For today's daily video, I'm going to share a great swing thought that was sent in from a Surgite. John Borgas had been having some trouble with the concepts of taking the club back into the catcher's mitt. He was worrying so much about where his hands were, the rest of his swing was being affected negatively.
He finally came up with a great swing thought that enabled him to free up his swing and his results improved dramatically. I think it's great whenever followers of the PPGS send in their own unique swing thoughts because many others in the Surge Nation can benefit from it too. So, after watching today's video, share some of your own swing thoughts that have worked for you by commenting below.
Hi Surge,
I have only been a “Surgite” for about 4 months, but you have truly won me over. Like many of your followers I have some ailments, L/Hip replacement, L/ankle fusion and R/knee problems, but your PPGS has meant that I no longer really have to be too concerned with any of this whilst swinging the club. I do however, use a motorised car on the course. My game is getting back on track after many, many months in the doldrums so I thank you for your expert coaching via the web.
Earlier in my first attempts at getting the PPGS right I found a lot of trouble with “into the catcher’s mitt and up the tree”. Because baseball is not dominant in the land of Oz I found I was watching the club-head going back “into the catcher’s mitt” then lifting. I found this caused me a big problem in that I started to reverse “C” and also had difficulty keeping out of the “Sacred burial ground”, thus I was still slicing and dumping behind the ball. ‘How do I fix this?’ I asked myself. Then I hit on a simple swing thought that may also help some other Surgites who have this problem. I now simply forget all about where the club-head is and concentrate on taking my hands straight back across my toe line. Beautiful!! Suddenly I was much more vertical with no sway and hitting the ball straight and long (well most of the time).
I have gone back through your instructional videos and daily video and although you do not emphasise this method you do make similar comments several times. Surge if you think this can help others please use it. The other positive from this swing thought is that I can now get out of bunkers much more easily so now I just have to perfect the length of the shot.
Keep up the great work.
Regards
JB
Remember that you want to have a relatively firm grip with equal pressure in both hands. The club head will go where your hands go, so make sure the club is square when you set up to the ball.
Thanks again to JB for a great swing tip. Keep it vertical!
The Surge
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Comments
hands are amazing
What a great lesson and another light bulb moment. I can't wait to implement this. I've been too worried about where the clubhead was rather then where my hands were. Simplifies things even more and that is a great thing. Thank you,
Greg C
PS I'm tied in my winter league, Flight A, with my last game on Monday. I'm going head to head against my nearest competitor. Fun stuff.
Surge does again with the aid of JB
A very timely lesson indeed. Just spent an hour session on the front yard driving range with a variety of clubs. My golf mate noted a few weeks ago that I was swinging outside to in!!! Since then concentration has been focused on just doing it right. The hour was spent doing exactly what JB suggested, concentrating on the hands and not the clubhead! EUREKA! light on. Can't wait to hit the hallowed turf again to confirm what I already know. The ball will go where my hands go. Another minor tweak was tried as well. A slightly narrower stance and slightly less foot flare. The combination worked beautifully. Transition of weight was a breeze and thanks to the tip from John Borgas via Surge I had NO difficulty swing up to the CORRECT T finish and recoil in balance : - ) Thankyou, thankyou, thankyou. Who would have thought a tip from an Aussie to a Kiwi via the USA would make my day, nay week?! That is the epitome of the Surge Nation, golfers from around the world striving to be the best they can be. It is PPGS for me, for ever. A Happy DH in NZ
Proof of the pudding is......
