As I was following DJ in his first round at the Quail Hollow Championship, a former student walked up to me, said hello and reintroduced himself ' it had been four years since his last lesson. He showed me his last Diagnosis and Prescription lesson form to jog my memory. I told him I often run into students at tournaments and they have their D & P form to show me.
As we walked and talked and watched the play, he asked a few questions about the swing. But he really hit me with a super serious one when he asked if I had changed my thoughts and teaching of the golf swing as stated in my first book, Golf, Plain and Simple, (GP&S) that was first published in the mid-1980s. He said he had a copy, and anticipating I would be at Quail Hollow following DJ, he had re-read it to get it fresh in his mind.
Whenever I get asked any question referencing GP&S, and if I still think that way, I have a two fold response. First and foremost, GP&S was in the infancy of my study of the swing. In fact it was the catalyst that brought orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Ned Armstrong, my mentor on physiology, and me together. Dr. Ned read GP&S and called me at Pinetree CC, which is on the northwest side of Atlanta, GA. He lived about 30 minutes away. He said he loved the book and was impressed with the fact that he had finally found a teaching pro that felt the body played an important part in swinging a golf club. He asked to have a meeting to discuss our views on the swing, which couldn't happen fast enough for me.
When we met, Dr. Ned said the book was quite good and correct on most of the points I believed about the setup and swing with two minor exceptions. The first was my view that the left thumb needed to be on top of the grip, straight down, say at 12:00, to support the club at the top of a parallel backswing. He said that was close, but perfect dynamic balance needed it to be a little over to the right, between 1:00 and 2:00, where it was in line straight up the forearm and thus in dynamic balance. The second issue was with weight distribution between the feet at address. I favored the weight toward he balls of the feet, so the body was sort of leaning into the ball. He said that was too much forward. He told me that to have the body in dynamic balance, the weight needed to be centered directly over or on the arches of the feet. He complimented me again that overall, I did really good for a golf instructor on all my setup and swing instruction for being in balance, and for swinging correctly in harmony with human physiology.
With the help of Dr. Ned, and then when I assumed the position of Director of Instruction for Sea Pines and worked out of Harbour Town Golf Links, I met my physics mentor, Henry Ryffel. Together, we asked the questions about the golf swing relative to physics and physiology: What has to happen? Why does it have to happen? How do we make it happen? The answers many times did not conform or match up to conventional instruction.
We tested them, using me as the guinea pig, and when they worked, they became principles that we built the swing theory on. They worked because, first and foremost, my back pain went away. A as a bonus, I began to hit the ball more solid, straight and longer. The first two principles, and they are mega points, was that the swing was vertical 12:00 o'clock and the backswing ¾ in length, rather than parallel, was the optimum way to swing. The 3rd major discovery was the turn needed to be a turn limited to the when the left arm got over the toe line to swing in harmony with our natural design and maximize the laws of physics and physiology. These new principles became the foundation of what is now called The Peak Performance Golf Swing (PPGS) and defined as a 'limited turn, vertical ¾ backswing.'
The PPGS is based 100 percent on physics and physiology, married together to swing the club in a way that is in harmony with human body design, which makes the PPGS a body friendly swing and maximizes the laws of physics as best the body can do to swing a golf club.
Dr. Ned, Henry and I still meet and discuss the swing. I have them on speed dial, and often e-mail them with questions to think about and give me their professional and scientific opinion. The PPGS has remained quite basically the same since our first major discoveries of the swing being a vertical ¾ backswing, then secret #2, palms perpendicular to the ground, and secret #3, the limited turn that we had figured out by around 1990. We keep our minds open and questioning and investigating. The basic principles of the PPGS continue to stand the test of time and will continue to do so unless God changes the laws of physics and the design of our bodies.
For me, it all started with Golf, Plain and Simple. It has taken me for a wonderful ride, and I am certain the best is still ahead, for me and D.J., and for all golfers who use the Peak Performance Golf Swing.
The Surge!
P.S. If you have back pain like I did, you NEED the PPGS. Click here.