Today I wanted to share some correspondence I had with a Surgite about how he achieved success with the PPGS. He wrote in to talk about how keeping the club "light" has completely changed the way he's hitting the golf ball. He's really improved, so I asked him what other swing thoughts he has latched on to that has him shooting his lowest scores.
Below, you'll find the conversation that we had back and forth and it's my hope that some part of it will help other Surgites improve their game as well.
Thank you again. Your daily hints are a constant input to keeping the swing the way it's supposed to be. Your reminder the other day to keep the club "Light" by aiming the shaft down the line helped me immensely today. By keeping the club pointing to the sky, it improved every shot for me today from driver thru wedge. I think I had been going into the sacred burial ground without knowing it. On my drives, it allowed me to put more speed into my swing and improved my distance. I was hitting even with guys 20 years younger.
Ed
Mr. Lindsay,
Thanks for your kind words in the e-mail you sent into customer service that was forwarded to me this morning. You certainly saw the immediate and remarkable benefits in ball striking standing the club up in the LIGHT position can give in accuracy and distance, never mind, the less stress and strain on the body. I am wondering if you could respond back to me, your thought process for mentally and physically achieving the light club so quickly and successfully with great results. I would really appreciate it if you could email me back your process and tips so I can pass them on to the Surge Nation in a Daily as you know that I call "In Your Own Words" as your success may, and likely will, help a lot of Surgites. I wrote a few questions below that may help you to figure out your thoughts and feelings.
Getting vertical into the "Light Club" is a difficult position to achieve for many Surgites, to achieve and maintain. Once you realized you were not vertical and decided that was your main swing problem, you corrected it quite successfully with the thought of "keeping the club pointing to the sky" as I say is the position.
Questions: Was keeping the club pointing to the sky your one and only thought? How did you accomplish it mentally and physically, which by your email sounds like you accomplished rather easily and quickly. What was the light bulb thoughts and feelings that helped you achieve the light club? Anything else you may want to add in your letter would be great as you never know what one or two things may light someone's light bulb.
Thanks in advance for your thoughts and comments.
Don
What a nice response to my email! I read your tip the other day about keeping the club pointed to the sky and the light went on. I had not been doing it or had fallen back on old habits. I went to the range yesterday prior to playing and took some swings in front of the mirror. This confirmed I was laying off the club at the top. I started slowly, taking the club back to the catcher's mitt, then up the tree with the club pointing straight to the sky. Results were immediate. I started with 8 iron, then 7 hybrid, then 3 wood and then driver. The shots were solid and straight.
On the course I kept the one swing thought in mind, "Point the club to the sky". On hole 3 I was in a greenside bunker about 25 yards from the hole and hit a remarkable shot for a tap in. On hole 9, as I was addressing my drive, my cell phone rang. I waited for it to stop and then stepped up and hit a big slice into the water on the right obviously losing my concentration and proving that you have to play with the "Light" club position. I read your tips every day. I'm 83 years old, 5'5" tall, 138 lbs, play 3 times a week year round and have a 12 handicap. ( It was 18 two years ago when I took up The Surge Swing.)
Thank you so much!
Ed
I hope some of these swing thoughts will help you become more confident with your vertical swing. Remember, if you think of the club pointing to the sky, you'll find yourself in the right positions more often than not.
Keep it vertical!
The Surge
If you can't view the YouTube video above try CLICKING HERE. You must allow popups from this site for the link to work.
Comments
Compare Jack Nicklaus swing to PPGS
Surge,
I have been using the PPGS for over 3 years and when I first ordered and viewed your videos, it hit me how simple and straightforward the swing is and discovered how kind it is for my back. The three key differences for me were the firmer grip, the outward pressure on the knees and the limited turn/vertical swing. It didn't take long to feel and see the difference in my results - more consistently in play and accuracy to target leading to lower scores and mostly more fun. I just received my latest USGA hcp index 10.4!
Recently I watched Jack Nicklaus play in the annual father-son tournament and I almost fell off my chair - his swing looked so much like PPGS. Would you please comment?
Thank you for your dailies and making my golf fun again.
Jim Giller from NYC & Westhampton Beach
Nicklaus
Jim,
We have talked about Jack Nicklaus and his PPGS like swing several times. It has been observed that not only him but many of the pre-early 1990's (when the rotational was popularized) most of the pros had a much more upright swing.
Below I will leave you with some dailies where JN was discussed.
Be sure and READ all of Don's comments below the video. There you'll find links to Mike Bartholomew (a PPGS instructor) and his video analysises of Jacks swing and how he became even more upright in later years (after 40).
https://www.swingsurgeon.com/daily-video-tips/jack-nicklaus-swing-vs-ppgs
BTW, congratulations on your improvements using the PPGS.
no wrist action and Zach Johnson
Just as Surge recommends, no wrist action I thought y'all might appreciate what make Zach so good from 100 yards in.
Zach put on an amazing display of wedge action the last few days on his way to victory. Here's a brief article and a super (and short) video as he demonstrates his no wrist (ala Steve Stricker) wedge motion. Just maintain the V and trust the loft along with making sure we have ball first contact by having our sternum in front of the ball.
http://www.golfdigest.com/golf-instruction/2013-06/zach-johnson-steal-my-feel
Limited wrist action for short pitches
Robert,
Excellent link showing Zach doing a short pitch with quiet wrists. I can't resist, once again, sharing the link to the Gary Pinns short pitch method.
Except for the setup, Zach's technique for short pitches looks very similar in execution to the Gary Pinn's method. Arms back while maintaining the V and turn the body toward the target for the follow through.
Once setup, for the Pinns method all I have to think of is tempo and distance. A swing/tempo thought like " ARMS AND TURN", works well for me. I find that the presets involved in the setup for the Pinns method make it easy to get consistent contact.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3F0Kpy6yoUc
Point club to the sky--another swing thought
Mr. Lindsay said the swing thought that helped him to get the club vertical was to point the club to the sky. I'd like to suggest another swing thought: equilateral triangle. In one of your early videos, you said that you should form an equilateral triangle with your forearms. The upper arms are parallel to the ground and if someone looked at you from the side, the distance between your elbows would look about the same as the length of your forearms--an equilateral triangle.
You could angle your club off vertical if you flopped your wrists around, but we know the fewer the angles the better, so we don't do that, of course.
This hit home with me when I went through a really bad period of hitting balls that just zinged off to the near right. If someone had been standing ten feet in front of me I might have killed them! The equilateral triangle thought finally came into my head. It changed my posture and the balls started shooting out ahead of me, not to the side.