Surgites and John Burgas in particular,
Today was proof of the pudding day for me ; - ) Out on the course almost before dawn this morning. From the first tee shot using the hands along the toe line I was hitting the ball much more consistently. Even poor results were positives caused by hitting the ball more solidly and longer. We climbed up hill and down dale and finished the round in 3hrs 10minutes-Not bad for an old f*rt and his absolute rookie wife. She hit some beauties today and her chipping and putting were impeccable. On one very awkward and difficult Par 3 she hit a reasonable tee shot. It stopped on the very steep slope. Her next shot was a worm burner which went no where. The two tier green had the flag just on the lower part,being elevated with rough etc, particularly daunting. Well she hit her shot which ran past the hole to the slope to the next level and the ball coursed around and finished inches from the hole!!! My attempt from a sidehill lie curved around nicely but stayed on the top level about 12yds beyond the flag. Always had trouble with those down the slope ones, with the edge of the green and a steep drop through rough in prospect! Today naughty me hit her ball hahaha! and she had a very credible 4. On another par 4hole where the last time out she scored 9 she had an 'easy' 5!
Both of us had a very enjoyable round. The hands along the toe-line was the Bees knees for me. Never took the 5W or 3W out of the bag-the two hybrids were smoking. Short irons were on song and the only problem was adjusting to the better ball striking which gave more distance. On one hole I took out my rarely used 6iron and tried a shot which was never really on. I tried to hit throug a gap in the trees to give me a better approach to the green. I hit the shot and it struck high up on a very tall [guesstimate 80-100'ft tree] about 50yds or more in front of me. It struck a thick branch way up high with a real wallop-bounced up and back going over my head and back down the fairway about 75yds or more. I was running after it long before it stopped, it just kept on going ; - ) Even that a positive,ie, the sheer power in the ball strike. On another hole I dropped a ball and hit another 6iron and it went a long, long way down the fairway : - ) The 5iron was given an outing and it was striking the ball in the centre of the clubface like ALL the other clubs. The 10.5deg driver was longer and straighter. So all in all a much more satisfying round. Can't wait to go again, of course rain and gale force winds on the way this afternoon and evening- Ho!hum!
JB's tip has been a godsend to me and I will be forever grateful that Surge chose to share it with us. Adam Scott gave the Arnold Palmer Invitational to a very deserving young laddie, Matt Every [poor Aussies]. Then an Aussie Sheila pipped a Kiwi lassie in the ladies event-boohoo!hahaha!
Hope that the weather brightens for all Surgites world wide-then we can all have 'the ball go where the hands go' DH and DL in NZ
Club goes where hands go video
Moe Norman was hitting his typical accurate golf shots demonstrating how he played shots at different heights (20', 30', 40' ,50' etc0...I asked how he did that & ha said: "The golf ball always goes where my hands go"...not only in height, but also. its direction as he demonstrative various degrees of 'hooks' & 'slices'...he felt that he was skaking hands with the flagship at the end of his swing!
Charles
Addendum to previous comment
I meant to say that Moe Norman said: "The BALL goes where the hands go"
hands and club
Like usual, Surge is so simple and logical and so right. The last couple of weeks i noticed a bad tendency I was getting into, allowing the hands top be too loose and sometimes a little flip floppy you could say. O f course this meant I had to get the grip firm again and square before impact. Not surprisingly wild and inconsistent results followed. As DH likes to remind us, "just do it right" #5.
Getting back to a firm grip and firm wrist set throughout the swing got me back on track.
Great to see JB Holmes playing well on the PGA tour again after a couple of years dealing with a health issue. Though not a PPGS player he is a no no wrist cock guy. He's leading this weeks tournament in distance. they showed his swing next to Adam Scotts and it is amazing that JB's was well short of parallel about 3/4's and yet getting it out 315-340 yards. What the commentators failed to mention was that he does it without cocking his wrists and that is why he is short of parallel.
Here's a look at his swing pre-health issue like 3 years ago.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PCMoGVOIac
Most of us aging old farts would hurt swing as hard as he does but it is interesting to see how he gets the bump first sequencing and holds the wrist and grip as he starts lower body first hitting a power fade by making sure the hands and grip stay out in front (more than Surge recommends Opps!) but it does prevent flipping and protects against the 'lefts'.
JB Holmes
Interesting clip, Robert. I like the no wrist cock and the bump explanation he offered. I've also gotten loose at the top of the BUS in transition and that usually results in getting flippy at contact and as JB noted a loss in distance.
