Determining If Drills Conform To The PPGS

 Deb,

If this is the Ohio Deb, good to here from you again and that you are still making progress with PPGS. Congrats on the excited progress.

We haven't had near as much female postings as we were once getting over past periods.  Marilyn seems to be our only frequent female poster for now. At any rate, good to here from you again and my best wishes for your continued advancement and success.

I LOOK AT THE SEQUENCE PHOTOS OF THE HEAVY HITTER'S SWING IN THE GOLF MAGS AND SEE THE CLUB HEAD WAY AHEAD OF THE HANDS AT IMPACT.  MY UNDERSTANDING OF PHYSICS SAYS THE HANDS SHOULD BE AHEAD OF THE CLUB HEAD UNTIL THE BALL IS ON THE WAY. THEY HAVE TO BE SLOWING DOWN THE CLUB HEAD WHEN IT'S LEADING THE HANDS.  AM I WRONG?  OLD BOOT

Apparently I can no longer reply to the emailed comments and have my response appear here on the blog. Stupid Disqus must be making more "improvements." 

I'm guessing that your driver has not been fitted for you, so most likely the problem is the arrow more than the indian. 

Your the best

Steve

Well
Saturday played a wet tough course.The front 9 are links stile holes made up of famous links holes with very small greens that did not play like links golf 6" wet rough.The first hole my favorite hole hit a smashing drive down the right side 10 feet into the rough a whole 200 yards left the second shot with a 6 iron in the  front very deep bunker 6' deep took 2 to get out and a 3rd to run  it across the green 2 putt for my usual 8 on that hole.The back 9 are traditional famous holes had a second shot out of the rough on a par 5 and strained muscles in my right forearm elbow area and struggled to shoot 86 which I will not complain about.

I got up Sunday and felt pretty good no sore arm. So I went to the course got on the first tee hit driver about a 150 yards and told my buddy that hurt. The rough was worse at my home course I playing yellow sirixon balls that are horrible and had a hard time finding them in the rough. I basically just picked up out of the rough and played out of the fairway just hitting easy shots. No soreness today. So hopefully no real damage. I have a 2 day tourney this weekend may try and find a brace just in case. 

Robert, many tks. for your reply.
The driver has been fitted for me with a W (woman) shaft, 43" long and 11.5° loft. I think the problem is that when I see that little white dimply sphere sitting on the tee I am always tempted to hit it out of sight and thus lose control. 
Will try to tame the indian within, so that at tee up I stop 5 seconds to concentrate on what the two Far East gentlemen had to recommend (Mr. Tem Po and his colleague Mr. Pat Ience).
Jack
PMG

Surge,

You've always delivered the "No Spin Zone" and this one is no exception.  For me the KISS method always works best.

I think Bill Oreilly copied his method from you. ;0)

Yes, the urge with the driver to "BASH THE BALL" can get our technique to break down. This I know all too well.

Thanks, Surge, for this good drill. Your reference to the golf magazine reminded me that I dropped my subscriptions to several golf magazines since taking up the PPGS.  And I don't miss them one bit.

Depends if you're looking at driver swings or iron swings. With a driver, the club impacts the ball just after the low point of the swing, which would occur where the club head passes the hands. With iron swings it should be just before that. Certainly with the PPGS, we want impact As Close As Possible to that point where the club head passes the hands, as that is the point of greatest angular acceleration. 

PS- In internet parlance, you are shouting when you leave your caps lock on.

Unless you've had the driver fitted for you, in all likelihood the problem is as much with the club as with the swing.

 After watching lotso Surge swings and especially the SW through the driver, one observation comes to the fore front. The butt end as seen in the down the line view is on a vertical line from the toes to the base of the neck and does not get inside of it. Thus not in the SBG.

The camera angle does not always agree with each of the clubs and it ideally should be higher more like your view if you were standing behind looking down the line.

On none of the swings does the club head stay out of the SBG. Due to the arc of the swing from address to the mitt the kinetic energy swings the club head in and low which requires the right or back hand and arm to change the direction to the vertical in a vector that makes the club head stand vertically above the butt end in the light position.

The bump then drops the club head slightly back at an angle so it is in the release position halfway down to impact. At impact the hands will be higher than at address due to the forces straightening outward from the center of the upper body mass.

Again as in the BUS the butt end does not fall back into the SBG.

The upshot is that the butt end can be swung in an almost perfect vertical plane drawn vertically from the toe line. When this is done it is the key to accuracy by delivering linear force down the aim line from the circles and arcs that are necessary to propel the ball correctl.

