Today's tip comes from an email that George Miller sent to me a couple of weeks ago. I really like this one because it has to do with setup and you know how important I believe that is to making a good swing. (Does "The setup determines the motion" ring any bells?)

"Surge,

How do you set up? Do you take practice swings? if so, where do you stand when doing them? When do you stand behind ball facing the hole to figure out your swing line, before or after practice swings? Basically, please show us what you do from the time you get to the tee until you hit the ball.

On another matter, the vertical swing makes golf so much easier. Thanks so much!"

OK, everyone, let's run through what I consider to be the four elements of how to make a perfect practice swing since I firmly believe that "Perfect Practice Makes For A Perfect Swing".

Today's daily is an answer to an excellent question posed by Lex van Weezendonk, a Surgite who lives just south of Brussels, Belgium.

"I still have a problem understanding the initial part of the takeaway. I do understand that the triangle should stay intact..but do I turn sideways (little turn with hip, keeping knees flexed with outward pressure) keeping my left hand palm facing forward while turning and making sure the clubhead moves first..or does the left hand palm roll under slightly, which tends to close the clubhead somewhat..I have watched your- and DJ's swing a zillion times and am still not sure what I am seeing. Hope I am expressing myself clear enough. Your answer is much appreciated."

As Lex notes, watching the detail of this portion of the swing can be difficult so I advise everyone to watch this tip in full screen mode. To do this, just click on the button with four outward-pointing arrows that is located in the lower right hand portion of the video player control bar.

Lex's question about the takeaway is an important one. If not properly executed, it will be difficult to get the club to a truly vertical position.

Ted Galanides has been a Surgite for nearly two seasons now and he's really into his game. He recently sent me a message asking for help on curing a chronic problem of hitting toe shots.

"I am experiencing a problem with the new club Doc Griffin made me. I had a similar problem before. From the driver down to the six hybrid I am hitting the ball too close to
the toe. When I move closer I am pulling the shots and will even hit a hook on occasion. I have tried to position the ball closer to the heel and generally get solid center hits with
good distance, excellent high flight and straight as an arrow but the slightest mistake results in pulls. I have checked my position, that is hands below my chin, right shoulder
lower than left, flexed knees, weight on balls of my feet, and feet flared. I have even used clubs to perfectly aline myself and I still get toe hits. Any suggestions?"

Well, Ted, I do have a few possible answers to you question. First off, even though you feel like you are perfectly aligned, you didn't mention anything about your shoulders at address. If they are open, even a little bit, this could cause an outside-in swing and that may be why you are hitting so many shots off the toe of the club. You can check your shoulder alignment by simply looking at the relative position of both arms at address.

I recently had the pleasure of playing a round with one of my long-time students, Harold Lovette. Harold's been coming to me since 1996 and I can tell you he's a seriously good golfer who used to be able to hit his drives 270-280 straight down the fairway. But now that he's 73, he doesn't have the club head speed he once had. In fact, when he was out at the Las Vegas golf tournament a few months ago, Doc Griffin measured his at being in the low 80s.

As we walked up to the tee, Harold mentioned that he was a little nervous about playing with me but that's not unusual for him. He stepped up and hit a nice drive on #1 that landed on the right side of the fairway and that then followed the right-to-left slope of the terrain and ended up pretty much in the center. Quite a nice way to start the round. However, he then proceeded to top his next two shots which began to form a pattern of a bunch of good drives followed by consistently inconsistent iron play.

Today's tip stems from an email I recently received from John Crowe, who wrote:

"Surge

My new vertical swing is working wonders on my driver, fairway woods and hybrids but I am having a lot of trouble with my irons. It appears to me that I am hitting them out on the toe and producing a weak left to right shot (I am right- handed). Also my divots are pointing consistently left. I have had my irons adjusted for lie. Can you figure out what I am doing wrong?"

Well, John's symptoms are pretty common and since he didn't say anything about checking his alignment, that's where I would start.

