If you're taking a big divot every time you've got an iron in your hand, you're going to start feeling the physical effects sooner than later. Taking a shallow divot not only means better contact with the ball, but it will save your wrists, elbows, and shoulders from breaking down.
So, how do you take a shallow divot without compromising your game? That's the question Bill Cover wants me to answer with today's daily video.
Hi Don,
It looks like some of the rest are catching on to what you say about not hitting down on the ball. Here is a passage from an email sent to me by a friend:
'There's no debating on this one. Trackman and other swing analysis tools have confirmed that the best ball strikers are generating distance by attacking the ball on an ever-so-slight upward angle. The question is...how?'
Thanks,
Bill Cover
Don't hit down on the ball. Swing up to the T-finish and take bacon strips instead of pork chops! Your body will thank you in the long run!
Keep those divots shallow!
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
"Hit Down""
"Stay down", "hit down","head down". All familiar sayings to anyone who's taken instruction either formerly or from a well meaning fellow golfer (ie. our fathers:)
"Swing up to a T finish facing the target" "Swing up - the downswing's free"- Don Trahan. Surge has said many times that the only thing he thinks about is his finish. Swinging up and getting to a nice balanced finish made sense to me from the first time I came across the Peak Performance swing nearly 5 years ago.
In the recently recommended book "ReThinking Golf" Writer Chuck Hogan very frequently reflects Surges thinking and it is interesting to see his thoughts on the swing and 'down'.
Speaking of the teaching language of the 21st Century Hogan says, " Swing Down" and the "Down Swing" will be changed to "Think up and Toward the Target". I really like that. He says, "the word DOWN is probably the most limited word-command in all of golf". The rest of that chapter and the whole book is well worth the reading.
Driver update
Robert:
I am driving to see Greg Courtnay on Thursday to get fit for a driver plus get specs for everything else, and check my current stuff. Saturday at Indian Springs hit the driver like crap, everythings else ok. Two three putts not too bad - greens were tough. Only highlight: 165 yrd par 3 #12 - hit 5 iron to 3 ft for birdie. Will keep you posted on Thursday's results.
Thanks, and hitem well friend.
Jerry
new driver
Jerry,
Sounds like you're in for a cool experience. Make sure he gives you a print out or a copy of your stats after the fitting. Or at the very least, write it all down. It is fun an interesting to learn all about your swing and what you are doing. Make sure you ask all the questions and that he explains why he comes up with each recommendation for the shaft and head. W'ell look forward to hearing all about it.
Club Fitting
Robert:
When to see Greg Courtnay today. He has an excellent studio setup in his garage! His garage is huge - the studio takes up about a third of it. He was based at a golf center in Ionia, but he said a lot of that interfered with his clubfitting work. I was there about 4 hours and hit a ton of balls with a lot of demos - this is what resulted:
1. Buying a 360cc driver with 12 degress of loft with a shaft with a lower kickpoint. Flight was better, a little more distance but not much. My swing speed is only 80-82 mph so at 2.5 yrds per mph I should only expect 200-210. I dont have a problem with this, we are playing courses at 6000-6200 yrds so I will get around fine. The smaller head felt great.
2. Buying a 16.5 degree 3 wood (actually a 4 wood). Looking for better contact in the fairway. This felt great too. Should have these by late next week (7-10 days).
3. Switched all of my grips to the Jumbo Avon Chamois grips.
4. When Greg did all of the measuring of my current clubs he noticed that my 3 and 4 hybrids were too long - were way longer that my 5 iron. I had them cut down to Greg's recommendation, plus he added swingweight to the shaft to compensate for the cutdown.
5. This was the 1st time I ever got to see my swing. I need to get it shorter and firm up the left hand-wrist-arm. Was getting the club to 2:00 too long. Greg said that I was swinging prety close to what I was supposed to be.
