there's been some other things that we've worked on. After working hard over the past few times we've gotten together, I really like what I'm seeing and it's probably the best I've seen DJ swing since he's been a pro. The next step is to get back to contending on a consistent basis. I honestly believe he's not far away.
I love hearing from Surgites who follow DJ during tournament rounds and those of you who have followed his career over the years. Believe me when I say that good things are on the horizon!
Keep it vertical!
The Surge
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Comments
DJ
Surgites, DJ goes at 8:36am Thursday on the Web.com Hotel tournament and will play in the next 3 web.com tournaments trying to secure his Web.com status for the 2014 tournament year. He has been working with Don and his swing is looking tight and good.He is working on his putting stroke and an you know that that was a problem for him this past year.
Hal
Re:DJ
Actually, if he finishes in the top 25 of 125 player in this tournament, (web.com 26-75 and PGA tour 126-200) he could earn a full exemption on the PGA Tour for 2014. Web.com 1-25 already get 25 of the 50 cards available from this series. So he is competing against the other 125. Wish him well. Would love to hear the "expert" TV doinks breaking down his swing.
25 cards
Yes, my understanding is out of 75 from the Web.com and 75 from the 126-200 there will be 25 secure a card for the PGA tour. This process is replacing the Q school.
In any case it is very important for all 150 players and you can bet it will be wildly competitive. It is amazing how challenging it has become because of so many great players coming out now from all over the world.
I certainly will be cheering for DJ and hoping he listens to Surge. I've seen DJ play 3 years in the Las Vegas tournament and if not for a few putts he would have made the cut the last two years. He has an awesome swing, even keeping it 3/4's he can hit it a mile. One year it came down to one putt on the last hole. Painful to see those putts under 5 feet missed. We all hate missing them at any level. pro or not. Hopefully he will pull out of this putting slump soon, maybe this week.
Here's the web.com schedule
http://www.pgatour.com/webcom/leaderboard.html
If you look at the complete field, these are great to former great players that are all serious about getting there cards or getting their cards back. Many of these players including DJ Trahan have won before on the PGA tour and eager to get back. Any of those that fight there way back by getting into that top 25 will have fought hard and played really well over the next 4 weeks. Believe me, the Fed Ex is not the only big battle that will be playing out the next 4 weeks.
Here is the upcoming TV scheduled coverage
http://www.golfchannel.com/tours/web-com-tour/?t=airTime
edit; Looks like DJ will be done on Thursday when the web.com tourny is aired (at 3pm eastern time) but he will play in the afternoon on Friday and be in the coverage slot. So we may see him on Friday.
Interesting Assessment
Thanks Surge for the very frank and honest video. The parameters of this swing are something that we all have to pay attention to. A little short game fine tuning and DJ being the great player that he is, will be right back where he should be.
DJ
Surge, Good move by DJ to play in the next three web.com tournaments. This should allow him to get into a groove and build his confidence back up. It appears that he has put a lot of pressure on himself and it showed during the last couple of his tournaments. His overall ball striking numbers are good. But the putter is a different story. Sometimes with putting it’s more a confidence thing. If he believes he can make the putts than he will, which is better than having those doubts creep in. He has to be positive even if his misses a putt or two, as long as he makes a good stroke they will eventually fall.
Good luck to DJ and the Clemson Tigers this fall.
Confidence
I know when I watched him here at the Byron Nelson, he was rolling the ball really well but they just weren't dropping regularly, and you could see it in his demeanor that he almost expected them to just miss. I have that same problem, and I know that when I expect them to miss, they almost always do. Trying to remember the times when we WERE rolling the ball into the hole regularly is a difficult trick, but very important--even more so on the stage DJ plays on.
Head start
From my first attempts at a PPGS I realized the importance (to me) of what I called a "head start" in the back swing. It was very obvious that was the most important reason that a PPGS with the shorter clubs was easier than with the longer clubs.
The ball being back in the middle of the stance gave a built in head start for the back swing without the chance of over-rotating the forearms.
Over time I've tried many *tricks* to get that same head start with the longest clubs and all with only limited results.
The butt of the club at the left pocket is pretty much critical in my swing. Another *trick* that gave me another inch of head start was to intentionally leave the club head a little further behind the ball than I once did (after the waggles and just before the actual takeaway Surge appears to do the same thing).
Sort of like Moe Norman (but not as drastic) in that one aspect of the swing.
My first thought (if I didn't know better) would be: What's an inch or two going to matter at the start of the takeaway? But it certainly does.
Re: Head Start
Steve, I also have had success using the same technique,more so with the driver. I was on the range at Limestone Springs and gave it a try, like you,
not as drastic as Moe. It seemed to help ensure I was getting that good upward angle of attack on my tee ball. Been using it with the driver ever since.
Here's hoping for DJ's successful closing run this season and better 2014!
RTR!!!!
RTR Indeed!!!
Almost time.
A real headstart
I drove the ball very well for several years with a more unique setup than Moe's. All I did was hold the club straight in front of me in the air a bit and turn my body until the shaft was on the toeline and then drop the club head on the ground. My whole backswing turn was preset so that all I had to do was lift the driver straight up to finish the backswing. All my other clubs were played with a preset backswing address position about 6 inches right of the ball. I was able to play to a 7 handicap with this very vertical swing. Come to think of it, this was a very upright swing, no wonder I'm so comfortable with the Surge swing.
Like this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b91vvCZXrqY
I've been doing that as a drill for a long time and hit the ball very well with it (and just as far).
Never actually used it in play (but believe me I've thought about it). Even using it as a drill gets me out of my wild tendencies and back under some control. It eliminates all of the mistakes we make in the first few feet of the back swing.
