Picking the Right Driver

Not quite on topic, but this is one of those Eureka! moments. After not hitting any balls for over two weeks, I went out today to get back into the "swing" of things. On my first attempt to hit a ball (after a dozen or so practice swings), I dug the toe of my 7-iron into the ground 2 inches behind the ball. I took another practice swing and immediate realized what I had done and recalled Surge's tips on the grip. It had to do with lifting the club with the fingers. What I was doing was letting the weight of the club head pull down the last inch before I started the BUS. Needless to say, it caused a slight hinge in my wrists and threw everything else off.

I started consciously holding the club head up to maintain my wrist angle. Every shot after that was almost perfect. Surprisingly, doing this also helped me to get everything else in balance. I'm playing a round on Tuesday and will see if it holds up on the course.

Thanks, Surge.

Bit off this subject but hope some of you could help.When I stand with my arms next to my side hanging straight down the backs of my hands nearly face completely forwards.Therefore if I try with my left hand to grip the club with the back of my hand facing the target and in line with the face of the club,the inside of my elbow faces forwards,the same as the turned right elbow is meant to be at address.It feels very unnatural and not in dynamic balance and for some reason I slice the ball.If I grip the club with what to me is more comfortable I have been told I have a strong left hand grip and it is incorrect.Wonder if anyone else has had this problem and managed to solve it?Cheers

Tina, congrats on the fabulous round today & continued success,Ma'am! Nice FIRs & GIRs and I'm sure the putt count will follow along and drop soon enough. Keep us posted.

Surge - when I went to the Skip Barber race car school - their motto was very similar -
"its no good going fast if you are going fast in the wrong direction" (off the track).

Substitute long for fast and its the same advice

Lynn, you miss nothing

My missus was once a miss
One that I fancied to kiss
But since she's been my missus
I've given the misses a miss

Jack

Mort,

You can effectively get your game back by moving forward a set of tees. After that, doing what Robert F said below would be your next best thing. You might also want to visit Bruce Chafin's website, www.therolfergolfer.com, for tips on maintaining flexibility.

Phil,

When you grip the club in a manner that feels more natural to you, do you still have a slice? You may well have a simple, natural deviation in the alignment of your arms and shoulders and I would ignore people telling you that you're doing it wrong.

 Do you know who cuts the grass on Waltons Mountain.

Lawn-Boy,  he was the green sheep of the family.

Goodnight John-Boy!

Goods thought-I play golf miss by miss, with matbe two really good shots per game

I think the Surge having 5 or 6 drivers in his garage says it all. They're obviously not that easy to pick !

hi. i have a question about forearm rotation i hope someone  can help me with. when exactly should it start?  i was looking  at a slo-mo of DJ swinging  a driver and i may be wrong but he seems to start rotatong his forearms right from the get-go . as i think someone stated previously it actually looks like he is cocking his wrists.i;ve always delayed  rotaing my forearms, seems i may be doing it wrong.

 cheers richard in the uk

I would like to see Don have three other fitters supply him drivers. I bet at least one would be 15 yards past the one you supplied. In watching the trend in Don's distance over time it is going down down down. You are partially to blame for his drives getting shorter and shorter.

Did anyone get tickled or notice like I did when Peter Kostis suggested that,I forget his name at the moment, would be better off today if he would just swing with the thought of going "thumbs up". Like Arsenio Hall, I had to go,Hmmmm. :)

Shaft length always affects the club no matter which club it is. I personally like the longer shafts since I am over 6 foot tall. The hossel can be changed slightly to give you a different angle between the shaft and the base of the club but only let a trained fitter do this. HAve him check your angles and swing to see if it is really necessary to make the change.

i DRIVE STRAIGHT, BUT NOT LONG.SAME APPLIES TO ALL MY CLUBS.I AM NOW 84 AND HAVE LOST ABOUT 1/3 OF MY DISTANCE.ANY CHANCE TO GET IT BACK?