6. I really focused on not over rotating - I hit it pretty well.
It was a very enjoyable experience - Greg is very experienced, asked a lot of questions, and was very thorough in getting information. I hit a lot of different driver heads and shafts, same with the 3 wood. I am very confident with what we came up with.
Playing Oak Ridge Saturday and Stony Creek Sunday - looking forward to some good golf.
Hitem well friend :)
Jerry.
Fitting
Jerry, sounds awesome. Great fun isn't it? Greg seems to be very detailed and experienced. I'm sure you'll see improvement. It is an education to see what goes into a complete fitting. As you said it also helps us learn about our swing and swing tendencies good and bad and other wise what makes us and and our swing unique.
I have made a hobby of club building. (note; I do not consider myself a club fitter just a golfer who is having fun and some success putting clubs together :). Since getting a complete through the bag fitting by a PPGS fitter 3 years ago I have developed a keen interest in the dynamics of club componenets and what causes what and why. I bought many of the basic tools along with several books one at a time. I have also a garage full of quite a few clubs, heads, shafts and grips. Long story short I am fascinated by golf both playing and the dynamics of golf clubs and the hows and whys. I now put together my own and my wife's clubs. I have also helped several other golfers with some minor stuff like lofts and lies and new grips.
I have gradually been buying the books and tools. If you are interested and ever want to start developing a deeper understanding than you have now I have several book recommendations.
I'm sure you'll have happy golfing in your future with your new sticks. YeeeHaah!!
Promising returns
Robert:
Definitely worth the two hour drive. I am certain Doc would have got me a good driver, but the hands on - hitting all of the demos and different clubhead and shaft combinations was really valuable. Plus the checking of all of my clubs has paid dividens already. As I said he found out that my 3 and 4 hybrids were too long, so he cut them down and added swingweight. Played Oak Ridge today - 84 with 3 3-putts, two triples and a double. The other 15 holes was really good steady golf. Hit both hybrids several times with good results. Plus the jumbo grips felt great.
Playing Stony Creek tomorrow afternoon - another good test. Surge's video about over rotation was an eye opener - I felt much better starting the swing today.
Thanks for your input, and play well friend.
Jerry
"Hit Down"
Hi Robert,
No golf other than the driving range in the front yard for nearly a week. A couple of days ago I was researching something as a reaction to one of my swing sessions, using the search box above. Scrolling down the comments I noticed my diatribe after an early morning soggy start, and something caught my eye. I immediately followed the link to it on Youtube!
It mirrors exactly what I needed to do. It was not what I had been looking for, but after a couple of sessions, it has made my swing much, much better, particularly with the longer clubs. That coupled with more emphasis on my grip pressure and I can smile again. The tip, I am sure that you will remember is: "The Torture" Drill? I had forgotten all about it!!!!!! Too many other distractions and a long time between drinks perhaps. WELL that won't happen again. With this drill and a slightly firmer grip [overlapping, reverse overlapping, and interlocking to give me a compact grip with both hands acting in unison]. It makes the "Think up and Toward the Target" almost automatic!
Off for another session right now, before the wet stuff comes back.
Torture Drill for me, is an absolute MUST! Keep hitting them up and towards the target in Vegas. DH
Torture drill
DH,
Was trying to find the 'torture drill' you referred to. Think this is (was) it.
http://www.swingsurgeon.com/daily-video-tips/tips-stop-topping
Interesting indeed. While the PPGS is a mostly arm swing we do engage the body and that drill looks like it would help us sync it together better. Any how, how are you laddy. Hope you are off the back porch and back on the links again. Must be getting your winter weather now, eh?
