Gerald Gaughan asked a question on the blog. It's a very unique one and definitely I think everybody ought to know about it. Gerald said, “In your ad for the videos it mentions your “karate chop” method. I do not see this in the videos. What is this? Again, thanks for your information – very excited about were my game is heading.”
Well, Gerald got an answer from M. Roy who said, “Are you sure you saw 'Karate Chop' in a PPGS ad? I haven't seen it. Don preaches to us to hold our bodies still during a swing, and to me, karate chop indicates some kind of fast motion. Maybe it was a description of someone's swing indicating they are lunging from the top and not a technique or method.”
M Roy is partially correct in that he says I do preach about holding our bodies still during the swing. But he's incorrect in terms of a karate chop indicates some kind of fast motion, lunging from the top or some other ugly thing.
But he is correct about it being a fast motion. I do believe the golf swing does mimic a karate chop or karate punch in that, if you watch karate experts: there's no big backswing, there's no big shoulder turn, there's no wide legs to balance themselves. They have a normal stance and when they want to punch or chop through a board it's just the slightest little bit of backswing turn, hip motion, it doesn't move more than an inch or so, the hands come up a little bit. But where is it fast?
If it's a punch, it's a fast change of direction forward. And if it's a chop, like breaking a board, it's a fast moving down. They don't break the board by hitting at the board, they hit through the board. So, sometimes I describe a karate chop as snap, crackle, pop. There's just the slightest little bit of hip motion. It doesn't matter how fast they want to hit it. There's enough hip motion and a little bit of wind up so they can snap and accelerate the arm forward to get a punch or chop through to break a board or something.
That, to me, is the essence of the golf swing. We want to do the same thing. The Peak Performance Golf Swing is a limited turn, 3/4 backswing. It's a very little bit of turn and the body stays relatively still so that with a still body we can swing our arms and the club faster. It's the same concept of swinging a rock on the end of a string and creating centrifugal force.
I love the concept of the karate chop or karate punch as some way to see and sense and feel where the golf swing is. I've even wrestled with the though of calling the swing “karate golf.” Yes, I do mention it. I believe it's a great way to go. It's not so much part of my teaching in terms of a philosophy or theory but in terms of looking at and understanding how they do it because, in a sense, that's what we're trying to do with the Peak Performance Golf Swing. Very little body so we can swing our arms faster. That's how karate experts throw punches and/or break boards.
The Surge!