DJ and I are putting the last finishing touches on the new putting video today. I can't wait for you to see it! There's stuff in there you've never heard before. More 'Surge Secrets.'
As we always do, we go through the points I want to get across the night before the shoot begins with our director, Dave. One of the things Dave always asks is, 'Surge, what does this phrase mean?' Or 'That isn't what they say in the golf magazines.'
Then it hit me. Sometimes I do use traditional golf terms in my articles and in the videos. But my definitions definitely are different than what it traditionally said. And some of the terms are truly my own 'Surgisms.'
So every once in a while, I'm going to give you some terms and definitions based on the PPGS. Heck, we might even develop a whole section devoted to them. For now, however, are two that tie together nicely and that rise to the top when it comes to your questions.
ANGLE OF ATTACK: The angle of the club in the downswing as it approaches the ball. The golf swing is an arc in which the club is swung up and down along in a consistent path. The ball sits at the bottom of the arc where the downward motion ends and where the upward motion begins. It is at this point the motion changes from down to up, and the club should be cutting a divot from the ground following its contact with the ball. Divots should be shallow rather than deep. They should tear the grass out, not dig it out. If your angle of attack is too steep, and your divots are too deep, check the following:
1. Alignment is open, causing outside-in swing path, so angle of attack is too steep.
2. Alignment is closed, so your body is between you and the target. You must swing around your body causing outside-in, across the line swing at a steep angle.
3. Right side dominant set'up causes lack of turn. Club is pushed up in backswing and thus downswing is outside-in and the angle is too steep.
4. You are starting your downswing with the upper body moving first. This throws the arms and club out over the line and then back across and to the inside of the line, producing a steep angle of attack.
5. Clubs may be too long, Have your professional measure you and your clubs for proper fit.
6. You hit down on the ball, rather than swing up.
FORWARD UP'SWING (FUS): Most of you know this as the downswing and the follow through to the finish. I have come to the conclusion that the worst plague put on golfers, the cancer of the golf swing, is the thought and act of hitting down on the ball. Hitting down causes the shoulders, arms and hands to start the downswing, and causes the outside-in swing path, which is a steep angle of attack. Add to this the fact that all the energy is being driven into the ground, which then slows the club and detracts from a fast, flowing up'swing to the finish.
The key to the FUS is that when you ring the bell and bump, you swing up to the dynamically balanced T ' Finish. When you swing up, the hips bump automatically. Many of my students have always said that the bump was difficult to master. So my discovery, figuring the importance of swinging up to the finish, is the best thing for successfully and easily doing the bump. It was the secret all my students and you now have to make the bump easier, almost auto'pilot.
The next most important thing is that the arms/hands and club start down. Yes start down…the downswing is free! But the rest of the follow through and up to the finish is not because up defies gravity, and the best and easiest way you can maximize this and keep the club accelerating through impact as physics demands(see def. 58: on'on'on) is to swing up to the finish. Swinging up takes you all the way from the top of the backswing to the finish with one thought , triggers the correct body movement, the bump, takes the ball out of the picture, produces shallower divots on iron shots and explodes you to a balanced finish. That is the name of the game for a full, powerful swing.
I know these will be of help everyone.
The Surge!