Many amateur golfers don't realize that their grip is too weak. They get in the habit of holding the club too loosely, which can cause the clubhead to turn at impact. This can lead to your ball going a direction you did not intend.
I've gone over grip before, but I'm still seeing Surgites struggle with it. Watch today's short video and you'll see exactly how hard you should be gripping the club.
Keep it vertical!
The Surge
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Equal pressure
Gripping firm enough has never been my issue. As I have mentioned before I think it is deceptive when pros talk about gripping it lightly because their grip strength is way over the average person. So when they grip with less tension it would still fell on the hand crushing side if we were shaking hands with them. Watson, Nicklaus, and Palmer are examples of this. Any one who's had the privilege of seeing them in person has seen their thick forearms and wrists and strong looking hands. Notice Dustin Johnson's? Wow! The golf club looks like a tiny twig in his huge hands and forearms. He can palm a basketball. When you have strong hands holding the grip firm enough while not tensing up the entire arm to shoulder unit becomes easy. That's why I feel that over all strength and keeping fit (and even developing more hand/wrist/forearm strength) is good. We may not have the athletic arms and hands of most tour players but we can do many things (regardless of age) to strengthen our hands and arms.
The important point for me in today's lesson is the importance of having equal pressure with both hands. Surge mentioned that it is the bottom hand that is often too loose or floppy with his students. I have a personal motto of "grip it and forget it" meaning that once I place my lower hand on the grip I'm all done and it's firm and set. No more fidgeting on or lifting the fingers.
Works for me. Keeping equal pressure? Surge has said this many times but I don't know if I have made this a conscious effort. I am going to be more aware of that in the coming days and monitor my results.
Hope you're golfing
Hope you guys and girls are finding time to golf. 101*f and climbing here in the desert. Cindy and I played 12 holes this evening (when it was only 100* :) Actually could have played 18 but we're teaching Cindy's son how to play. Seemingly out of no where he decided he wanted to learn to play golf. Kory is starting medical school in Phoenix in July so he'll be moving away in a few weeks. Nice kid and an eager learner. So needless to say we took a bit more time so we waved a couple groups through. This was his third time out and he's doing well. I'm slowly feeding him all the fundamentals from Surge.
I had an interesting day. I did not have my first part till the 7th hole. Went birdie, bogie, birdie, bogie then a triple bogie blew my score but I finished with bogie, par, bogie, par for a 40. An adventurous 40. Actually hit several good shots including the blast out of the sand trap from 40 feet for birdie on #1 and the 12 footer for bird on the par 3 #3.
Hope you all are getting out and chasing that little ball in the hole too.
do I need more strength???
I only started playing golf 10 years ago and have been using the PPG system for over 2 years after very successful rotator cuff surgery. I particularly appreciate that my balls are so consistently straight. However, I wish I could get more distance on the ball. I am a 76 year old woman in good physical health...grew up playing softball and still play tennis. My question is this: I know I need to pick up more speed in hitting the ball but when I try to speed up, everything gets "out of sync". Are there exercises I should do to speed up my swing? Should I be doing specific strengthening exercises? Thanks in advance. Eileen
Excercises for speed
Eileen, I'm only 56 and only hope that I will be still playing decent at 76 and beyond. Hopefully some others will share some advice on gaining speed. It is a question that seems to come up about once a month from someone so likely your not the only one again wondering if there is something we can do.
Obviously you know that everything about us starts slowing down as we move into those golden years. That said, You mentioned that one, you have an athletic background and two, you get out of sync when you force trying to hard.
Aside from encouraging you to keep moving with reasonable excercise for your entire body including some kind of cardio like walking every day, stretching and some kind of resistance training, There are speed specific drills.
Watch (or read) the following;
https://www.swingsurgeon.com/daily-video-tips/release-timing-and-speed
Excercises for speed
Eileen, I'm only 57 and only hope that I will be still playing decent at 76 and beyond. Hopefully some others will share some advice on gaining speed. It is a question that seems to come up about once a month from someone so likely your not the only one again wondering if there is something we can do.
Obviously you know that everything about us starts slowing down as we move into those golden years. That said, You mentioned that one, you have an athletic background and two, you get out of sync when you force trying to hard.
Aside from encouraging you to keep moving with reasonable excercise for your entire body including some kind of cardio like walking every day, stretching and some kind of resistance training, There are speed specific drills.
One key thing to know is that most speed is wasted at the beginning of the forward swing from the top. Golfers apply more effort from the top of the back swing and then actually end up with LESS speed where it is needed- at the bottom of the swing where the ball is. I have continually worked with my wife Cindy over this issue and she went from hitting her drives 90-100 yards in the first few months of learning (three years ago) to 165-175 all day long now.
The SWING RITE is an excellent tool for learning to get your 'whoosh' - your zip and speed and timing where it will count, through the ball. There are other tools out there for the same purpose that can be found on the internet but some others are free like simply turning your driver up side down and feeling/hearing the whosh at the bottom of the swing. Remember, speed is needed at and through the ball in the last half of the forward swing and not from the top of the back swing.
https://www.swingsurgeon.com/daily-video-tips/release-timing-and-speed
https://www.swingsurgeon.com/daily-video-tips/swish-test-distance
https://www.swingsurgeon.com/daily-video-tips/how-increase-your-clubhead-speed
Try some of these ideas and be open to others but most importantly,
keep on swinging along Eileen. Golf on!!
Buttery and vertical
You want vertical? check out Payne Stewart
http://www.golfchannel.com/media/payne-stewart-golfer-documentary-sneak-peek/
Here's Payne giving a lesson. Very cool. Again fairly vertical. Not as vertical as Surge recommends and just a tad of a reverse 'C' too that was still common in the 80's and 90's. He was often past parallel and encouraged a low and slow take-a-way (unSurgelike) but most of his basic thoughts were in harmony with Don's. He makes an especially good point- one basic swing for all clubs. Allow the design of the club to do the work. DON'T swing different or harder because it is a long club. A mistake I often make.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8MhdFbvc1Q
VERTICAL
Carl Petterson is more vertical he has high hands like JN.
The question is will Payne be at Pinehurst and help Phil win the open.
There has been reports from people that live near Pinehurst that with the cool evening breezes they can here someone saying Phil come and you will win it is your time.
:)
Go Philip go!!
Speaking of vertical , how about that Inbee Park today? A 61!!!! What?