Daily Video Blog

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: 19 November 2009
Comments: 3
I met Anthony around 4 years ago at the PGA Merchandise Show'€™s Club Demo Day at the Orange County National Golf Club driving range. I was walking on the practice tee with Greg MacDonell,... Read More
Authored by: Don Trahan
Posted on: 18 November 2009
The first PPGS School had a number of students that had the same problem that I read in many blogs.‚  Basically, it is that they are hitting their irons and hybrids better and the driver, but are... Read More
Authored by: Don Trahan
Posted on: 17 November 2009
Yesterday, we discussed how 7 of the 8 students had poor to bad alignment and were aimed no less than 20 plus yards outside wide or closed to their target, to the right for righties and left... Read More
Authored by: Don Trahan
Posted on: 16 November 2009
We just got back from The PGA Teaching and Learning Center in Port St. Lucie, Florida where we held the first ever PPGS Golf School.‚  We had 8 students, all males, 6 righties and 2 lefties.... Read More
Authored by: Don Trahan
Posted on: 14 November 2009
Note: Port St. Lucie, FL, The PGA Learning Center. Seems impossible we're in our final hours at the golf school. Weather yesterday was fantastic, if rather windy. (O.K. golf school students,... Read More
Authored by: Don Trahan
Posted on: 13 November 2009
Note: Port St. Lucie, The PGA Learning Center. We're beginning our second day under beautiful, sunny skies. Yesterday was clouds all day, a big wind, and cold! But we didn't sweat the small... Read More
Authored by: Don Trahan
Posted on: 12 November 2009
Note: Down here at the PGA Learning Center in Port St. Lucie, FL — it's our first full day for the school — we don't need cold weather gear. Maybe a raincoat, but the weatherman says the sun... Read More
Authored by: Don Trahan
Posted on: 11 November 2009
Note: We down here at the PGA Learning Center in Port St. Lucie, FL with a group of Inner Circle members who are chomping at the bit to get to the beautiful lesson tees. The place is great and... Read More
Authored by: Don Trahan
Posted on: 9 November 2009
Dave Lyon says: Don, on your homepage, the PPGS sequence shows the clubhead going behind your head into the Sacred Burial Ground (SBG). Is it only your left hand that musn'€™t go into the SBG... Read More
Authored by: Don Trahan
Posted on: 8 November 2009
Comments: 14
The daily article yesterday threw out the concept of using your playing grip for your putting grip. The article did not say this was dogma, but rather said we '€œadvocate'€ the grip.... Read More