On another note, I know you have spoken more than once about your often better results with the fairway woos off the tee rather than the driver. This morning I taking my 3 wood off of the tee a few times where distance is not a premium but accuracy is. Wow, very pleased. I play the Adams F11's (now 2 years old from my PPGS fitting) the the 5 wood and the 3 wood. I have always done well with the 5 but not so consistent with the 3. Made one minor tweak the other day. shortened the 3 by and additional 1/2 inch and now it is only 1/4 inch longer than the 5 wood. Then today I teed my 3 wood low so that just 1/2 the ball was above the ground level head of the club. The put the ball just off the middle of my stance and toed the face in just a fraction. Also stood just an inch or two further from the ball. All the set up moves along with aiming just down the right side of the fairway done to encourage a draw from right to left. Came off the club face a s sweet as i could have hoped. Just cleared the tall trees along the right side and the curved gently back to the center of the fairway. Walked off the distance and was shocked to find it 267 yards off the tee! Now we know a draw flies further and will roll further too but oh my was I pleased. The only challenge was I was left with 60 yards which is not my favorite :) Good problem to have. I really thought I might have 95 or 100. Next time i may use the 5 wood there instead. Hit it again two holes later on the par 5 13th. Rolled by the 200 yard marker leaving me only 195 to the green. Crazy! As good as I have been hitting my driver I may choose the 3/5 woods more often off the tees in the coming rounds.
Hope you're dry and warm and playing some golf in NZ
Torture Drill Video
Not positive, but I think this is a Utube misc video, and DH simply applied it to the PPGS.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ve0mQphITHI
Absolutely
Hi Terry,
Hope you're well and enjoying your perfect weather moment in Ohio. It looked gorgeous at the Firestone on the tube. You may have read I am experimenting with another anti-inflamatory, Anatabloc. I'm sure you've seen it advertised. Any how I stopped all other naturals I was using in the way of supplements meaning the 'Heal and Sooth' and the 'Flexcin'. Of those two the Flexcin has helped the most.I figured stopping the others would be the only way I could see a difference (or not). Anatabloc is not cheap but to me it's worth it if it helps. So far it has only been two weeks I have to say I have less pain and more mobility in my shoulders and neck. Fingers crossed. As they say,"It's all crap shoot". Need a few more weeks before I can give a full opinion on it. It seems they all help for a while and then pain and stiffness finds a way back. Keeping positive regardless.
How's your game? Have you been playing every week still during this awesome weather spell? Hope so.
Hit 'em straight
Anatabloc
Yes I have done a little reading on Anatabloc since Freddy started advertising it. Keep all of us posted on your results, both short and long term. As for the Ohio weather it has been great of late. I am trying to play a little golf but I've been hit with some type of conic fatigue lately. I do not know the cause yet, Doctors appt this Thur morn, but it seems to be getting worse. I can only get about 3 or 4 holes in before feeling fully exhausted, then it all goes to hell and I'm lucky to break 50 for nine. Hopefully the Doc or blood test will find the cause, but it might take awhile from what I've been reading on the web as to all the possibilities.
Torture Drill Video
Terry,
Sorry to take so long to answer the 'Torture Drill' queries : - ( Sad to hear that you are suffering from fatigue too. Hope the Doc finds out quickly what ails you and has you back on the road, as it were, in short order : - )
On the video, you were SPOT ON~! It was a video that caught my eye. The guy in the video you gave the link to above, is the man in question. I saw that while looking for it again, and there was one by the same guy doing the drill with a driver. I watched both of them. Then I gave it a try on the front yard driving range, without a ball. Only yesterday due to weather and other commitments I was able to go to the course. I went with the intention of trying it out. I used it as my warm up routine before starting to hit balls. From the word go, it worked brilliantly. I used everything from the PPGS set up etc
The drill is intended to ensure proper weight transfer from the PLHR [in our case]rear leg, to the front leg. For me, it worked BRILLIANTLY! No other word for it. The practice hole was not long enough to hit anything over a mid iron.
