Keeping Balance After Back Surgery

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Hi T Medley,
This was a very interesting video of DJ.
You have helped me on many occasions & I wonder if I can ask you again.
When Surge forms the equilateral triangle in front of his chest as if he simulates a baseball pitcher holding his arms up in front of him, I find that my left wrist has a bow in it.If I straighten that bow my clubshaft is no longer vertical but is pointing slightly towards my right cheek. Can you offer any advice about this please?
Another question is, on the backswing when you go into the pitcher's mitt with the toe up & then you turn the right shoulder a fraction more & you take the club up on the outside of the tree ( as Lynn advises) do you cross over the toe line slightly with the club shaft or must it always be along the toe line? I find that if I cross over slightly I seem to hit a more powerful shot. Does this mean I have ventured into the SBG?
Thanks again for your professional advice.
Happy golfing,
Eric

Surge Tech Crew

Please let me know if the reply I received from "Surge" at around 1 PM (Central time zone) 05/30/2011, regarding my post which contained "It is the Veteran" was from the one and only Surge.

If it was, please pass along my appreciation for his reply.  If it wasn't, then please squash the little imposter bug and remove the parasite.

Thanks, as always
Dick

Mike, nice move to toss the rock,isn't it.

Steve:  You have my attention now!  When you can, could you go into a little more detail on your full set-up and swing/follow-thru routine to pull off a slice or hook around a tree?  I am always interested on how different players make those type of shots.  Thanks much, R2 

Steve:  Thank you greatly for sharing your "process".  I'd never thought about the tennis racket comparison, but that just makes tons of sense.  Sounds like you have mastered two of the really, really tough golf shots!!!  You da man!!  R2 

Joel:  Just a thought or two. Work on "Popping up like a pop-tart"  immediately after impact, and getting to the "T" finish.  The Surge has said many times we need to do these two things in order to complete the swing.  Take a look at the PPGS manual and the Surge's swing series videos and they will explain what you need to do.  On the range, practice these two things until you are consistently doing them.  Getting to the "T" finish will help you get maximun distance from your swing.  Have a very nice day.  R2

Here's my take on the bow of the wrist. Both Don and DJ have the forward wrist dead flat from the top of the swing and through impact. Both are slightly cupped and when the bump starts they straighten up before the arm fall to impact.

Point two on the BUS. After the club is in the mitt the club head continues inside of the butt end and is in the SBG until the top where the lifting of the back arm gets it parallel to the toe line or slightly crossed. What is most important is the butt end of the club stays out of the SBG. With the driver Don's butt end plane [BEP] has a 6 degree angle as seen from the down the line view. Not perfectly vertical but really close.

What helps this swing to be seriously accurate is how the back arm does not rotate on the back swing when compared to the front arm. This is key to keep the butt end out of the SBG and to get the skipping of a rock throw through impact. If the back arm rotates it causes a need to be absolutely perfect rotating through to impact. It is the root source of slicing and hooking.

Tech Crew. FYI:  The most recent video which just posted at the SwingSurgeon Utube site (Men and Women and the Surge Swing) is being classified as Private and non-viewable. 

bbb

Don your  not only inspiring us  in the game of golf but also give us thoughts to help us in our daily live , thanks Den

Bet your bottom dollar, The sun will come out tomorrow.

Is it to late to apologize for being one of those "nasty" early video watchers?, to funny,Steve. I guess instead of checking out the early releases on the tube, I'll just play some on-line poker when all is quiet here. Wacally Wabbits, indeed, T.

Lynn:  This whole thing about "tempo" drives me carzy sometimes!  To answer your question, yes, I have experienced the same thing as you.  My normal "comfort-level"  tempo is 0.92 seconds with the driver and a full swing.  But, I find that I change it depending on the weather, the course, and a zillion other factors.  As Robert said, we just need to find the tempo that works best for us.  But unfortunately, that tempo may change.  So,  I guess the best thing to do is use the tempo that works for you on any given day, but try to find a good "baseline" tempo that fits your swing and allows you to consistently hit solid shots on a normal day.   Okay.  Now I've confused myself.  Better stop and listen to Steve.  R2   

This is where the tech crew need to get tech and create the real Surges profile and picture, such as it cannot be ripped off by someone else and has distinction!

If a troll does come alond and act as Surge then block their IP address.