Preset clarification
I was trying the preset like Steeve showed it in his video, and I like the results.
Need to shoot 1000 balls now to ingrain the position, but I still do not understand what you mean by 'preset backswing address position about 6 inches right of the ball...'.
I am left handed, do you mean to drop the club head back on the ground 6 inches behind the ball and then start the backswing???
Preset
I would start with the club in the conventional address position square to the target line. I next dragged it back on an arc until it was on the ground and about 6 inches to the right of the ball with a small turn of the shoulders. The club face would then be open to the target line but still square to the swing path. After this small preset the rest of the swing was more lift than turn. This was something that worked for me when I was 25 years younger but I'm not going back to it now that the Surge swing is working so well.
video how to
Hey guys, I am finally brave enough to someone look at my swing and want to know how to upload it so you can see it. Do I need a Youtube account? Is there any software I can use to view it in slo-motion? (it was taken with my iphone)
Thanks for your help and sorry to interrupt the forum flow.
U-Tube
Sign up for a U-Tube account first.
After that you could do this:
http://www.askdavetaylor.com/how_to_upload_video_apple_iphone_youtube.html
Or E-Mail the video to your computer and save it. From the computer you can edit it with a movie maker, and/or change it to slow motion before uploading it to U-Tube from your new U-Tube page. Or you can just watch the video on a number of movie viewers.
IMO the best for viewing golf videos is the V1 program.
Gotta be tough instructing your own when they're having trouble.
Good video, Don. It must be very difficult to instruct your son when he needs it, and it also must be especially difficult to tell us about it in a video. However, you, as usual, come through with ways to share for all our benefit. I've seen that this swing technique is catching on and there are others marketing it, or a variation, but I'm convinced that you, Don, have the best proven system for all of us to benefit from. Don't jump ship, gang. We are so lucky to have Don and his years of experience and dedication to this special game of golf.
DJ`s struggle
Hi Don,
thanks for this Video. I agree with ris46 on how difficult it must be to see DJ struggling with his swing and explaining to us how it happend as DJ is your Masterstudent. But it also shows us, that we have to focus all the time to get it right and how important it is to get our swing checked be it by Video lesson or face to face.
My golf is not nearly close to DJ`s golf but my biggest problem is putting too. Now I tried a technique which we all know from the PGA tournaments when they show a simulation on the putting line. The aimpoint technology and the results are stunning, more of my puts are getting way closer to the hole then before. Because I missjudged the slope. As long as he has a solid putting technique, this technology might be helping him.
Preset
Thanks dneveritt,
I intend to use this drill to help me establish a constant, repeatable, backswing position, i.e., when to stop turning and start lifting, as I tend to overturn.
Reason for the preset
I just remembered that I started doing this preset about 25 years ago, to correct a backswing flaw. I had a tendency to try to keep the clubface square to the target line for the first foot of the backswing instead of square to the backswing arc. This resulted in a lot of shots hit left with a closed clubface. This preset was a quick fix that eliminated that problem.
I haven't had to use it for a long time but I'm glad that you asked about it. That old flaw still sneaks in once in a while when I'm trying to avoid trouble right and that snap hook to the left inevitably happens. I know that some pros set up with their driver face slightly open. Ken Venturi used to say that an open clubface encouraged better hand action and a draw but I don't know if I want to mess too much with a swing that is working. Been there, done that.
I find that the thing that helps me avoid overturning is stable knees and the feeling of slowly turning around a stationary tailbone while lifting. It's a 3/4 backswing but it does require enough time to complete. Before adopting the Surge swing my backswing often seemed as fast a my downswing.
Presetting might help as a drill if it allows you to focus on the vertical lift and not overturning.
All the best,
Dave
toe line and sbg
Surge, I wanted to determine for myself where my toeline was in my backswing so I stuck a old shaft in the ground on my toe line a couple of feet behind my right foot and tried to stay outside of it on my backswing and forward swing. I was surprised that all my divots went left, I was definitely striking the ball outside in, pulling most of my shots. When I pulled the old shaft out and, I guess, started going a little inside the toe line my shots improved dramatically. Does this tell you anything about my swing specifically or is there a slight inside path with PPGS?
Toe line
You can't make good golf swings (especially with the longer clubs) if you are literally trying to never let the club pass the toe line (as you found out).
https://swingsurgeon.com/daily-video-tips/sacred-burial-ground-defined
DJ's score
Here's a link to DJ's position and score.
http://www.golfchannel.com/tours/player/dj-trahan/
I normally open and then minimize so i can check it occasionally.
After 9 he is -2 and tied for 16th. Good start.
He should get some TV coverage in tomorrows round when he plays later in the afternoon.
edit; Deej shot a nice little 69 today and looks to be in the top 20 so far. Good day. Let's hope for 3 more days like that.
Putting better
Cindy and I played a nice well conditioned golf course yesterday as they are over seeding and repairing the beat up municipal we we often play. Only $19.00 at Silverstone right now and the greens are soft and fast. I played okay except for three double bogies balanced by two birdies and a bunch of pars in route to a 40/42 82. Was pleased to make a lot of pars. In harmony with Robert F's comment the only putt I missed that was undr 10 feet was when I thought I might miss it and I did.
We are planning to play it again today. I will have a new driver in the bag .... more on that after we play today:0
If I can elliminate those 3 doubles I will see a sub 80 round this afternoon.
rollercoaster
wow what a rollercoaster 2nd round by DJ ! couple of doubles then 5 birdies in a row! . looks like he;s gonna make the cut.