Lag By Another Name

Thu, 06/09/2011 - 15:10 -- Don Trahan

In the Surge Swing, you keep that angle between forearm, wrist and shaft you had at the top of the backswing as long as possible during the transition. That will lead to more clubhead speed, power and distance as the lower body runs away from the upper body. Yes, there'€™s a name for it.

'€œLag'€ is a very popular term today. And that is what you'€™re doing by keeping those angles until you extend your arms at impact. When you'€™re shifting weight from your back leg to your front leg, the '€œbump,'€ that'€™s when '€œlag'€ happens. And as many of our readers have noted, they'€™ve increased distance and accuracy when there is a noticeable '€œlag.'€

Check out our manual, starting on page 101. Take a look at the photos and make note of the position, the angle between forearm, shaft and wrist. That'€™s where you'€™ll discover '€œlag.'€

Keep it vertical,

The Surge!

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Comments

Robert Meade's picture

Submitted by Robert Meade (not verified) on

Thanks Steve. I thought you were probably one of the rare golfers who naturally hit something closer to a draw or a hook. I'm sure you sometimes cursed it when it hooked too much. The biggest thing from my stand point is that a pull/hook or draw will nearly always go further. I have ALWAYS pushed or sliced the ball. So I think I represent 85% or more of the hackers on this site(natural slicers) and you about 15%(natural hooker). Most amatures fight a slice.Weather you know it or not, most or all of us would love to be able to draw the ball consistently(or even once in a while). So perhaps that may help you have little compassion for "the rest of us" when you get a little ticked that we "just don't get it." Regardless of our typical swing paths your advice above and certainly all of Don's teachings can help all of us. I'm honestly still looking for my true "Ah HA!!" moment when I find "it" and become more consistently straight. I'm sure in reality it won't happen in any magical ahah but by old fashion hard work and video taping and correcting by ingraining Don's teaching. Thanks for your thoughts and chronical of your swings progress. You are more inspirational than you know pal. Hoping 55 is the age it all comes together for me :)

Robert F's picture

Submitted by Robert F (not verified) on

That depends what you mean by big. You should attempt to make every swing the same, but the driver being longer and heavier will have more momentum as you reach the top of the backswing, so it will pull your arms around a bit further than the other clubs. We should try to resist that, but not fight against it. I now that's hard to see the difference, but resistance in this case is passively strengthening the muscles so they control that extra stretch, whereas fighting against it would be to actively push back the other way. That would get you into all sorts of trouble.

dgaines's picture

Submitted by dgaines on

A horse in 1965? Was that the family's main mode of transportation?

Sorry for the old jokes but couldn't resist. Sometimes I feel like a junior on this site. LOL

I was alive and kicking in '65 but I am sure there wasn't a football in my crib at the time.

T Medley's picture

Submitted by T Medley (not verified) on

Dragonhead, I have the same problem off and on in IE7 with loading comments. I try to use FireFox now for all comment postings. I have never had the problem in FireFox.

Benholt7's picture

Submitted by Benholt7 (not verified) on

Really Terry, I have a PHD in medicine, I have a nice big house in Cheshire and I have survived for all my years on skill, intellect and putting people like you, Dick and the rest of your cronies in there place when they do nothing but talk bollox.
 
The best part of all this is, I know Im right, whilst all you lot are doing is thinking your right cos you stick up for someone thats wrong, all so you can feel your in your little golf family.

That’s the funniest part of this, you call people cockroaches, trolls etc etc because they dare to speak up. In fact, I would go as far as to say you actually dont have a clue what your goin on about because the contradictions are rife. So the fact is, I can be reasoned with, if the reasoning is legitimate. Yours isn’t, hence my abrasive nature.

TinaB's picture

Submitted by TinaB (not verified) on

Hi Steve,
This is actually in response to your earlier post about being "due" for a slump ( there were no more "replies" left on the thread).    Get that thought out of your head!!!  If you haven't, please read the book by Bob Rotella "The Golfer's Mind."  there is a DVD by the same name,  which is essentially an audio-book, with Rotella reading.  Either one covers things like slumps, handling nerves and lots of other great stuff.   You may never have another "slump" after reading it!  I listened to it a lot in the car last year and quite enjoyed it.
Happy reading (or listening). 
Tina 

Doc's picture

Submitted by Doc on

Really?  I use one.  I honestly don't know of one that doesn't.  How else do you make notes and outline a plan of action for the student?  Did you have a bad day?

tiptoeskst's picture

Submitted by tiptoeskst on

Louis,

The manual is delivered in digital format unless you pay the additional fee for the hard copy.  Please login to the site where you will be able to view all the products you have purchased in their digital format.

Steve Smith's picture

Submitted by Steve Smith on

Hey OzDon,
I don't know what Robert uses but I usually use the VLC Media player. I can slow it down as much as I like. I also have a Zi8 camera so the ArcSoft MediaImpression player and movie maker used for uploading from the camera can also be used to advance frame by frame, edit the video, choose the speed to be saved, then upload pictures or video to U-Tube or Face Book or save to my computer.
Pretty handy. You can pull out a single frame and save it as a picture.