Looks like Mother Nature's sense of humor is going to have me practicing with my snow shovel AGAIN or should I say still. I saw a ground hog in my neighbor's yard a couple of days ago and I thought about grabbing my nine iron to get even, but new clubs are expensive...lol.
You and DH just keep chasing the little white ball and enjoy. Spring will be here by late June, I hope. :0))
Club goes where the hands go
Don,
This was another great tip! I just got back from the driving range and it helped immensely. Keep the tips coming.
Thanks again,
Tim
The small left shoulder turn
Don't forget the little shoulder turn!! I have been a Surgite since about 2007 and the only problem I EVER encountered was not making this shoulder turn! I had fallen into just using my arms only, which is easy to do. My son in law (a teaching pro) videoed me while playing and showed this error to me!
If you are losing distance please make sure you have the shoulders involved in your swing, especially if you are losing distance.
70* turn
You are absolutely correct. This is what Stretch Condor pointed out to me in my lesson with him a week and a half ago in Tempe, AZ. I was concentrating so much on keeping the butt of the club and my hands on the toe line that my hands ended up over my head instead of over my right shoulder. My distance and accuracy have improved significantly in the last week. I still have a way to go to get to where I want to be. Every aspect of the PPGS is important and most of us fall short in one part or another. Now that I am turning enough, I am finding that I am not getting all the way to the T-finish; 3/4 BUS and 3/4 FUS. It's a work in progress, with light at the end of the tunnel.
Improving by the Day : - )
The ball goes where the hands go! Today we were off early morning and finished the full 18holes in 3hours dead, pushing trolleys up hill and down dale. The 1st hole I always play as a par 5 though it is a 4. There are lots of hazzards on the course. Today my 3rd shot up the steep slope across the creek to the green landed on the green. It was not until climbing the hill [which really gets the cardio-vascular system up and running ; - ], to find the ball was inches from the hole for a tap in par : - ) It was one of two tap in approach shots from 130yds in. Also had two chip ins from off the green and one putt in from off the green. Once the speed of the greens was worked out, several putts were excellent, one ending on the very lip from 25-30ft : - ( Got into trouble again when not 'just doing it right' the only saving grace was the recovery shots were 80%+ effective. Again it was hitting the shots way farther than expected. My wife said, 'Just get used to it', words of wisdom indeed. Every club in the bag used played well. The shots which went astray tested my armoury of shots. Ball striking was very consistent indeed, thankfully. When blindsided from the green after running through the fairway on one hole, the 20deg Hybrid was used to punch a low shot from the tree line to an area where a pitch shot would be despatched from. It headed in that direction and went 85paces further than expected!!!!still stunned. The same club used off the tee on the 16th hole where I aimed right of centre in an attempt to get a flat lie, ran through into the tree line. The 4iron was used to punch/chip out down the fairway at an angle.Again it ran through the intended area into a fairway bunker : - ( The ball was sat nicely in the bunker which had a low front lip. Taking out the 'dreaded' 6iron with the intent of just moving it forward towards the distant elevated curvy and difficult green. When the ball was arrived at, it was between 2-3yds right of the green about and 20-25ft to the hole. Up 5'ft to the green up a ridge and downhill slope [with the creek beckoning]. Imagine my delight when my wife bent down and picked my ball out of the hole : - ) Chipped in from a longer range on the 9th hole : - )
Once I made a tweak to my set up and aligning the balls up on target, using a similar method to Surge, setting the clubface to the target spot in front of the ball, then taking my stance-What a difference in accuracy and ball striking. Can't wait to get out again.
To cap the day my absolute beginner of a golfing wifie from 90+yds out on the 8th hole [where I putted to the lip of the hole from the first cut] using her 3W to hit a low shot to the green, the ball hit the pin!!! : - )
Thanks to Surge and the rest of the Surge Nation for the tips and interaction and 'just doing it right' from two happy campers in NZ
Improving in leaps and bounds, yeeeha! DH and DL