Short Finish = Short Hits

Sounds like your distance will be just fine. If you are hitting your 9 160 I think you'll squeeze by! I have found recently that the number one thing for distance is square centered contact that to no surprise I am achieving with a shorter truely 3/4 backswing and making sure I ahve no wrist cock at all. Nothing new of course but when I personally see the ball fly further when I don't feel like I'm swing any harder but simply connecting better I'm a believer. I am becoming much better at taking more club and swinging "within myself". Less strain and the ball gets there.
As far as the follow through, sounds like your body and 'commom sence' for you dictates an abrieviated follow through. Hey if it lessens the strain on your shoulder- makes perfect sence to me. I think Surge was refering to an agressive braking of the swing that for some may cause back and other strain.
I'm sure it depends on what strains we individually have and what kind of shape we're in. With your athletic background in baseball and such maybe you have a stronger back that actually acts to aid in protecting your shoulder turn now.
Do what you have to do to keep playing while not hurting too much

Looks like Phil and Dj are going to have to play lights out tomorrow being 15 and 16 back. Yes I got what Don was talking  about. My buddy told me last week when we were talking golf about me getting to a full finish he asked me if the ball was going were I wanted it I said about 60- 70 % of the time with good distance he said what are you worrying about then. My answer was I want to get to a full finish if I can. He gave a couple of pointers that is going to help at least it has just swinging a club without a ball. Will see this weekend. I hope it cleans things up enough to get some videos posted this weekend.

Painrxer,

We get it. Your hearing is bad, but how is your reading ability. Please read these instructions. Good Luck
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Ray Gawlak,

I tried to answer your post on the page that you did it one but for some reason it will not let me.  So, I'm hoping you'll see it here.  I need more information to answer your question. Please email me at:  jgriffin@docgriffingolf.com so I can discuss it with you.  Thanks.  Vaughan is doing very well and thanks for asking.

Oh my 9 iron 150 - 160 yards with a cut off swing. What were you hitting it.

I know I may get beat up on this but I am not sure after impact the ball is gone and what the effect of not getting to a full finish has on distance as long as the ball is going were you want it to.

When I hit punch shots I do not take a full back swing I take it to maybe waist high and accelerate through the ball to about waist high.

I have always wondered about this. I know Teaching Pro's always say to get to a full finish and do not dispute them. I see senior tour players and regular tour guys not always getting to a full finish now days I guess it maybe a flexibility issue for them .

I have not seen a full finish in a year are two myself hopefully I can work on proper leg movement in the FUS this weekend I know just swinging a club with out a ball I am getting all the way up to a full finish and on my back toe. 

Can't let Dick have all the fun. Heading out to Stallion Mountain for practice and 18. See if I can get my new Hindsite putter flowing:) Strong gusty wind today. No matter. I rarely take weather into consideration any way.
PMG and make some putts along the way

Back in my old rotational days I had a habit of finishing with no more than a 3/4 follow through.  The man that taught me the game use to call me Arnie...lol.  I should be so lucky as to have his game.  That 3/4 finish was where any remote similarity ended for sure...lol.

Even since I've converted to Surge's swing I still fight getting to a full T finish.  I've concluded it's a combination of things.  I tend to start with too much grip pressure which leads to too much tension in my arms.  My lift in the BUS is tops 9:30 if I maintain anything close to a straight left arm.  Anything beyond 9:30 either my left knee starts to collapse or my left elbow breaks.

I've found opening my left foot more in the setup helps with maintaining outward knee pressure and allows me to get closer to a full T finish.  It works well when I get the grip pressure right with less arm tension the T finish just seems to happen.  With our weather right now in NJ it's swinging a club in the backyard with no ball to ingrain the feel.  It, like life, is a work in progress and we all hope to get both right.