While practicing another golfer started practicing, hitting a LW to the green. I noted he was digging up the ground and not doing too well. He had all the usual traits, knees collapsing, over rotating etc. I told him I didn't use my LW much at all. I hit half a dozen balls as accurately as I have ever hit it. He was impressed. He has only been playing 6months. His shots were all over the place. I asked him to set up aiming at the flag. I then laid my club along his toe line. Surprise, surprise, he was aimed way left of the target line, yet he thought he was square. His upper body was OK, but everything else was out of kilter. I passed on to him the PPGS website details. He was a very bright laddie, and mentioned the physics of the swing, which he knew all about [He is a professional martial artist : - ]. He watched me aim at the flag with PW in hand. I knew the distance was too short for it. I went down the grip to the metal. Then hit the club at the flag. It went way over the back of the green, but never left the flag. So another PPGS acolyte. He liked the 'Body friendly' swing. He has some old injuries too.
After he left and the course quietened down a little, I hit a 5iron to the farthest corner of the practice hole. Only took a half swing using the drill timing [but everything else was PPGS,ie, GBSAPS in every way], it flew off the clubhead dead on line with the target tree.It stopped on the very edge of the creek, above the vertical bank to the water. Accurate? Stunningly so!
As R2 commented a few days ago, the drill changed his game. I will always be a SURGITE, no matter what. Call this eccentricity of mine the perfect cure for my trying to skin the ball. Stopped raining and the front yard driving range is calling ; - ) So more swinging with the longer clubs. Hit the longer clubs into the nets at the course, and contact and direction were excellent.
Robert Meade's comments on his 3W and 5W were very interesting indeed. I took the 11deg Mizuno driver yesterday. I was pleasantly surprised at the power of through impact, direction and where the balls struck the clubface. They are promising an early Spring here ; - ) Roll on that happening.
Get well soon Terry and keep on keeping on. We need you.
DH in NZ
Torture Drill
Hi Robert,
Hold the phone!!! I have just looked again for the link on the subject drill. I said I had firstly seen the one where the guy was using an iron to demo the drill. I had seen him also using it demonstrating it with a Driver! Found it! Here is the link for all who are interested. I AM IN NO WAY transferring my allegiance from this website, NEVER! Having said that, the video with the driver better epitomises what caught my attention. Here it is for YOU, Terry Medley, Roy Reed and any other SURGITES who are interested:
www.golfchannel.com/media/swingfix-justin-bruton-driver-weight-shift-torture-drill-021313/
After viewing the link Terry posted again. I found the one with the driver far more informative. Particularly with the "Swish" part! Shades of holding the club by the head and swinging it. Except in this case it employs swishing with the club in it's normal position.
Enjoy, employ or bin it. It will be my swing drill from now on. The subtle differnce for me, I consider a game changer : - ) DH off for the swing I mentioned earlier.
DH
Save the Grass!
I've used PPGS about the same length as Robert in Vegas, and with me, a good swing just shaves some grass away. Good thing in another way as I started walking courses more with the aide of my electric Clubrunner cart. I don't have the sand supplied by golf carts to repair divots, but really don't feel too bad about it! (Might grab a ziploc just to be nice).
BTW, after a several mos. forray away from here, I am back into PPGS FT, with a rejuved approach. Because I am very flexible and strong for a 50 yr.old, I tried another swing easily found on the web to see if I could. I did, but not so well. It is the WIG system promoted by Canadian PGA teacher, Shawn Clement. ( No. 1 instructor on "Youtube")
Great system, super nice folks lucky to have a very cool discussion forum. I am not going to go into swing setups here in small space, but I was not as good there as some, and I actually can borrow some things and integrate those feels here and improve my PPGS quite well. It is a turn based swing on gravity - essentially, from hips thru shoulders you turn right, then back leftwith no club manipulation relying on this body driven aspect to elevate the club, then rightly assist gravity down and thru - directing that momentum out to a target - ball in the way! And, his is vertical, front of the body for the arms/club. Feet also flared....etc.
I am a Trahan Academy alumni who feels pretty good about his Surge Swing right now. If anybody wants to discuss more thoroughly these things or play some here in the Mesa-Tempe area (Stretch Condor's turf!), drop me a line at avguy36@gmail.com
later, Jim.