MORT GOODKIN

It says that since he got fit and I built his driver, he doesn't need the others.

Robert,
Tried tonight at the range to put the club into the fingers of my left hand as my arm hung naturally by my side.Hit the ball well with a slight fade which I would like to correct and maybe slight draw.Have had lessons for last six months and been told constantly to make my grip more neutral as the pro considered it was much too strong.The problem is that in the north of England cannot find a pro golfer who will teach the Surge swing and have finally realised that when I have a lesson they are trying to set me up for a rotational swing which then conflicts with alot of what I have been trying to learn.As Surge also recommends back of left hand facing the target,I have tried to persist in hope of my swing improving but it has gradually got worse.I was hoping someone else may have had this problem and found a solution but thanks for the advice.

Congrats on your round Saturday, T-man, the heat will drain it out of anybody.Wax on, Wax off! :)

Richard, every person is a little bit different and the rotation depends on your swing, strength and club head speed. If you rotate too soon you will have a hook or draw, too late and you have a fade or a slice. If you are right on you will hit it dead straight. the secret is going to the driving range and hitting lot of ball and working on you release and hand rotation. Try working the ball, ie hitting draws and fades. Pick a spont on the range and hit fades to it or draws then hit it dead straight and try to stop the ball as close to your target as possible.  Try the back spin to get close.

SHALL I WAIT FOR A REPLY NOW OR COME BACK LATER?-MG

Everyone should be as fortunate!  :)

Surge The last couple of years I started hitting my 3 wood almost as far as a solid hit with a driver. I use a Callaway Hyper 3 wood with steel shaft,  Your dead on, my misses are almost always play-able,   I also have a Callaway Hyper x driver with graphite shaft at 44"But the difference at most is only 10-15 yards,  I dont bother with it any more.

So I tried pulling out an older callaway steelhead III driver wiht the steel shaft at 11o, hits like a strong 3 wood.  Today I played with a group and while everyone  hit driver I hit my 3 wood or 11o.  Did not miss one driver out of the 6 driver holes I had.  Only got out driven once, not because I was long,  I am not at all.  But because my partners could not control their drivers, slices and hooks all over the place.   My 3 wood and older  steel head are 43".

The shorter shafts makes a bit  easier to swing more upright also.  Thanks a again Peter

When placed at my side, my hands hang similar to yours. Rotated a little strong might not be a problem; it depends on the player. I have a slightly srong grip with my left hand, and when I get the swing right, I hit the ball from straight to right-to-left.

The grip that is used on the Swing Rite that Doc sells is set for a neutral grip. This grip is made by Lamkin and is available as a stand alone product. You could buy one and have it put on a plain shaft or an old club. Use it to get the right idea of a neutral grip.

http://www.lamkingrips.com/Rig...

I think a good grip should be independent of the swing approach.

Lriley, It is a shame that Don just doesn't have enough experience with golf to know as much as you do about his own abilities. If only he was as smart as you seem to think you are, maybe he could even become an instructor or educator in the field. Tis a shame indeed. Have you always had this ability to know more than everyone else, even those who are actually professionals in various fields. I wish I knew everything as well as you do. Best wishes to you and yours.

Congratulations Tina on a great round! That's really inspiring and I love to hear honest to goodness improvement stories like yours.
Keep it down the middle,
PMG!!

Great topic, Surge. A few years back, I used to play in a tournament in which the long drive hole was a straight, narrow, tree-lined, 360-yard par-4. They put a line straight down the middle of the fairway and had 2 people stationed on the hole to measure the drive, including accuracy. One person would hold one end of the line on the center line. The other would stretch the line out to the ball and then walk it back in an arc to the center line, thereby subtracting the distance off-line from the gross distance. One older gentleman (about 58 at the time) who always win because his drive was never more than 10 feet off center. I used to loose 35-40 yards because of my slice back then. Straight in the fairway is always better than long and wayward.

