Note from The Surge: We’ve finally finished in Orlando. I always learn some new about our sport and make some new friends. Did a good interview, which I’ll tell you about later — don’t want to “scoop” the writer. All in all, a good show. Going through my notes, I ran across a drill I’ve used for years to help students understand where the top of the backswing is so they know their “place in space.” You don’t need a club. In fact I suggest you do it several times without one. But it really helps if you stand at mirror. This is how you get a “light club.” BACKSWING DRILL— FIND THE TOP OF THE BACKSWING: 1. Assume address ready posture position and extend left arm like holding a club. 2. Put your right hand under your left elbow (see  “A”). 3. Right hand pulls the left arm and torso back and lifts arm up, clearing chest. Keep left arm and shaft of club over the toe line. 4. When you reach the limit of your torso turn and arm lift (see “B”, put your right hand on your left hand (like grippi ...

Note from The Surge: We’re still in Orlando and the PGA Golf Merchandise Show. If you’re not familiar with it, there are about 1,000 exhibitors here, showing off the latest and greatest in clubs, gear, clothing, you name it. It’s not open to the public, just those folks in the golf industry. This is where golf pros from all over the world meet and greet. I get to see old friends, talk to the media (I’ll have a news flash for you shortly), and fool around with the latest and greatest driver. Yesterday, I was approached by a pro from England. I recognized his name because he gets on the PPGS blog often. I guess this show — I’ve been coming for over three decades — is the best I’ve had for me and PPGS, mainly because so many pros are excited about the site. I promise, we’re working VERY HARD on getting our certification program for teaching professionals up as soon as we can. Anyway, he, among others, continues to point out that not everyone in the world knows baseball and, therefore, “in the mit ...

Note from The Surge: We’re down at the PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando, FL. I’ll be having a report soon on the treds we’ve seen. Pretty amazing stuff. This is the biggest golf show on earth. Something like a million square feet of nothing but golf. Of course, I run intro old friends, many of them teaching pros. One of them, Doug, came up to me and said, “Surge! What’s this about the right arm? Are you serious?” So, Dougie, this one’s for you, because you were probably asleep when I ent over this (just kidding). The right arm is the “good guy.” Students (and teachers) often come to me because they have problems with the longer irons and woods. The primary reason they have difficulty is because the longer clubs are flatter. What happens is the longer clubs, being flatter because of their length, are thus swung on a slightly flatter plane, even though we are swinging them basically as vertical as the shorter ones. The key here is that in both the backswing lift and the forward upswing lift, the ...

(Note from the Surge: We were very busy shooting a new putting video yesterday and my on line guy, Paul, put up the wrong article. I know I promised you one from Dr. Armstrong — which it was for awhile. But it was old as the hills and not too accurate. Paul says he’s very sorry. You’re forgiven. Since we’re still at it, I thought you’d enjoy the following.) This has been a question talked about and debated for centuries (it seems), on the course, in the locker room, dining room, club bars, and in numerous magazine articles.  In or out…in or out…which is the best?  Some magazines and pros have done studies to find the answer to this in or out conundrum.  Some say in;  some say out. Let’s first look at why you would want it in.  Most players agree that when they have a real difficult chip or pitch, likely a real fast downhiller, leaving the flag/pin in the hole may help slow down a shot hit much too hard.  Makes sense to me if I want insurance to help a poor to bad shot.  I don’t know about ...

- Audio version at the end of this post – I watched the last few holes of the final round of the PGA Tour’s “Bob Hope Classic,” as DJ was playing well, finishing 7th.  I was hoping to see a swing but really wanted to see his new putting setup and stroke he worked on with Scotty Cameron on Monday.  But I guess with the network mentality that all viewers only care about seeing the leaders and big names, he never got any air time even, being a former champion of the Hope. I also had another interest in watching Bill Haas. He is a local player and lives within 15 miles from me.  I know Bill and his older brother, Jay Jr. Like DJ, they played junior golf in South Carolina events as well as many regional and national tournaments.  They also competed against each other in high school tournaments and then on into college. DJ played at Clemson and as we heard yesterday Bill played at his father’s Alma Mater, Wake Forest.  Over their college careers, DJ and Bill were paired together numerous ti ...

