I recently received this email from Peter Bausek, a long-time Surgite who lives in in Upper Austria. Peter lives in a town that has mountains behind it and beautiful Lake Traunsee to its front, which must make for some windy days on the golf course. So it comes as no surprise that Peter's question has to do with hitting knockdowns into a stiff breeze.
"Surge,
I would be interested to know how one plays a low ball with the Surge method. Normally, I experience a very high ball flight, but what to do when the wind is blowing strong in one's face?"
Peter, I'm glad you asked this question since I hit knockdowns a bit differently than other pros do. Most teachers tell their students to play the ball a bit back in their stance and to hit down on the ball. As you know, in the normal Surge Swing, we don't ever want to hit down on the ball; instead, we swing up, nipping the ball off the turf rather than taking a large divot. The same applies to the knockdown shot. If you hit down on the ball, and particularly if the ground is hard, you will put an excessive amount of backspin on the ball. If you happen to be hitting into a stiff breeze, the wind will get under the ball and cause it to fly up and lose a lot of distance--exactly the opposite effect of what you are trying to accomplish with a knockdown shot!
So here is how I teach my students to alter their normal ball height. And whether they are trying to hit an extremely steep shot to clear a tree or, as you have asked, are hitting a low shot to keep it out of the wind, the concept is the same. Only the mechanics change. The first thing I want you to do is imagine the process of tossing a ball. If you need to throw it over a tall tree very close to your front, you'll need to alter your body angle to allow you to throw the ball on a very steep plane and your hand will finish high above your non-throwing shoulder. Conversely, if you want to throw the ball low, you will throw the ball on a much flatter plane and your hand will finish pretty much at the height you want the ball to travel.
With this in mind, I want you to apply the same thinking to a knockdown shot. Play the ball where you would normally play it for the club you have in your hand. Since we want to hit a low ball, our shoulders will be level and our weight more evenly balanced rather than pre-loaded, heavy right as we would do in a normal full swing. This will allow you to come into the ball a little longer and shallower so that we can just nip the ball off the ground. Take your regular backswing and make sure that you complete the normal amount of hand/arm rotation as you reach impact so that the club face is square to the target. But instead of a full finish, you will abbreviate the swing once you get into the Forward Catcher's Mitt, toe-up.
As you will see in the video, I demonstrate how to do this with both a 6-iron and a driver. Now, in hitting a knockdown drive, most people intuitively tee their ball low, which as you may have guessed, is just the opposite of what I do. When you tee the ball lower, you will need to go down and get the ball and when you do that with your least lofted, flattest club you dramatically increase the odds that you will trap the ball and put backspin on it. So when hitting a knockdown drive, tee the ball at your normal height and follow the instructions above. Adjusting your shoulders and weight distribution will cause your driver to come in longer and shallower, just as it will with any other club in your bag. But make sure you release properly into the Forward Catcher's Mitt or you will send your ball spiraling to the right every time.
Keep it vertical!
The Surge
If you can't view the YouTube video above try CLICKING HERE. You must allow popups from this site for the link to work.