Keith Kent's picture

Submitted by Keith Kent (not verified) on

Great video again Don!
This has gotta be the most difficult part of the golf swing!

Steve Smith's picture

Submitted by Steve Smith on

Hey Robert,
Yeah, I hit some balls in the yard just now and it felt pretty good.
Yesterday it was probably a good testament to this swing that I was able to keep it together with pars after things started falling apart. Before using this swing when I got that messed up the round was history.
I shot even par on the back and felt like I wasn't hitting the ball well at all with the irons. I did hit the driver and especially the fairway woods really good though and that and the short game saved me.
I realize I was a little spoiled by the way I was hitting my irons because NOBODY can keep doing that.

Dick Lee's picture

Submitted by Dick Lee (not verified) on

Lynn

I called Paul.  He said he will play you for $ 1,000 a hole.

He said you can pick any night next week.

Dick

Robert Meade's picture

Submitted by Robert Meade (not verified) on

Hey all, get over to shot tracker @ PGA.com and watch DJ. He needed 3 birdies to make the cut.He just made three birds in a row and is looking at another  possible birdy on 15. Bang he made that too. A 16 foot putt. He's on fire. 4 in a row and now even par with 2 holes left!!!!
edit; I reviewed his 4 birdies. Too were putts of 9 and 30 feet!!!
edit; Just made a clutch 8 foot par on 17.
On 18 he tried to give me a heart attack. He had a penalty and made a 5 footer for bogie to finish 1 over which looks like it will make the cut. Over all an amazing come back from 4 over. A 67 and a good day. Only 26 putts. If Deej starts putting like this watch out!!
CONGRATULATIONS DJ!

Steve Smith's picture

Submitted by Steve Smith on

Hey Dan,
As I recall "the family" had one car that only got used when necessary. Things taken for granted now like getting mom or dad to take you somewhere weren't even thought about.
If we wanted to get somewhere within 10 or 12 miles we either walked, rode a bike, or a horse if we had one. If we wanted to go farther than that we usually just didn't go. LOL I do remember one guy got to drive his dad's Farmall tractor back and forth from home to school every day. He was our hero! LOL

Looking back I don't think it was an accident that I picked a "rich kid" with a motorcycle to be my best friend when I was 12 years old. I think I was starting to get a little tired by then. Ha ha!

P.S. I am pretty sure that there was a football in my crib the day I came home from the hospital (if not sooner). It wouldn't surprise me if Daddy took one to the hospital for me. Ha ha!

Steve Smith's picture

Submitted by Steve Smith on

Hey Robert,
I don't think there is anything very inspiring about my search for how to swing a club.
The very first time I ever hit a golf ball I set up with a closed stance, put the ball about 6" in front of my front foot and knocked the crap out of the ball. It was a hook so the second ball I hit I did the same thing but opened the face of my club a little and it went relatively straight, with only a draw.
We made a video of our swings very soon after that first day and I had done a little reading on the golf swing and thought my swing was really, really bad because the instructions I had been reading were for a rotational swing and mine was actually close to what I do now only with a much bigger shoulder turn.
The HUGE problem I had was that I didn't really know what to do with my wrists. One swing I might cock the wrists, another swing I might bow the wrists, another I might flex them vertically.
All of this led to a VERY inconsistent game. One day I might shoot a 75 and the next day I might shoot 95.
One day while my wife and I were playing I told her I was going to swing like Steve Stricker. I swung without really trying to let my wrists do anything and it really felt good and I started hitting more consistent shots. When I did have problems it was almost always with shorter clubs and for some reason I kept cocking my wrists with those clubs and couldn't seem to stop it.
Then last year I started following this blog and bought all of the videos and the manual and studied them but only really tried to implement limiting my turn a little and still working on the wrists.
Then in the winter I decided to try to get a more consistent and more vertical swing path. This is where the big problems started because of my vision of a one piece takeaway. If I turned my shoulders 70* and did nothing with my arms (as I was used to doing) the shaft was also only going 70* which put the club head still far away from the toe line.
This is where I was putting my swings on U-Tube and trying to figure out how in the heck to have a one piece takeaway and ever get the club head to the toe line without turning exactly 90*. Since I knew I wasn't supposed to do this my swings were an absolute mess. Many people thought those swings were the swings I had been playing with but I assure you they were not. They were trying to change the swing and not knowing how to do it because of my vision of a one piece takeaway and the SBG. It was almost to the point of being hopeless when I saw Robert F's swings and thought "heck he isn't worried about any of the things I was trying to keep from doing".
Then I went back and started really looking at not only Don's swing closer but his pre-shot waggles, which I had noticed and thought were a little quirky but paid no more further attention to them. Then it dawned on me that if I took what he did in the waggle all I would have to do is lift. That is the day I went out in the yard with a 7 iron and tried making swing skipping the first part of the takeaway and it was amazing how much power I had swinging that way and how easy it was to hit the ball. That day was a turning point and it has been getting better ever since. The biggest adjustment I had to make was that my irons started going truly ridiculous distances that I had to take into account.
At that point I was hitting the ball so well that I was done trying to implement other aspects of the Surge Swing (like limiting the turn even more and quieting the left leg) until next winter. The funny thing is that without even trying any more even those things have improved since then.