- Audio version at the end of this post – Tom Watson and Fred Couples played some awesome golf Sunday in the closing round of the Mitsubishi Electric Championship in Hawaii.  It came down to the final putt on the 18th hole, with Watson sinking a 5 footer to beat Couples by one shot.  Watson actually birdied the last two holes to shoot 22 under.  What is really impressive about this 22 under score is that this was a 3 round tournament.  Watson shot 63-65-66 = 194, which averages out to better than 7 under per round. I went to www.PGA Tour.com and checked out the Hualalai Resort Golf Club course and the course was no pitch and putt.  The course measured out, according to the listing on the site, with nines of 3556 and 3467 to max out at 7023 yards.  Pretty long course for seniors, especially for Watson who, at 60 years old competing with younger guys, like first-time, just turned 50, Fred Couples.  Hale Irwin, who finished 5th at 14 under is now 65 and is really hanging well with the 50 ...

- Audio version at the end of this post – I was watching The Golf Channel and I saw a commercial featuring PGA Tour Caddy, Lance Ten Broeck.  Lance cadies full time for Jesper Parnevik in his second life on the PGA Tour.  In his first life he played the PGA Tour and played rather successfully, making the cut in 159 tournaments and is exempt from qualifying. This past year at the 2009 Valero Texas Open, he entered the tournament and when enough players withdrew before round 1, he got a spot in the field.  Still having to caddy for Parvevik, he lucked out as the player he replaced was in the opposite tee time wave.  Parnevik was early morning on the first round so Lance caddied all 18 and was done in time to tee off that afternoon.  Playing with borrowed clubs he shot  71 the first day with his son carrying the bag.  He followed with a 70 for 141 and missed the cut by 2 shots.  He did beat his boss Parnevik who shot 144.  Jesper  was all in favor of Lance’s marathon caddy and playing, wh ...

- Audio version at the end of this post – Jack Nicklaus turned 70 years old this week and The Golf Channel celebrated his birthday with a documentary about his life and career.  The show theme focused around a 12 day business trip he took checking out courses he designed that we under construction all over the world.  The course check out, evaluation and recommendations segments were intertwined with plenty of Nicklaus family history as a child and his adult family, amateur golfer and playing career highlights.  There were also interviews in which Jack gave us some personal insights into his life, his thought process and his present views on his golf game. He even talked about his tennis game, which seems to get more attention now than golf. What particularly caught my attention was the revelation where he talked about that from about 60 years old, he was always asked about how long he would play on the Champions Tour and would he even venture back to the PGA Tour.  He said he would li ...

- Audio version at the end of this post – Less than a month ago, December 30th to be exact, the daily article was titled, “Release…Defined and Explained.”  The opening sentences are as follows; “Release for many golfers and for that matter instructors is a nebulous term that they know exists and they know they have to do.  The problem is they can’t wrap their hands around it or get a good picture in their mind as to what it is and how to do it.”  Neil asks a five part question below all relating to release. Neil says: Don “Palms always perpendicular to the ground” is slightly confusing. I wonder if you could deal with the position of the hands just before and after impact, particularly with the longer clubs. What do you understand by the term that someone is too handsy? What, for you, constitutes a good “release”? Neil The Surge says: I decided to revisit release because Neil specifically asked for clarification of what is the position of the hands immediately before and after im ...

One of the major tenets of the PPG setup and swing involve the concept of the wide knees at address and the outward pressure that must be applied.  The wide knees, being unique and noticeable, have become the “Trademark” of the PPGS setup.  Mr. Woods, in his question below, asked for a clarification about the outward pressure applied to the wide knee setup.  Since it is so important, let’s take a look and answer it. Mr. Woods says: Surge – rule #4 in this article must have slid by me somewhere. I thought we were keeping outward pressure on our knees throughout the swing.  At what point do the knees start towards the target? The Surge says: The concept of the wide knees over the feet and in line with hips and shoulders (the building effect, as I call it) first and foremost is unique in the golf world of knees in the setup/address position.  Most conventional instruction for the setup has the feet much wider. The ankles to knees to hips lines look more like a triangle.  Add to that the back ...