My second-favorite film, actually. "Sometimes nothing can be a real cool hand."

for 90% of people, if you don't get to a full finish, it means that you have restrained the swing somewhere prior to impact. You have not fully released through impact to allow for maximum acceleration through the ball. There are undoubtedly some people whose physique or skill counteracts this, but as a general rule most golfers want to get to a full finish.

Doc, did you mean me or Robert F.?
I am currently using the hindsite
http://www.turbopowerusa.net/d...
 
You'll recall the conversation that you were having with another blogger a few weeks ago about this putter. I know you referenced the SIK that Kenny Knox has I guess helped develope.
Any how, long story short I did order the hindsite from Turbopower and recieved it last week. A very different feeling putter because of the preset forward press.Center shafted and the roll face technology is very cool too. So far so good. Made several putts today and yesterday. Getting used to it and like it so far.
I'll be out practicing and going to play 18  tomorrow  so I will have a better feel for it as a good choice or not after more trial.

REALLY BAD VIDEO SOUND---AGAIN!

Strugle through Dick best you can my friend  :)

For sure a work in progress here too. Was diagnosed with severe narrowing of the right shoulder joint with shoulder joint replacement as the only offered solution but the Doc said I may not have any more mobility than now or even less. Not what I wanted to hear so have been putting off. But it sure is hard to finish with my hands by the ear. Unconsciously my body says hold back. But when I can get that full finish plus other things right the ball goes 30 yards farther.

I weep for your suffering, Dick.

Then you really need to look at your system settings, because most people have no problem with the sound, myself included.

Dick, It's obviously a dirty job that someone has to do and I admire you sacrificing yourself and stepping up.  Must be that proud Marine attitude. ;0)
Rodney Dangerfield got right...It's not easy being you.  Hang in there, you'll get through it somehow.

On a somber note te mayor here put out a request for people to line the route to a local cemetery for a young 25 year old Marine who died last week when his helicopter crashed in Afghanistan.  It sure puts things in perspective.  I'll never complain about a "bad" day on the golf course.  My prayers go out to his family and may we never forget those who sacrifice to give us the freedom we enjoy.

I totally agree. I have said about my self that there was something getting in the way of me finishing and it was me. Jack Nicklaus says  

Rolling the ankles teaches you two things: (1) to have a soft forward
movement while keeping you steady on the ground, and (2) to release the
club, because your right foot stays close to the ground as you swing
through impact.

This has helped me so far without hitting balls just swinging a club will test it tomorrow at the range.

Oh, now I understand Doc's question above.
 Well Philip, so far I really like it. The first day I took it to a practice green it was a little weird. Just feels different. You need to get use to a preset forward press. It does help me lock my hands into a good position and accomodates a pendulum swing from the shoulders because it helps me to be less handsy. At first I was adding even more forward lean unnecessarily. I backed off a little and it became a more natural feel. What is very cool is the roll face of 3* regardless of the amount of lean. It alows just the right amount of loft no matter. It does seem to get the ball rolling sooner and smoother. The center shaft gives it a balanced feel too. I may change the grip, in fact I will probably put a thicker bigger grip on it soon. Maybe tommorrow before I go out. As you know I do that in my garage with my air compressor. Here's a couple of web sites if you want to look at it again.
Here's the one I found the best price;
http://www.turbopowerusa.net/d...

Here's one with some detail of proposed advantages;
http://blog.hirekogolf.com/201...

I will be in a better position to recommend it after more testing.
Hey, one still has to putt better but I like this one so far.......