So:
1. I have always hit a draw (or a hook). My very first natural swings were very vertical but with a huge turn.
2. I could always hit a golf ball pretty well at times but lacked consistency.
3. Not understanding both the language and the mechanics of the takeaway were a three month long nightmare.
4. Still a long way to go before I would say that I have a Surge Swing but the hard part really is behind me and if I never played any better than I do right now it would be OK with me.(But that's not going to stop me from trying to get better). LOL

Robert F's picture

Submitted by Robert F (not verified) on

Thanks, Surge! Ask and ye shall receive. I was hoping you'd pick up on the series of discussions about lag over the last few days. Great stuff. Lag is maintaining the angle created between the shaft and the forearm until the proper time to release it to impact the ball with maximum acceleration and full extension.

Steve Smith's picture

Submitted by Steve Smith on

Ha ha! I tried to block it out of my mind the whole back nine but sometimes the facts outweigh the ability to block it out. :-(

Maybe it isn't a slump but just a return to more "normal".
If that's the case it was nice while it lasted.

I will try to pick up that book though.

Robert F's picture

Submitted by Robert F (not verified) on

If you don't want to pay the extra to have a hard copy shipped, when you download the PDF manual, it says that you can print a copy out for your personal use. For myself, I just put it on my iPad so I can reread sections any time I am forced to sit around waiting (like at a doctor's office).

Also, just to be sure, you did BUY the Foundations Manual, right? It is not automatically a part of every purchase.

Rhig1's picture

Submitted by Rhig1 (not verified) on

Benholt7 - For a professional medical doctor, as you say, you are acting very childish and unprofessional. Shame on you!!!!

Dick H

Martin's picture

Submitted by Martin on

I've been fighting the "bump" for quite a while.  Every once in a while I'd stumble upon it but didn't understand what happened.  Now, with this explanation I can "see" and feel how it works. 

I"ve wondered about how much the Medicus training club could help.  I can't see how it could hurt, but then, I'm not the Surge.

T Medley's picture

Submitted by T Medley (not verified) on

1965,  Was that when they used the wooden shafts and feather balls. LOL,  I started in 1975, played for a year or so, gave it up, and started again in 1985. I was bit by the bug the second time around and haven't wanted anything but to get better since.

Lynn42's picture

Submitted by Lynn42 (not verified) on

Dick

LOL...Not a chance.  I was born at night, but it wasn't last night.

Lynn42

Boogm's picture

Submitted by Boogm (not verified) on

Thanks for heads up, Robert, I've had the crew in the rigging yard and missed most of his round but lucky it's lunch time now as he plays 18.

Robert F's picture

Submitted by Robert F (not verified) on

Tarter6,
Late last year, Surge and his marketing partners had a not-so-amicable parting of the ways. The arbitration judge allowed the former partners to keep the contact list and they hired Paul Wilson as their new instructor. That has nothing to do with Don Trahan and his golf swing. Assuming you don't want to be cross-instructed in the ways of a full turn rotational swing, feel free to unsubscribe from those emails (they should have an unsubscribe link). I feel pretty safe in saying that Surge didn't willingly allow them to continue to market to his loyal followers.

T Medley's picture

Submitted by T Medley (not verified) on

One car per family. If you wanted or needed the car through the summer months, you had to get up and take dad to work, and God forbid if you were late in picking him up after work. One TV Set in the living room, what the hell was a family room or den. If you were rich, you may of had your basement re-finished to a rec room. You painted the entire house inside and out every 5 to 10 years. Only the rich could afford aluminum siding, what the hell was vinyl. If you were very lucky, you had a phone downstairs and one upstairs in the parents bed room, with a cord attached to booth pieces. Children were the TVs remote control, I even had my dad call me down from upstairs, ask a stupid question, then say, while you're down here change the channel for me. If you wanted to re=heat something, let the oven warm up first, 10-15min, then put your food in for another 15-30min. Well that's enough re-living of the good old days.

T Medley's picture

Submitted by T Medley (not verified) on

Martin, I have a Medicus (shaft double hinge model) Driver and (single hinge model) 5 Iron. They are put away in a large double door cabinet in the basement, where all of my other useless training aids and various non-performing clubs, are sent to rot away. There are dozens of common drills with and without clubs, and some with water glasses and even tissue boxes, presented by Surge and other SSGS instructors, that will do more to help you then wasting your money on a Medicus. If you must buy a training aid, I have and recommend, the SwingRite and the Swing Tech training aids. These are the only two aids indorsed by SSGS. The Swing Tech is available through the Surge's Shop tab in the top page line,(It is $25.00 LESS than I paid a month ago for it), and the SwingRite is available at a discount price at Doc Griffin's link.
http://tmgolf.sports.officeliv...

Good luck.

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