If you have followed this blog for any length of time, you probably have heard me explain what led me to create the Peak Performance Golf Swing. If you haven't, then let me describe my motivation in a word: Desperation! You see, after teaching all day, 6-7 days a week for nine straight months I had literally destroyed my back, to the point that I seriously thought about leaving the profession. Over the years, as I refined my body-friendly swing and became known as "The Swing Surgeon", people like Jim Sinclair turned to me for medical advice whenever they experienced pain that shouldn't be there.

Today we have the latest installment of Doc Griffin's series on Custom Club Fitting. In this one, Doc talks covers all the important stuff on clubheads, from why size really does matter to why he couldn't care less about how a shot feels when he gets to the part of the process where you select the amount of offset you want in a club.

Today I am going to cover the basics of how to hit a side-hill lie in response to a question from Tony Clark, of Reno, Nevada.

"Surge:

Would you please explain the stance and grip for hitting side-hill lies, where the ball is above your feet and where it is below your feet? The PPG swing is very good for me on the level ground, but I struggle with set up etc. on side-hill lies. I have no clue on stance, grip, ball placement, etc."

In today's video I want to clear up a common problem of people confusing a chip for pitch shot. Jerry Shulman recently sent me an email in which he questions whether his problem with chipping comes from too fast of a weight shift:

"Been using your swing for over a year and very, very happy with it. My biggest problem now is in chipping. More often than not I hit the ball fat - the club striking the ground about 2 inches before the ball. Is it possible this is due to too quick a weight shift which moves my center of gravity forward? I don't have this problem on my full or half swing."

John Barnes of Houston, Texas recently sent in this question:

"Don, can you explain what is meant by the term 'fall line'? I hear it a lot on the TV broadcasts while putting."

Well, John, I checked with Dave Seeman, who is probably the best putter we have on the PPGS Staff, and he confirmed that the Fall Line, as it applies to putting, can best be described as "the true uphill-downhill slope of the green from its high point, or apex, to the cup". A ball that travels along this line will have no break--it's a true straight putt. However, unless the green is totally flat you don't always have a zero-break putt. So we first need to learn to find the fall line. You do this by carefully examining the green, beginning when you are still yards away from it as you walk up the fairway. From this vantage point you can begin to get a sense of where the apex of the green is in relation to the cup

I have had many people ask about the net that I have in The Back Yard Driving Range. And if, as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words then a 90-second video has to be worth even more! If you do an Internet search using terms like "Golf Driving Net" you will be able to find bargains on a wide variety of shapes and sizes.

Keep it vertical (and in the net)!

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.

This is a good question from Bob Campo that we've discussed before about the benefits of using a shorter driver. However, Bob adds a twist here by asking if he can also accomplish the same thing by choking down on the shaft.

Today we are going to talk a bit about a subject that many golfers have never heard of, let alone understand. The subject is called "Bounce" and it applies primarily to your wedges. It came up recently in a question that Isaac Simmons sent me.

"There is a lot of instruction on using the heel bounce on pitches and sand shots. When should you use the toe bounce? How do you pitch off hard pan?"

If you look at the bottom of a sand wedge, for example, you will see the front edge, or leading edge, at the very bottom of the face. But then as you look back toward the back of the club, to where the head thickens, this is the area club designers call the bounce. Most modern wedges have some degree of bounce and some even have the degrees of bounce stamped on the head.

If a club has been made with bounce, then it is likely to have two distinct bounce areas, i.e. the toe bounce and the heel bounce. You still with me? I know this can sound confusing so be sure to watch the video where we actually focus in on these parts of the club.

Today's daily is the next installment of Doc Griffin's series on custom club fitting. In this video, Doc covers some common misconceptions on how lie angle is measured before he gets into the weighty subject of determining the proper MOI--Moment of Inertia--for each client.

In my opinion, getting the MOI of the whole club correct is right there at the top of the list of things that are essential in a custom club fitting. The MOI of the club is important to matching the swing feel of all the clubs in the bag. Current club fitting theory states that if all clubs in a set are made to have the same, identical MOI, the golfer will be more consistent because each club will require the same effort to swing.

Wilfred Perkins sent in a question asking how he can work the ball using the Peak Performance Golf Swing.

"I have been using Don's technique for several years. I am 83, so I enjoy every outing, realizing that something could happen anytime which would conclude my golf. Do you have suggestions as to how I can learn to work the ball? I do not hit long. I usually drive with my three wood, because I am more accurate, and hit it as long as I do with a driver. My distance is around 175. Thank you for considering my request."