The stories we can tell Steve. As my brother said during a sober moment of reflecting on life and the lose of our Mom and Dad,"In the end all we have are memories, let's make 'em grand."
Have you noticed that many of our memories that we cherish most either are in connection with something tender and touching with family members or when we had a near death and injury experiences attempting something athletic or foolish!
Now a days I wake up eager to make more great memories. That's why I find it unfortunate when I ask fellow workers or people I meet, How's it going?", and get an answer like," Oh so so or
"I'm here", or some other lame answer.
Gosh we only have one life (until proven otherwise) so live with gusto I say! :)

Met and served Rodney Dangerfield in 1977 as a bus boy at the Tropicana Hotels Gourmet dinning room. He was with his agent and every time I would stop by their table they would engage me and tell a joke or a "funny" line to see my response. Thing was most of his jokes tried on mr were not funny (to me) and so I didn't laugh. Felt bad for him and I think they were disapointed I didn't laugh. I thought it was funny that he wasn't funny!"I get no respect!" Was a fairly amiable, down to earth guy.
A much funnier man that too was always an entertaining smart ass in person is(was) Don Rickles who I served as a waiter several times at a couple different dinning rooms I worked. He is halarious. Loves chocolate chip cookies and chefs would make sure they were available for him as desert.

I just bought the SwingRite and I think that will help maintaining a full finish because it will not work if you slow down the swing.  I've been a shorter hitter and I'm hoping to gain a few yards practicing with it.  Being in NW Ohio it'll be a couple of months before we can play, but I can see why Surge & Doc recommend the SwingRite.

Why does that remind me of the old saying, "It's not the fall that gets you. It's the sudden stop at the bottom."

Normally the safest place for me to land is my head!! lol!
Actually I too have been blessed with a back that has done well after bad falls. I spoke of one the other night that happened slipping on moss in Oregon. Another occassion was falling from the second story of my house (from the inside terrace- long story but I did end up with an ambulance ride and a couple hours in the ER. Xrays showed nothing and two weeks of ice and pain meds and I recovered fine. Hmmn....,
another time was snow skiing (I was an instructor up at Big Bear for 2 years -10 years ago) and I went off a big jump with insufficient speed and crashed on some serious ice short of the down slope. Imagine doing a jackknife and having your head between your legs in a mila second at 50 mph on skiis all causing you to stop right there. Ya, not good. My lower back took alot of the snap! Again, ice and asprin and came out of it with no permanant damage. Guess 30 years of consistant work in the gym is paying off.
Or maybe miracles too.

Robert

I will, as one of my heroes, Sir Winston Churchill, said,"Endeavor to persevere."  It sure would have been a lot easier to do what he asked, if only he had said "Endeavor to perspire."  That, I can do.

I will do my best to uphold the honor of the Surge Nation,
Dick

Surge,

Loved the new intro to the daily video. I understand Surge is at the PGA merchandise show in Orlando. Wow, must be cool to be the "Surge". Hopefully he'll share some news with us.
Thanks for todays subject. Really emphasises that holding off our follow through can actually hurt along with decelerating which is never good.
Cindy and I did something played the 18 hole putting green at Angle Park today. Really challenging and fun. Forced us to practice our putting with imagination and it only took an hour which she liked. This is a real cool putting course where each green is from 60-120 feet long and 2 is par. Some of them are really sloped beyond anything we face on a normal green so again alot of creativity was reqired. Today, no holes in one. We both came close several times.
While the wife works tomorrow, I'll be off one more day and plan to practice both the short and long game before playing 18. Life is good. Enjoy every minute.

PMG

A good, balanced follow through is mormally indicative of a smooth, solid swing and path through the ball. Learning to finish in a well balanced position with our weight on the forward foot always feels good and usually means I did swing well.

Roger,
You won't get beat up for this. We all like you too much. Anyway, I think many of us don't finish our swings well and that's why these are good reminders. However I think Surge is refering to those who purposely and violently stop there follow throughs to the detriment of there backs and other body parts along with decelerating which can give short and crooked shots. So your safe.

I believe in the intro section of the Manual, where Surge talks about how he developed the PPGS, he explains that he was a rotational swing with back problems, and he discovered that if he only turned 3/4ths, it didn't hurt his back, and he gained distance and accuracy because the swing was more consistent and repeatable. That was the germ that this swing system developed from.

