I was watching TV and a promo commercial came on for the US Tennis Open. It showed both men and women players smashing shots in fast action playing. I watched and looked intently at their swings, especially their swings to the finish after hitting the ball. I really liked what I saw: the acceleration and explosiveness of their forward upswing to up and over their shoulder and the quick recoil and relax down back in front of them in preparation for the next shot. I watched and marveled at the speed and balance of their powerful swings, then I realized their swings were very similar to a golf swing, both in the backswing, impact and follow through to the finish.
I have seen golf professionals at PGA teaching seminars use a tennis racquet to explain clubface angles for impact and ball flight. After all, tennis players hit their ball with a flat surface as do us golfers, and thus the ball flight laws affecting tennis are the same as for golf.
I saw the explosive follow through swings to the finish right over the center of their left or right shoulder, depending on whether it was a back hand or fore hand shot. I also saw them finishing square, that is, their body facing straight on to where their ball was hit. But what jumped out at me was that these tennis players were making 2 handed swings just as we golfers do. The only difference was they switched hand positions, top or bottom, based on hitting a fore hand or back hand swing.
Either way, when they hit the fore hand or back hand shot their arms, hands and racquet were swung up explosively to the finish over the shoulders, with their hands close to their ear as I recommend for the PPGS T ' Finish. And like I teach, they always finished square and facing their target.
I also noticed that, like the PPGS, they had a limited turn backswing swing. When they turned their body perpendicular to the direction they were going to hit the ball, their forward arm was over their toe line every time. And when they swung and hit the ball, the forward rotation of their body ended square to their target as I teach for the PPGS!
To add another perspective to this tennis swing as compared to a golf swing, we can also look at a hockey swing or stroke. They have a limited turn to get their torso perpendicular to the target and barely turn their shoulders to swing their stick straight back and up and straight down and through and up after impact, as I teach with the PPGS.
Both the tennis and hockey swings are accelerating to and through impact and up to a square to the target finish. The hockey player has some upper torso rotation through impact toward the target but does not reach a complete square to the target T- Finish. They are sliding super fast on slick ice still skating. The tennis players reach a complete over the shoulder finish square to the target like the PPGS'¦T-Finish.
I often ask students in a lesson to name the only sport that teaches, as its main tenant for power, to turn the back to the target. They rarely ever answer correctly. And what is crazy about that is when I ask the question, we are talking about the golf swing big shoulder turn with their back to the target theory versus the PPGS limited 70 degree shoulder turn to the left arm over the toe line. The answer is: golf is the only sport that teaches the huge shoulder and torso turn for power. After revealing that I usually add my Surgism Question and Answer statement'¦'Did God give golfers a dispensation to play golf by their own set of rules? I DON'T THINK SO!
Tennis and hockey players have short backswings with limited turns and they accelerate and explode to and through impact with tremendous power. They are good examples for golfers to watch and emulate.
The Surge!