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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: 21 October 2010
Comments: 2
Ben Hogan did it. I do it. And you should, too. Take notes. This may sound too much like you're back in school, but I promise you, if you keep a nice little notebook in your back pocket and... Read More
Authored by: Don Trahan
Posted on: 20 October 2010
With the swing taught today, it is impossible to keep the head still. Yet if you don't keep the head still the potential for error opens up ten fold. Yet everyone is talking about the “core... Read More
Authored by: Don Trahan
Posted on: 19 October 2010
When you're learning anything new or different, it's always ore comforting form many people to go from Point A to Point B to Point C to make sure they have it right. I number of folks on the... Read More
Authored by: Don Trahan
Posted on: 18 October 2010
This past weekend I played #11 at Woodfin Ridge Golf Club 25 times. No, it wasn't the ultimate bogey hole. I was part of the Heart-in-One Golf Classic, a charity event I was invited to by... Read More
Authored by: Don Trahan
Posted on: 17 October 2010
If you fight gravity you're going to lose. In the Peak Performance Golf Swing gravity is our friend. We use it to generate clubhead speed. The Way we can use it best is to keep the clubhead... Read More
Authored by: Don Trahan
Posted on: 16 October 2010
To get to the dynamically balanced T-Finish, you just have to forget the ball. That's the advice I have to an old student of mine. He'd come to get a tune up because he was a self-admitted “... Read More
Authored by: Don Trahan
Posted on: 15 October 2010
The Surge teaches you how to grip a golf club (pull up with the last three fingers on the forward hand). I, on the other hand, want to focus on the golf club grip itself. After all, the only... Read More
Authored by: Don Trahan
Posted on: 14 October 2010
Many golfers have this ritual they go through just before the takeaway. They move their hips, even their feet, do an elaborate waggle and all sorts of other movements. I guess they're trying... Read More
Authored by: Don Trahan
Posted on: 13 October 2010
I was almost faked out. One of our students at the last golf school had a good setup, was in the mitt and up the tree in his backswing and forward swing, but every once in a while, he would... Read More
Authored by: Don Trahan
Posted on: 12 October 2010
Comments: 1
One of the frequently asked questions on the blog, in my emails, and at the shop is, “What does 'offset' mean and is it a good thing?” Well, an offset clubhead can definitely be a good thing... Read More