Lynn

I don't mind being the dirty Dick in the crowd.  Hey, it works for me.  One of my favorite Dangerfield lines came from the movie where he goes back to college.  He asks the professor out on a date.  She turns him down citing her class schedule.  Dangerfield says something like "Well OK, then call me sometime when you don't have any class."

Thanks for you thoughts.  You are so right my friend, all our days are great when compared to the days of that young heroes' family.  I pray I never have to know that feeling.  I am just so proud of all our men and women who carry the fight to those fools every day.  If they weren't fighting them over there, we would be fighting them over here.  They and their families are in my prayers every day.

All gave some, some gave all,
Dick

I have a laptop and use head phones with it and the sound is great so it must be at your end.
I too had to turn the sound down, my laptop speakers are not that great with other nosie in the room hence the headphones.

This one?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

Robert....

How do you like that putter?

See any advantages yet with its design?

Thanks...Phillip

You're absolutely correct, and you're definitely part of the 10% who can and should finish shorter. And, yeah, I know about the ball-and-socket joints. I've cleaned quite a few animals in my time, as well. :)

Today's video is a real wake up call for what may ail me. Perhaps playing a lot of short iron shots, has got me away from the finished FUS to the T finish! That might account for my erratic play with the longer clubs. Yesterday began to hit the ball well. Back to relaxing and slowing down the BUS and just swinging through the ball up to a good finish.
The secret was Alignment. Who would think that just a few pesky degrees open to the ball to target line with my toe line, would cause so much chaos?
Thankyou again Surge and the team and all you regular bloggers. From a drier, and slightly less windy NZ

Sir,
You're going to embarass yourself soon. This the second time (at least) that you have complained about sound. 99% of us have no problem with the sound quality of out our computers.Some of us with less than adequate sound systems use headphones or added speakers to improve all videos we watch (not just with this site.) We gave you several suggestions last time. You said nothing which hints that you either don't read the responses to our well meant suggestions or you refuse to take good advice. It's not Don's quality of sound. It's your computer and or sound system.

The vast majority of athletic injuries occur on the de acceleration stage. It has to do with the cumulative force generated to perform an athletic move and the bodies inability to dissipate or absorb that force after launch. It is typically not the jump that causes injury rather the landing. An outfielder throwing out a runner generates great force to propell the ball but as the ball leaves the hand the remaining energy can be difficult to counter. Robert is correct, it is typically not the accelerator but the breaks that damage tissue. That is why at Swing Surgeon we are starting to emphasize nutrition and health in general and core strength in particular as a strong base to absorb those powerful peripheral forces.

Robert,
What putter are you using?

I do not disagree with either of you I hope to get to a full finish and fiscally should be able to just have to get out of my own way.

My daughter had problems in college with right arm moving around in shoulder socket when she ran and getting really sore she seen a orthopedic surgeon and he sent her to physical therapy to strengthen the muscles in the back of her shoulders which helped. Don't know if this will help you at all.

Surge Nation

Well, it was wonderful in Ok today.  Almost 60 with a 10-15 wind.  I got in 27 holes and an hour and a half on the range, chipping and putting.  I did not have a single 3 putt today.  Yippie.  I stuck one in the hole  from 35 yards out with my 56*  for a zero putt.  That will start to hold the averages down.

I am playing again in the morning and then working at the course to cover for one of the pros who is at the trade show in Fl.  Playing and working Sat.  I should get to chip and putt for a couple of hours after church on Sunday before I go to work at the course.

I got to play every day this week but Tuesday.  With playing tomorrow and Saturday and the practice time on Sunday, I will have spend about 10 hours practicing and got in 6 rounds this week.  All together, not a bad week of golf for the last week of January.

A man could get used to this, given the right amount of time. 

Life is tough right now.  But, someone has to do it, and it might as well be me.
Dick

"What we've got here is failure to communicate! Some men just can't be reached!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

A classic from Cool Hand Luke

Could not remember the name.  Thanks.