Dstansbery:  Interesting.   Just a question.  When you do the "tuck", where is your club at the top of your backswing and at the "T" finish?  Just wondering.  R2

I have been doing this to Robert so will try as you say, as you know I have been tinkering with my grip and trying to get my wrists perpendicular. Well I played a few holes tonight and for some reason hit the ground before the ball a lot and more divots than normal. The change in grip did make my swing feel a lot different, I am wondering if I am getting more vertical with  straighter wrists but coming straight down towards the ball with a lot of arm and not from the feet up? We have had a lot of rain over night so the ground was also a lot softer. I only hit a few driver shots and they was awful.
I am playing 18 holes tommorrow and the driver/woods are stopping at home!, think I will only play with my irons, I think I will try my 3&4 irons off the tee for some holes. The driver is killing me and I am loosing a lot of confidence with it.
Think I need to go back to basics and get my swing going again, I did hit some really solid iron shots at times. The problem I have is I don't know when I have got the swing right so I haven't had the feeling so can't swing the feel if you know what I mean!.

Any ideas why I was chunking a lot?

T,

Unfortunately, I do not see a Utube link in green or any other color. I know it should be there somewhere, but it is not.

Never mind T, it is there now.

Kevin

Dan

I have to apologize to you for that. I have had so much going on with my family and the weather out here that I forgot to post my after action report from last Thursday (or Friday, I forget)when we last played. It was a great day. I had not played a game in almost two weeks because of my rib and chest. I still managed to beat their best effort by 7 strokes. I sure did not have my "A" game with me that day. But, thanks to Surge, my "B" game was good enough for the day.

Dad and I just got off the phone a few minutes ago. We are having some crazy winds out here right now. 40 mph with higher gusts. Thank God they are not part of any twister system. They are strong enough to blow down trees and push vehicles off the road. The weather folks are saying we are going to have winds at or above the 20-25 range everyday until Thursday or Friday. We are keeping an eye on it and are going to play on the first day it gets down to the 15-20 prediction. He is already rounding up the posse for the end of the week. I told him he had better put together a range day for his team, cause I will be ready for them this next time.

Dick

Donald, I guess you forgot to wake-up and smell the coffee a couple of days ago. Don & the crew here didn't pull the videos off youtube, his former partners held the rights to the youtube channel under the ppgs and since mediation and such they closed the channel on youtube. Might have been part of the "revolution", I don't know, but hardly a scam on this end.

Robert:  Excellent!  I, too, found that the only way to make the accordion move was to get the knees and shoulders moving at the same time.  But it is hard to do if you've already soled the club and set your feet.  The process you've outlined works great!  I've been practicing this move at home with the SwingRite so I can "ingrain" the thought and the feel.  Thanks much.  R2

Surge,

Thanks for the reminder about leading with the shoulders because when I start swinging bad it seems to come from being our front of the ball on the FUS. 
You are a blessing to many who love the game of golf.

Ricjoy, Sorry for taking so long to respond. I had a very busy golfing day yesterday. The advice from SGW below sounds good to me and I see no need to offer much the same again. I hope you are helped from his advice. Good luck to you. SGW, Thanks for the response to Ricjoy.

Coach

I don't know how you do it pal.

Those were great videos.  Darn if that boy don't act like regular folk.

Dick

Pretty sure I am chunking due to the grip change, don't know if its due to grip pressure or if my grip has a flaw.
A bit confused now! 

FYI:  While doing a little surfing I came across a couple of videos on DJ you might find interesting. Perhaps you have already seen them, but somehow I haven't until now. 

AT HOME    22 JAN 2011
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...
 
ON THE FARM AND HUNTING  22 JAN 2011
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

Even though I don't have the most fluid Surge swing at the best of times, it did feel very different so maybe I was focasing too much on the hands/wrists and almost forgeting the other elements of the swing. I did have more thoughts in my head than usual too! wrists- grip- vertical- bump, so yes I suppose it was like going back to the start a little.
I will see what I am like tommorrow, I will have to practice on the back garden before I let myself loose on the course, cannot be doing with chunking all afternoon. 

The Inner Circle is more than just a forum membership, and I know the Swing Surgeon team is working to add even more features to the extended video access and PAL that currently come with it (like an improved Shot Tracker system for keeping track of your golf game progress and hopefully soon an official USGA handicap system). When you first signed up on this site, like everyone else, you were given a complimentary one month access to the Inner Circle as Surge's way of saying thank you for finding the new site and registering. The fact that it was a one month membership was made clear in the registration email if you'd read that. The Inner Circle was always $20/month even on the old PPGS site. On the new site, Surge also offers the discount if you pay for the subscription annually rather than monthly (which was not an option on the old site). That last is the option I chose (I was not an IC member on the PPGS site but am now here).

Whether you're an Inner Circle member or not, you can view these videos for free pretty much every day, and interact and even (as you've done) vent a little frustration. As T. notes below, the Tech Support people do include a YouTube link to watch the video there if your system won't support the Flash video that they've switched over to. Other users are very happy for the Flash video, as YouTube is blocked at their location (such as Dragonhead in China who can finally see Don's daily tips).

