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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: 21 June 2011
We got a really interesting question from Cajun. '€œIf you tee up the ball for the irons, should you change the position of the ball in the stance?'€ It'€™s a great question and it deserves a... Read More
Authored by: Don Trahan
Posted on: 19 June 2011
I'€™m going to stay on the "power and distance" subject because we'€™ve been getting some great responses on the blog from people who had suggestions about the swing that could help me and, of... Read More
Authored by: Don Trahan
Posted on: 18 June 2011
There are always a couple guys at the club in their 70s or 80s about whom everyone says, '€œAll he does is bop it down the middle, bop it down the middle, then knocks it up on the green and shoots... Read More
Authored by: Don Trahan
Posted on: 17 June 2011
Authored by: Don Trahan
Posted on: 16 June 2011
O.K. Just stand there. What keeps you standing? Leg muscles? The way our bodies are built? Actually, it'€™s your brain. A certain percentage of our brain is devoted to keeping our posture. Any guess... Read More
Authored by: Don Trahan
Posted on: 15 June 2011
Comments: 118
We got this question on the blog recently and it'€™s been a while since someone brought this up. This was a question about the importance of followthrough. So when is the golf swing finished? Many... Read More
Authored by: Don Trahan
Posted on: 14 June 2011
Comments: 83
We had a great conversation going on the blog the other day between Jerry and Jim about visualization. Jim was having problems with skipping the stone in the downswing or throwing underarm. It'€™s... Read More
Authored by: Don Trahan
Posted on: 12 June 2011
Comments: 114
Dan sent in a question about golf gloves. He'€™s new to the game and wondered if the wear on the glove would tell him if he had a good grip. That started me thinking about what a golf glove can tell... Read More
Authored by: Don Trahan
Posted on: 11 June 2011
Comments: 55
A couple of days ago I talked about the importance of lag in your swing. Well, that inspired Lynn '€œDoc'€ Griffin, our Director of Club Fitting, to go an important step further. He explains why... Read More
Authored by: Don Trahan
Posted on: 10 June 2011
Comments: 70
Think about hitting the ball with the butt of the club on your downswing. Good idea? Mostly yes. Just remember, golf is a game of angles. And the less angles the better. The thought of pulling the... Read More