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Is Your Takeaway Ruining Your Swing Before It Starts?
Is Your Takeaway Ruining Your Swing Before It Starts?
Authored by: Brady
Posted on: 5 May 2026

You've probably been told your whole golfing life that you need to keep moving before you swing. Waggle, forward press, rock the knee — whatever it takes, just don't stand still. Surge heard that too. He just never agreed with it.

His thing was this: if you're pressing forward to start a swing that needs to go backward, how do you make that feel exactly the same every time? With every club, every lie, every round? After a while, you start to realize — you can't. That little forward move changes just enough, just often enough, to mess with your timing without you ever knowing why.

What Surge taught instead was to come to a full stop before starting the swing. Feet planted, waggle done, one last look at the target — then still. From there, a simple three-count: squeeze the grip equal in both hands, press the knees out slightly, and go. The toe of the club moves first, the arms follow, and the club finds its way back up the plane. Nothing fancy, just quiet and controlled... Read More

Authored by: Don Trahan
Posted on: 12 April 2010
This final round of the 2010 Masters is no different than what we've seen, year after year, giving us drama and excitement right down to the last hole and even the last putt. I think we have... Read More
Authored by: Don Trahan
Posted on: 11 April 2010
(We'll also take a look at splashing a ball out of the water.) Well, the Spartanburg-Herald for today reads, “Brits Take Lead at Augusta.” It starts off with ,”Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood... Read More
Authored by: Don Trahan
Posted on: 10 April 2010
The 2010 Master started out as a pretty good day. The wind was gusting a little bit, up to 20mph. The players dodged some pretty bad weather. There were some storm, including some tremendous... Read More
Authored by: Don Trahan
Posted on: 9 April 2010
The 2010 Masters started with the ceremonial tee shots by Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus. They're two former great champions and, since Gary Player has stopped playing, I'm really hopeful... Read More
Authored by: Don Trahan
Posted on: 8 April 2010
It's absolutely appropriate we talk about The Masters today. I guess we need to talk about the number one hot topic this year, what's Tiger going to do. Since he announced playing in The... Read More
Authored by: Don Trahan
Posted on: 7 April 2010
We all know that the peak Performance backswing is defined by its limited turn, meaning that we turn the shoulders to where the forward arm turns to the toe line and that's the end of the... Read More
Authored by: Don Trahan
Posted on: 6 April 2010
I received this email question from Larry, one of my regular students. He asks, “When you say you're all about up, I sometimes get confused and think maybe I'm not the only one.‚  My brain... Read More
Authored by: Don Trahan
Posted on: 5 April 2010
I got home just in time to see the playoff for the Shell Houston Open Championship between Anthony Kim and Vaughn Taylor. The announcer said this playoff was of significant interest and... Read More
Authored by: Don Trahan
Posted on: 4 April 2010
Rob S. flew into Charlotte to see me for an afternoon golf lesson. In the interview session with him, I found out he in his mid-40s, works out a lot and is in extremely good shape. Hr does... Read More
Authored by: Don Trahan
Posted on: 3 April 2010
I was walking past the living room to go to the kitchen and I heard the Shell Houston Open on TV. My wife was watching it, keeping up with DJ to see if he was going to make the cut today. I heard an... Read More