Today's tip comes from Rick Simmons, who writes:
"For the 30-something years I've been playing golf I've had a problem with my hands. I understand that the grip is the connection of the club to the body. I take away the club with the turning of my hands into the mitt and up the tree. Then I throw my hands at the ball in the downswing. Would you kindly explain the proper use of the hands? Should they be passive or aggressive? How can I resolve this frustration?"
Rick, you are 100% correct about the importance of the grip. It determines where the club goes, how it is swung up to the top of the backswing (i.e. flat or vertical) and the degree to which the club face is square at impact. And in particular, the right (rearward) hand is critical in the Surge Swing as it is the hand that we control the club face with. It also looks like you understand the initial phase of the backswing and how you begin by lifting the club and rotating your arms so that the club goes into the Catcher's Mitt toe up. I should caution everyone that this is a very controlled amount of rotation since too much will cause your club to get laid off. This is thoroughly covered in my 108-page Foundations Manual with lots of pictures and tons of good explanation on how this all works. I have also covered this topic in many previous dailies so you should use the keyword search box mid-way down the right-hand column to check the archives whenever you have a question about a particular aspect of the Surge Swing.
I believe your sense of frustration may stem from the fact that you seem to be trapped by the teachings of general golf instruction that you've been exposed to for the last 30 years. If you've been following my blog for any length of time, you probably know that I feel most "modern" golf instruction consists of nothing more than opinion, supposition, speculation and/or trial & error. I only deal in facts and that's why the Peak Performance Golf Swing is the only swing that completely follows the laws of physics and physiology. I get this impression from your comment about "throwing your hands at the ball". That is a rotational swing thought that leads to hitting down on the ball and, from my perspective, NOTHING good ever comes from hitting down but a whole bunch of bad things often do.
You can resolve your frustration by concentrating on swinging UP to a perfect T-Finish. Your hands are definitely NOT passive because YOU have to make the club do what YOU want it to do and not the other way around. Your grip should be more to the aggressive side so that you maintain proper control of the club throughout the swing and hit the ball where you want it to go. Listen to the video for some of the details, but if you haven't got the Foundations Manual or the PPGS Swing Series videos I would suggest that you can end the frustration you are feeling even sooner by adding them to your training library.
Keep it vertical!
The Surge
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