Time?
Not busy today for the first time in ages.
Yesterday had 6 birdies but 5 bogeys for -1. Could have been much better but I messed up too many easy approach shots and chip shots.
Also could have been much worse but I almost couldn't miss a putt. Only 25 putts with 3 over 20 feet (one of those days putting that we wish we could bottle and save).
Funny thing is usually if I make that many bogies it's because of my tee shots but yesterday (and really since I figured out where to place the spine in my so-called "adjustable driver") I'm hitting the driver very well and very long.
Great Round
Steve Great Round .
Not so good today myself shot 93 for my seconded round sense last Oct and all my health issues will figure it eventually.
Good to here from you.
Mike
Overcoming
Hang in there Mike.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjb8BjDgJXY&feature=youtube_gdata_player
GREAT VIDEO
Great video Steve, thanks for posting the link . It came at a time when I am needing some inspiration. To any who have not watched it, you're missing a very inspiring message. I highly recommend you watch it and forward it to someone who could use some hope in their situation.
Impact Zone - Club Trajectory
Before anyone brands me a heretic, let me just say that I wholeheartedly embrace the swing thought of AFAP and "swinging up" to the finish.
That said, I just want to comment on what I believe is actually happening in the impact zone. With a properly executed PPGS swing, whatever slight amount of small divot, grass disturbance, brushing, or whatever you want to call it, happens on the target side of the ball. Look at Surge's beautiful swing that introduces every daily video. It appears he had been hitting balls and had developed a nice little divot line by placing the next ball ever so slightly behind the previous one, to minimize impact to the range and to his wrists and elbows. The point is that the little bit of turf he disturbed is on the target side - he hit the ball first and then brushed the grass/dirt. With that fact in hand, one can only conclude that the iron has not reached the bottom of its trajectory when it first impacts the back of the ball. It's close, but at least for a few inches from impact forward, the club is still traveling down on a shallow angle. That's how the grass is brushed in front of the ball but not behind it (we all know what it feels like to hit the ground behind the ball). If I think about the rock on a string, the force that keeps the centrifugal motion fast and accelerating is force applied at a 180 degree angle to the current location of the rock. Thus, in our FUS, we actually apply centrifugal force at the BOTTOM when we pop UP. This creates acceleration into and through impact, keeps the bottom shallow, and leads into a strong upward move to the finish position. If we think DOWN and go DOWN, we lose that centrifugal effect and transfer a bunch of energy into the ground. Thud.
I guess the reason I feel compelled to put this out there is to reconcile my understanding of PPGS with the statement about "no debating". If we could see a super slow mo close up of a good PPGS iron swing, I believe we would see what I have just described here - a shallow, online attack that bottoms out just past impact - and it would be beautiful!
What heresy?
I don't think that's heretical. I think that's precisely what Surge has generally said in all his commentary about not hitting down on the ball. Yes, we hit the ball before the swing bottoms out, but as close as possible to that bottom. When I'm on the range, with the exception of the times I screw up and hit fat, I can pretty much keep hitting from the same spot over and over. The first swing shaves the grass off so there's just a bit of fuzz sticking up, and from then I keep nipping the ball from the same place. The only time I expose dirt is either when I screw up (as noted above) or when the grass's roots are so near the surface that my swing pulls roots and blades out together.
desending blow
Rich,
As Robert said, Surge has never denied that we hit down during the swing and has always promoted ball first contact. Your description is not in any way wrong and in fact is spot on. I leave you a daily from just a few months ago reflecting your thoughts quite nicely.
https://www.swingsurgeon.com/daily-video-tips/hitting-down-ball
overcoming
Hi Steve,
That was VERY inspirational! Thanks for sharing.
On another note, where is Dick, I think AKA as cowboy in a kilt? Haven't seen him post in quite a while. Is he ok??
thanks again! Tina
EDIT
Improper placement of comment, see Torture Drill above.