A topic that revolves around the Big A - alignment. Learn to diagnose your swing on the tee and all over the course. After you make a bad shot - or at least what you think is a bad shot - check your alignment!
Your finish is also a big indicator as to how bad or good your setup was for your golf shot. If you have problems coming to a comfortable and perfect T-finish, something is wrong in your alignment. The body and mind will try to overcome a problem and often correct for problems. Pay attention to your body. The Peak Performance Golf Swing is a very quite and swing that should be easy to do. There should be no stress or strain in your body if you are executing a good vertical PPGS swing.
Watch the video for more details!
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Self Diagnosis
Correct alignment is of course very important but to hit my driver straight I have to have the feeling of swinging to the right a little. There is a difference between what you see when addressing the ball and reality, when it comes to alignment. If I use a 6 foot stake about 15 feet from the ball as a target, it will "appear" to be right of where my clubface and body are perfectly aligned, even though it is perfectly aligned with the ball and clubface. If I try to swing on a line that "feels" perfectly square to my setup, I will always have a little over the top move that causes the ball to start left of the target stake, instead of right at it.
Alignment may be the first place to look but...
I was struggling with consistency with my 7 iron today and suddenly thought I might be too wristy. I was violating a rule of the PPS swing. I concentrated on Not breaking my wrist and vavoom instant success. Somewhere I had reverted to my old habit.
The Bump and the Slot
A few years ago Surge answered a question of Robert Meade's, related to the bump and the slot. This is one of many great daily videos in the archives worth checking out.
https://www.swingsurgeon.com/daily-video-tips/bump-and-slot
In the video Surge talks about the feelings that he has while getting the club in the slot. I've always had problems with the idea of just letting the club drop into the slot.
Lately I've been using a more active FUS and transition swing thought that works great with every club in the bag and helps to ensure a consistent inside path through the ball. At the time of this video from the archives, my downswing thought was a more passive one, which involved holding back the right shoulder during the transition.
I recently started using a downswing thought that is used by many great players, including Nick Faldo and Ernie Els. It involves feeling the upper arm contacting the chin at the top of the swing and making a deliberate effort to separate the arm and chin after shifting weight to the lead foot. This is a very easy move to groove and because it is easy to repeat and does a lot for my ball striking. It not only gets the club in the slot every time but also keeps the head very steady and ensures ball first impact.
Because I swing better using visualization techniques I do the following: I picture something sticky where my upper arm will touch the side of my chin while finishing the backswing. My only downswing thought is to separate (unstick) these two body parts after starting a shift (in effect a bump) to the left foot. It helps a lot if the start of the transition is smooth, controlled and patient. It may sound a little silly but one way to get a smooth and controlled transition is to picture the adhesive stretching. An important side benefit to the stickiness thought, is that it is a during swing reminder to complete the backswing and get the left upper arm to the side of the chin. The rest of the FUS to the T finish works very well without any conscious thought.
My key word for the downswing is a two beat one..." UN STICK " where "UN always triggers the controlled shift of weight to the left foot and "STICK" triggers the separation.
The following link is directly related to this transition thought.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2p0JbDgJc6s
Self Diagnosing Your Swing
Alignment Alignment Alignment. Surge there is no excuse for not checking your alignment. I played today and at first was not hitting them as good as I can. After the 5th hole I said to myself what would the Surge say or do? I immediately remembered what you preached so I re-focused on my alignment. I picked out a spot 10 inches in front of the ball on my intended target line and aligned my feet, knees, hips, shoulders and most importantly my eyes parallel left. BINGO it was fixed. I had gotten lazy and was not aligned properly and was hitting great shots to the wrong place. You must become your own coach at times during the round. So as you have said for the past 20+ years over 85% of poor shots by amateur golfers are the result of poor alignment. PLEASE CHECK YOU ALIGNMENT BEFORE EVERY SHOT!
Alignment
In your latest video you talked about using a club on the ground as an alignment aid. Reconizing that any aid must be picked up and removed before attempting to hit the shot.
Can you use an alignment stick and not a club as this aid during a round?
Alignment Stick
You can use anything as long as its removed before the shot. I will occasionally use one of my alignment sticks if I'm having trouble feeling the alignment. Before the shot, I'll flip the stick out of the way with the toe of the club. First time I did this in a competition, the opponents were hooping and hollering about breaking the rules. I just looked at them and told them to get the book out and read. No more problem.