 Today we are going to talk about hybrids--what they are, how they work and how you play them. This tip is inspired by a question I recently received from a Surgite named Barrie, who wrote:

"Surge,

Love you instruction and having great success using your swing. Like many "oldies", I have changed my longer irons for hybrids and now carry 35*, 30*, 25*, 21* and 17* hybrids instead of the corresponding irons. (My longest iron is a 7-iron),

Can you do a bit on ball position for hybrids please? Have tried placing the ball forward in my stance like a 3-wood or a driver but the ball goes too high. Back in the stance, and I tend to hit the ground. Which is correct, please?"

Before we answer Barrie's question, let's talk a little bit about the history of hybrids and how they differ from woods and irons. Hybrids have been around for a long time under other names. When I was a caddy back in the early sixties I remember one member who had a full bag of Stan Thompson hybrids that looked a lot like woods but actually replaced every iron in the member's bag except his pitching and sand wedges. They were pretty cool back then and are collector's items now. More recently, TaylorMade introduced the first of the modern versions of hybrids with the launch of their Rescue Club line of hybrids. Since then, it's been Katie-bar-the-door in the golf world as many golfers with slower swing speeds have fallen in love with this style of club that takes some of the advantages of irons and marries them to those of woods.

The holiday season is upon us and for many of you, that means a break from the links.  But, have no fear because our Northeast Director of Instruction, Dave Seeman, is here with another great drill to help your swing maintain the right motions throughout the cold winter months.  Even if you live in a warm climate, this drill can really help you master the bump, a very important part of the Surge Swing.

Today we're going to talk about how we swing when we want to hit a knockdown shot. The tip stems from a question raised by Peter Williams, a Welsh Surgite who wanted to know where to stop the club during the shot.

Well, Peter, the answer to that questions depends on what you are trying to do, of course. There are a number of situations where knowing how to properly hit a knockdown shot is critical. I cover the skills you need more fully in my Working The Ball instructional video, but I can give you a short overview in this video tip.

First off, why do we need to know how to hit a knockdown shot in the first place? Most of the time, it's because we are contending with the wind and we want to keep the ball on a lower, more penetrating trajectory so that it stays on the target line.

Before I begin my regularly scheduled tip, I just want to mention that today's post is #1,000 in the series that began over three years ago. We've come a long way from written posts in the beginning, to a combination of written and audio posts a little later, and then the conversion to the format we have today, a video with a written synopsis. We've also progressed from doing the tips from The Back Porch, where I couldn't actually hit a ball, to my new Back Yard Driving Range where I can.

That's a lot of changes, but the one thing that has been a constant has been the widespread support for my Surge Swing by the people who frequent this space. I am in awe of your collective and individual commitment to improving your game, and to helping each other do the same. The Surge Nation is not just a fancy moniker penned by the Marketing department. It is a worldwide fraternity of men and women who are serious about golf but who also genuinely enjoy the give and take that takes place on these pages every day. My hat's off to you, ladies and gentlemen!

And now to "today's regularly scheduled programming".

As I mentioned yesterday, the tip I posted on November 23rd, the day before Thanksgiving here in The States, titled An "Almost" New Swing Drill really got the Surge Nation buzzing.

A little while back I did a video tip titled An "Almost" New Swing Drill that generated a really good discussion on the blog. This comment from frequent contributor Steve Smith gives me an opportunity to cover something I don't think I have covered extensively in the past.

"I will never be able to get to a nice balanced finish consistently because of nerve damage in my left leg and foot but, apart from that, I find that my finish is never really beside my left ear but well higher than that and getting to that point beside my ear is almost part of the "recoil and relax" for me.

None of that is intentional but I just accelerate through the ball and toward the target so fast that to stop that momentum enough to let the arms fold and come toward my left ear would take quite a bit of effort, and strain on myself".

From what Steve describes, he must be swinging at 95-100% of his maximum speed and that's not a good thing because that means he's likely out of control. We always want to keep in mind that we swing the club, the club doesn't swing us. The club only moves because you move it and only goes where you want it to go.

The situation Steve describes is roughly analogous to a car trying to take a curve at too great of a speed. The driver has to muscle the car around the curve and, if he's going too fast, he may lose total control of the car and end up in the woods. And that's exactly what could happen to your golf shot--into the woods.