As for Donald Wiley's gripe below about the old videos no longer being accessible, that is not the fault of the staff here. That's the result of a legal arbitration that gave Don's former partners control of most of the existing web-based content from the PPGS site. Now that they've morphed into Revulsion Golf (oops, I mean Revolution Golf), they have closed off the old content so it is no longer available. Community members and Tech Support here are working to get it back online and available for us all.

If none of that makes you happy, so be it. You're not being forced to come here and if it's causing you that much angst, you really shouldn't. If you can, though, have a little faith in Don and his team. They're doing the best they can to get everything back on track after a crappy time with the former partners. I've never met Don, but I believe he's an honest, hard working, caring guy. I'm sticking around as long as he's here.

Terry, Thank you so much for those links to DJ. I also saw the "outside the ropes" video to the right of those links(once I went there). I saved all three to my favorites. You are a true fan. You know I am too. There is a down home honest to goodness quality that comes through from all Don's family.Both JR and SR. Our loyalty is why we bust a vein and respond so strongly any time some uncaring dumb dumb says something unkind or unfair about Deej or Surge and there work. Family sticks together through thick and thin.

Keith

I think that is a great idea. Why shouldn't Surge have a killer profile and pic on his posts.

Tech crew
How about that? Is that something you folks could put together for Surge?

Sure would look great,
Dick

Roy

On the subject of Pop Tarting I was hitting balls into the net earlier today and in keeping with my slower tempo I found I was getting a bit sloppy. I was going through my normal setup routine, but it just didn't feel right.

After giving myself a severe talking to I picked the tempo up to take it out on a few balls...lol. The next 6-7 balls I hit with my 5 hybrid were the most solid contact in the whole session of about 90 balls.

I tried the same thing with my 7 and 8 irons and with the same solid result. Ok, now I was really confused. The difference I noticed was more focus and I seem to tighten everything up with grip, firm knee pressure and follow through. I'm curious since we discussed swinging at about 75% if you've any similar experiences?

Lynn42

I have a question that has always buged me.  What difference does it make how you follow thru?  You have already hit the ball and it is well on its way.  What you do immediately after the hit means nothing.  Yes, I know all about tempo.

I thought I would mention something else that I discovered during my last practice at the range that I think is also on point to this video about getting into a dynamically balanced position at address. I was struggling a bit with inconsistency in my address position recently. I finally realized it was because I was soling the club behind the ball to determine my distance from the ball, placing my feet, and then bending my knees to take my address position. I was not using the accordion effect. To correct this, I started the same up through placing my feet, and then I stood up straight with the club hovering above the ball, and then lowered myself with my knees and shoulders at the same time to place the club back behind the ball. I was automatically in a balanced position, my swing remained balanced, and my ball striking improved.

If you're doing like I was doing, try doing like I'm now doing. You might find it does better. ;-)

Terry, I was afraid that was the case concerning the older videos. I sure hope Surge wins the rights back. I understand they are still battling over several issues. It will be a travesty and a major shame if those teasures are lost.

Mike:  I really agree with you - it is soooo easy to start the FUS by using the shoulders instead of the small forward hip "bump".  All kinds of bad things can happen when our balance is off.  By the way, I enjoy your "novels" - you seem to always "discover" something that the rest of us can use to help improve our swings.  Have a great day and keep hitting 'em straight!  R2

Hi T Medley,
Thank you for that,
Eric

Lynn, I think there is a differance between swinging all out 100% and keeping  'buff' as Surge has said or somewhat tightened or firm.In other words I feel there is a balance where you can be at 75% and not be "sloppy" as you mentioned. 75% is simular to the 3 out of 5 on the grip meter that Surge teaches. It's still firm, right? That is firm and somewhat controled as we get to where we plan on in both the BUS and on through with the FUS. Perhaps you hit the ball more true and crisp with a faster tempo. A faster tempo does not need to mean overly tight or tense or more than 75% power. Your not confused, you've just discovered that a faster tempo works best for you. BTW, Surge has a very fast tempo so you're in good company.

It could be that with all the focus on your hands, you're not getting your weight shifted (starting the FUS from the bottom up), which can bring you down behind the ball. You could also, because of the focus on the hands, be casting the club--releasing too early and thus the club head comes down sooner than intended. One note in case it wasn't a typo, but you want your PALMS perpendicular to the ground, not your wrists (though they'll be relatively close to where your palms are). I think you'd do best working on the hand and arm positions in front of a mirror (preferably one where you can see your whole body). That will let you see what your doing, and let your body feel what you want. It makes the learning much easier and less frustrating.

thanks Don,,,,

mw,,