Highshot,

You are correct. It emphasizes the absolute need for properly fitted clubs.

 Trying to pick a proper driver from the shelf, is like trying to find, not just one, but the one correct needle, out of thousands in a haystack. That is why you need to go to an expert and be properly fit for your own individual needle. Then, just like Don, you can put all those other previous needles in a basement cabinet. Better golf, is just a fit away.

Or, you can just keep looking for the magic needle in a haystack. The choice is yours to make. Choose wisely grasshopper!

PMG

Hi Terry,
Thanks to you (and the others) for your kind words  And I don't even have my new (fitted) clubs yet!   Driver is done, irons tomorrow and I should have them by Wednesday.  LOOK OUT 70s!
TinaB

Surge thanks, that is what I looked for in my driver was distance. For my fairway woods I always selected by which one gives a better shot when I miss it, I never thought of using that concept for the driver but boy does it make sense.

Robert,

Surge and Jack Moore cover this and a lot more in their video "Secrets of America's Greatest Putter".  It's definitely worth the money.

I have given up some distance with driver I am using now but I am so consistent with it I won't be changing anything any time soon. FIR is the first stepping stone. Great advice Surge and keep it coming. Thanks for all you do.

Greg C

At 36" WTF, 41" is way too short.  Don't know where you got that number.  I'd say that in the 44" range should be fine.  The thing to do is to put duct tape on the face and hit 10 balls each at different lengths and lengths and see where you are most consistent with center contact.

This may be more info than you are interested in but I think at least the first part of his treatise details my belief that plumb bobbing has very little use for reading break.
http://www.puttingzone.com/MyT...

Surge....liked your comments on the putter sweet spot.  I see many of my buddies use the Plumb method when lining up putts.  I have never used it...and, am not sure exactly how.  What is your opinion?  How is it best used?  And, does it work?  One of my buddies says he uses it best when you feel you know where the putt is going and you are just using the plumb to confirm.   You're thoughts.

Robert E. M. 

Just met with a certified Surge Swing fitter AND instructor yesterday. Great to have someone point out ways to improve my swing and more importantly, how to do so. Going for a full fitting session next week. Great to have someone in Richmond.

I AM 84--BUT I WAS A VERY GOOD ATHLETE-NATIONALLY RANKED IN TENNIS,3 SPORTS MAN IN HS--CAN'T HIT THE BALL MORE THAN 150 ON THE DRIVE, ABOUT 70 ON THE PITCHING WEDGE.HOW CAN I GET DISTANCE BACK.TRUE, I'M OLDER BUT,FRIENDS WHOM I USE TO BEAT OUTHIT ME BY 50 YARDS.I AM WEAKER--BUT NOT INFIRM--STILL PLAY TENNIS 2X PER WEEK. M.GOODKIN

Mort,

As you will see if you stick with Don's blog, we gets tens of thousands of people here every day so it isn't always possible to respond to every question. However, we are blessed with an amazing community of fellow golfers someone once dubbed "The Surge Nation". These are people, like you, who want to improve their game and they are very generous with their advice. And it's always good advice too. I can't recall ever having to step in to correct something.

To stay on top of the posts, you should subscribe to the blog, as Robert F. suggests below. It's easy to do and is a great way to stay on top of developments on things that interest you. To subscribe, go to the top of the Comments section on any of the daily posts. There is a link titled "Subscribe by email". Just click on it and fill in the requested info and you will become the newest member of this merry band of fellow travelers.

Hope to see you here often!

Tom Jans

Kevin, nice job knocking the rust off. Good outing Tuesday, my friend.

Surge- It has taken me awhile, but you are right, standing with your feet about shoulder with apart you hit the ball more acturally.   I've tried what instructors and pros said, a wide stance for more power and distance.  Well when I do it, I can't control the ball. When I do it your way I'm in the short grass or just off where I have a decent shot.

It's hard to believe but it works.   Thanks    Fred Egli