Daily Video Blog

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: 1 October 2011
Today, I answer a couple of questions that Jim Stratton sent in to our fiirst webcast of The Surge Show. Here is Jim's description of his problem. "Please, Surge, HELP ME! Whenever I want to... Read More
Authored by: Don Trahan
Posted on: 30 September 2011
Comments: 16
In today's video tip, Mark Ramsey asks for a review of the setup "from the waist up", which I am happy to do since the #1 Surgism is "The setup determines the motion". But before we get to Mark's... Read More
Authored by: Don Trahan
Posted on: 29 September 2011
Today's tip came from three separate questions from our first webcast of The Surge Show. Fendrick Smith, Scott Silverman and Jay Wagner all had questions about hitting thin shots. I've reprinted... Read More
Authored by: Don Trahan
Posted on: 28 September 2011
Today's comment stems from a question raised recently by Gerry Fedele, of Montreal, Canada, who wrote: "Surge, my name is Gerry and I live in Montreal Quebec. I have to be careful with my back... Read More
Authored by: Don Trahan
Posted on: 27 September 2011
Here's another question that comes from those we weren't able to get to during the live webcast of The Surge Show that we recently did from DJ's living room. Philip Schwenck asked about what kind... Read More
Authored by: Don Trahan
Posted on: 26 September 2011
Comments: 92
Today's tip returns to one of the hottest topics on the blog-Good Wrist Action Is No Wrist Action. In looking back through the archives, I found that I have addressed this subject 10 times since... Read More
Authored by: Don Trahan
Posted on: 25 September 2011
Comments: 45
Today's tip comes from the group of really good questions we got from the live webcast that DJ and I recently did from his home. We couldn't answer all of them during the Surge Show so we will... Read More
Authored by: Don Trahan
Posted on: 24 September 2011
Comments: 39
Today's question comes from one of our European students, John Farrell, who has been using the Peak Performance Golf Swing for nearly a year now. "I like the easy power that comes from the Surge... Read More
Authored by: Don Trahan
Posted on: 23 September 2011
Comments: 43
Ian Craib (a.k.a TO0000ad) wrote me a couple of weeks ago with this comment/question: "I like the smaller, controlled swing but having lots of trouble with longer clubs. I hit right-handed,... Read More
Authored by: Don Trahan
Posted on: 22 September 2011
You may recall that earlier this month, Dave Seeman and I taught a three-day school at Odessa National in Townsend, DE. Today's daily is a story from that class and, like all good stories, there's... Read More