Thanks Surge, the best best drill for the PPGS for me.
After one year  this was  the  AHA-Efffect for me.
Now I got it.
All the best Axel

Hi Robert,
Debbie is 100% right. You need to videotape your swing to see what your doing. It would only be a guessing game otherwise. Get a shot both from behind looking down the line  and face on. That way you'll see if you are getting too deep into the SBG and what you're doing coming back and through the ball. Coming over the top? That would cause the slice or shots to the right. Could be other factors too. After you really SEE what your doing then you can self evaluate as you go back over the manual and video lessons. Better yet send it in to Surges online lesson team. They'll give you the best advice and direction.
PMG

I have been very glad to see that folks are in fact writing about this theme in such a creative way, showing us all different sides to it. You are a great blogger. Please keep it up.

The spin stops right here Surge! Thanks for that great explaination and demonstration how that drill should be used. Great stuff as usual. I hope everyone appreciates how much research, thought and work you put into these daily video lessons. Keep 'em coming Don, we truely are thankful for all you have given us.
I look forward to using this one asap!

I believe this post is a bot posting so that the link in the name is here for people to click on. It's spam. If the board moderators agree, you can remove my post here at the same time.

 OOPS!  Never mind.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

The hands always lead.  Otherwise it's a "scoop" shot.

I think Disqus has been eating my responses to things. As noted by others, get video of your swing. It will show you a lot. Most likely causes of hitting a lot of shots to the right are: 1) You're actually aimed right; and/or 2) your ball position is too far back; and/or you're sliding forward with the upper body in the FUS, getting you ahead of the ball and sending the shots off to the right.

Thanks Surge, I will try that drill today!   I have been reading Fred Shoemaker book about throwing your club drill, sounds smart, but, IM afraid to throw my clubs, I don't want to break them, I don't have any old clubs, but, maybe I'll  find one at the club house.   What do you think of that drill?   IM doing pretty well golfing, but, of course still raise up a little to soon...  

Thanks so much,
Marilyn

Wow! Talk about AHA moments. I was in back yard hitting into the net and was doing (unconsciously) just about what the mag article was suggesting until I went to Surge's drill and fixed it.  The other thing I want to mention is how important it is to use a video cam to watch yourself.  What you imagine is sooo much different than reality.

http://www.swingsurgeon.com/Go...
Scroll down a little to see all of the instructors in your area, including Surge himself.

Good drill. The way they were saying to do it in Golf Week sounds like a recipe for hitting screaming cut shots and slices.

You swing every club the same way, so this drill works for every club.

Great visual presentation, Surge. I have been a PPGS student for the last 5 years and I can tell you that my game not only got better but I feel I am preserving my body as well. Thanks to PPGS.

Well, IM not going to throw my clubs, but, I've seen a few guys throw there clubs, not  a drill either!!!!    Just when you think you got this darn game, it gets you!!!  Hitting pretty good, then start swinging to fast and to hard and boy it messes you up!!!  IM going out shortly to play, I just stay with it, I did play Sat with two ladies that I didn't know very well and had not played with them before, I did fine, IM not used to playing with people, mostly I play alone, I like that, but I do know it would help if I played with people.   See what today brings!   Thanks for everyones help, I just love this game!  :o))))

Marilyn

If you're hitting a lot of shots to the right, I'd say 1: you're aimed right, and/or 2: you either have the ball position too far back or you're moving your upper body forward at the start of the FUS.

I thought I heard Doc mention a while back that Don expanded to staying in front of the ankles would be ok.

Yes, I have seen that a few times!!!!  Once I saw a guy throw his club and it got stuck up in the tree, there it stayed too, for a few days!!!  :o)

Globob,
If you will go to the top of this page and click on Support and type in your information about golf lessons the Surge will get in touch wiith you. Lynn Griffin is a certified teacher in Columbia,SC and Greg MacDonell is a certified teacher at Old South golf course in Hilton Head,SC.
Hal

Hi Robert F,
I have been doing the Surge swing for over 18 months and have found it almost impossible to swing my driver confidently with the same ease and in the same way as I swing my hybrids and irons.
For example I am able to consistently hit greens 90% of the times from 70 yards out with my PW using a Surge vertical swing, but I hit a good straight drive only 20% of the times, provided I don´t try to hit the ball too strongly.
Hence I find it very difficult "to swing every club in the same way".  Evidently my driver swing differs from my other swings. Could it be because I don´t set a specific target, but just try to get the ball down the fairway as far as possible and I overswing as a result ?  Maybe I´m swinging into the SBG.  Will have to get a video taken from behind.
Any HELP anyone ?
Thanks, Jack

Hi Marilyn,
I suggest you don´t do the "throw the club" drill, it´s too dangerous to do on your own.
Edit : It should only be done with a pro who knows what he is doing.
Just keep on reading and there´s plenty to learn from this book which will increase your confidence.  There are some very good exercises at the end of the book for you to do, such as focusing on the golf ball (Chapter Four : 'Concentration' on page 195).  This exercise has certainly helped me to improve my swing and cut out wrong swing thoughts.
Jack