I've given a lot of golf lessons in my day, and I can unequivocally say that no two swings are alike. So, when I hear students express frustratration about being unable to match my swing exactly, I tell them that each swing is unique.
Not every golfer has the same physical abilities, so your swing is automatically going to be based on what you're able to do physically.
The thing to remember is that the Peak Performance Golf Swing provides you with basic guidelines to follow. But, your vertical swing might be slightly different than another. As long as you're hitting the ball solid and straight, it's okay if you don't look exactly like me. The important thing is that you're improving and utilizing a true, vertical golf swing.
Keep it vertical and find your own comfort zone with the basic parameters of the PPGS!
The Surge
Comments
Me & PPGS
Surge, thanks for making this video on me, it won't stop me from seeking perfection because that's buried in my DNA, lol.
I play with and see a lot of golfers, some good and some average and it's obvious that the good ones have natural ability, whereas I'm the exact opposite. I agree my game has improved but that is mainly due to chipping & putting, this aspect of the game doesn't require much technique and can be greatly improved with practise/practise/practise, which I do at least 4-5 times a week as I use it as meditation after longs day in the office. In a recent game, I chipped and putted 14 times, 11 of those were a chip & one putt.
Afters years of learning & practise, it's much clearer to me now on the things you just said with regards to every one being different, just look at the Pro's and you will see they all have some variation or a peculiar element in their swing.
Hope to catch up with you again sometime in the future, regards Neil.
Discovery
I have made two recent discoveries. The first one was when setting up to the ball, I had become lazy from trying to stay smooth & flowing in my swing. My shots went left or right & sometimes straight. I started keeping my butt & leg muscles flexed & firm, or as Surge has always told us "ATHLETICALLY READY". This gives me a very stable base & stops my head & body from moving around to much. The result is beautiful long straight shots & smoking the driver off the tee. The second discovery was from a lot of pulls & hooks when teeing off with the hybids . I have always set up with the ball in the middle of the club face , but have found the ball marks are more often on the heel of the face. I now set up with the ball on the toe of the club face & wow what a difference . These two things I will do for the rest of my golfing life.
Discovery
Russty, it's amazing what the slightest adjustment can do for a totally different shot, remember someone saying that golf is played in millimetres, ie one degree in the clubface can be a 20 - 30M offline on the fairway. I think I'm the exact opposite to you in setup as my posture is now stiffer than what Surge prescribes, think this is due to my build being tall and very light framed and I need this stiffness to anchor my lower half.
One of the main reasons I made this list to Surge was to re-examine my perceived faults, in order to improve to another level and as noted in my previous blog, that is the way I am. Played in a comp yesterday and birdied two of the par 5's and so far this year I think I have had a birdy in every game which was never achieved in the 5 years previous.
Another element which I have added, is how/where the hands come into the body, this was brought to my attention by Dave Everitt and had some fantastic success with it and now use my 5W off the tee and fairways with penetrating power. The birdies on the 2 Par 5's yesterday were achieved with this club ie 2 shots just short of the green + one chip and one putt.
Effortless Power
Neil, glad that you are having success with the swing change. You might find the drills in the following link helpful.
http://www.golfchannel.com/media/gain-more-power-your-golf-swing-less-effort/?cid=Email_MondayNL_20160229
The Hands
Dave, I noticed that Justin commented on the "hands going out" as against Mike
who says the "hands go in and the clubhead goes out", aren't these two statements contradictory?
The Hands
Hi Neil. good catch! Their words are quite different aren't they... I thought that regardless of downswing thoughts, they both looked very similar during this part of the downswing. Justin is talking about more of a delayed release and creating lag. Mike is all about a free release of the clubhead.
Right now I'm probably somewhere in between these two philosophies. Truth be told, I'm doing a lot better just thinking about tempo throughout the swing and just letting the swing happen.
What caught my eye was Justins' split hands drill to get the club upright during the takeaway and how it related to the Surge swing.
Justin talks about the hands going "down and out." I don't think that with a vertical swing we need to to think about the hands going out. Mike talks about the hands going down and staying in while allowing the clubhead to go out.
Here is another take on this part of the downswing but I don't like to think that much about, " down," in the forward upswing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zB1velb0EqU
.Justin does present a very clever and effective visualization, later in the video, that I'll be using, He says that you want to feel the feet "chewing into the ground," What a great way to get the lower body involved in supporting the entire swing.
I'll be leaving tomorrow, for my annual spring trip to Vancouver island. Goodbye snow! I should be able to get about 10 rounds in, over the next month there.
Finding My PPGS Swing
This video is a great reminder to stay within the basic parameters but to find the optimal settings for you.
My PPG swing
I have been working on my PPG swing really hard this year and have been wondering if anyone else has ever worked with similar questions.
1. When working on my wkop I have a tendency to get my weight on the outside of my feet, do I need to widen my stance maybe?
2. I hit high right tailing drives occasionally and I think I am coming down too steep, what should I do to fix this?
3. I still can't get even a baby draw with anything less than a 8 iron. My normal shot is a straight shot with a baby fade, not bad but I'd love a little hook on occasion. Is it clubface or swing path that determines my fade more?
Thanks for any help,
Lee
Do you have the working the
Do you have the working the ball video? That is all covered how to shape shots with the PPGS.