Smash Factor and Power Directly Related to Your Release

Thu, 07/03/2014 - 12:00 -- Don Trahan

Great shots comes from the club being on, on, on, square and solid at impact through to a proper release. Without a good release, you can't hit a relatively straight shot. Today, I'm going to talk about how the Peak Performance Golf Swing puts you in the best positions to succeed at striking the ball solidly and hitting straight shots.

Release is the proper rotation of the arms in the swing. Your hands are connected to your arms, so whatever your arms do, the hands will follow. I talk about taking the club back toe up into the catcher's mitt. Well the same is true for when you swing up to the finish position. You want to have the clubhead toe up in the catcher's mitt on both sides of your swing.

In order to have a consistent release, you must control the amount of rotation in your arms. It's very easy to get the club past the toe up position, which is why you must concentrate on maintaining your angles. The fewer angles, the better! When your arms bottom out, they bottom out in front of you. That's where you generate the snap up to the finish, which creates your speed.

Just remember that the release is a controlled degree of rotation. Think "toe up to toe up."

Keep it vertical!

The Surge

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Comments

Robert Meade's picture

Submitted by Robert Meade on

Nice to see a new subject being covered. As Surge began his intro with a nice swing that had that "I crushed it!" feeling so too there is nothing like compressing the ball is there?! Hitting the ball square and in the sweet spot is addictive and one of the reasons many of us play. It may only happen a few times a round, those times when our timing and release all happen at the right time at and through the bottom of the arch. When it does it is awesome. Yesterday I had it happen twice. Once on a drive and the other with a 9 iron. Hit a few good drives but this one was high and far. Cut the corner of the dog leg on the par 4 4th hole but it still went through the fairway and actually went too far. Not complaining:) The nine iron was on the last hole which made it even more satisfying. Was in the middle of the fairway with about 130 yards to the pin. As soon as I hit it it felt pure, like butter as it compressed off the club face, flying really high and dead on line. Was one of those 'be the right club today' moments. Came down over the flag as I yelled bite, bite! Stopped 8 feet past the flag. Walking up to the ball on the green I fixed the ball mark that was only 2 feet from where the ball laid. Ahhh... you guys know how good that all feels. Did miss the birdie putt by that golfers fraction, but happy none the less. there are many reasons we play but isn't a pure contact and flight one of the most satisfying things in golf?
Golf on friends.

Hope you are feeling a bit better every day Surge.

Kevin McGarrahan's picture

Submitted by Kevin McGarrahan on

This is just what we continually need and Surge provides - refresher on key points of the Peak Performance Golf Swing. I've had many of these moments and can't wait to have more. It would be really nice to have about 50 of them in one round of golf.

Robert Meade's picture

Submitted by Robert Meade on

Kevin,
Hope you are recovering well from your rotator cuff surgery. I would like to send you and all our friends in the Surge Nation a Happy 4th of July. A thanks to all of our service men and women past and present. It's a day for special appreciation for all we have as Americans.

Doc Griffin's picture

Submitted by Doc Griffin on

Coming to the Boston and New York Metro areas at the end of July for fittings and teaching. Sign up has begun. Not only will I be doing fittings but I will also now be doing instruction on the PPGS swing while Don is recovering.

You can sign up for one of the spots by clicking the links in the upper right hand side of this page.

Next month, Reno here we come!

jdoug21@yahoo.com's picture

Submitted by jdoug21@yahoo.com on

The topic of release makes me wonder how does one find the correct amount of arm rotation in their swing on a consistent basis? I stuggle hitting it right until I get quick and over rotate and hit a pull hook. mostly with driver but have had it happen with other clubs. Drills or other ideas would be much appreciated.

Best wishes to Don on a speedy recovery, you are missed.

Sincerly Doug M. your friedn from TN.

Thanks!

Kevin McGarrahan's picture

Submitted by Kevin McGarrahan on

I finally found the answer to your question, Doug. I got to thinking about the wrists and forearms in the swing. In the backswing, the left wrist is straight. In the forward swing, the right wrist is straight. But when is the transition between the two? Well, I started with very small swings, basically between my knees. With my left wrist staying straight back to my back (right) knee, the only way I could get my right wrist straight at the front (left) knee was to start straightening it at the back knee. So, I started this motion with my left wrist straight and right wrist cupped even with my back knee. Then, moved my hands to my front knee, straightening my right wrist and cupping my left as fast as I could without getting tense. I immediately thought of Surge's "Skipping the Rock" tip. It is the same motion in a very short space. John Huheey tried getting me to do the same thing, but it did not take right away. At any rate, I gradually increased the length of my swing while trying to keep the same fast motion between the knees, all the way to the complete 3/4 swing.

For almost 3 years, I have been hitting my 56-deg wedge about 50 yards. Today, using this motion, I was hitting it 65-70 yards without any effort. When I tried to increase my arm speed and keep the wrist speed, I hit a half dozen shots 75-80 yards; an increase of 25-30 yards. Temperature is 54*F with a quartering 12mph wind, gusting to 20 mph, and I am hitting the ball farther than 2 months ago in 80-90* weather.

Until now, I never really understood release. This all came about from watching one of Hank Haney's tips and trying not to do what he said.

Kevin McGarrahan's picture

Submitted by Kevin McGarrahan on

To continue what I started to write, the amount of forearm rotation is fairly simple in the PPGS - the forearms rotate 30 degrees.

The first premise is that the palms remain perpendicular to the ground throughout the swing. The second premise is based on 30-degree angles from vertical. The lower legs lean toward the toes at 30-deg. The upper legs lean backward from vertical 30-deg. The upper body leans toward the toes at 30-deg.

If you then rotate your upper body around your straight spine, without rotating the forearms, the club face will match the spine angle of 30 degrees relative to the ground. Since premise 3 requires that the club head be pointing straight up in the backswing, the forearms must rotate clockwise 30 degrees to accomplish that and keep the palms perpendicular to the ground.

The same applies in the forward swing. From the top of the back swing to impact, the forearms must rotate 30 degrees back to square at impact and continue rotating another 30 degrees to toe-up in the forward swing. The drill that I delineated above assists in connecting the forearm rotation with the proper release of the hands through impact, without unnecessary wrist movements.

ralpert35@gmail.com's picture

Submitted by ralpert35@gmail.com on

Please refer me to the date of the blog (daily) by Surge that was a response to Robert Meade's comment on "the slot". This blog gave great info on how to start "the bump".
Is it possible to get info on how to find a list of archived blogs available for viewing.
Thanks,

Richard Alpert

Russty Kiwi's picture

Submitted by Russty Kiwi on

You will find a search box in the top right of this page, under logout. Type in "the slot" or whatever you want to check out. Every daily ever done is in there.