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The forward upswing in the PPGS is described as swinging up to the T-Finish. If you swing up too soon, too much or not enough, it can be a problem, as Ajit writes below. Let’s take a look at his problem and help him out.
Ajit Iyer says:
In my quest to swing up to the T-finish, I sometimes stand up a bit too soon and end up topping the ball. So my question is; at what point do you stand up to the T-finish? Should I consciously “see” the club hitting the back of the ball before standing up? What is the visual cue you look for?
Surge says:
I believe that there is more than just a visual cue (if one can actually see impact) to know when to stand up as you swing up. There are other senses that can add to the cue time of standing up. And, the more senses one uses the more powerful the feedback. There is also the sound of impact and the feel of contact of the club to the ball, and to the ground on iron shots, that can add to the trigger of standing up. The point here is that these triggers happen in less than the wink of an eye or snap of a finger.
So, since these sight, sound and feel triggers happen so fast, there is another important ingredient that you have to develop and factor into the equation. TIMING! I describe timing as, “The proper sequential movement of the parts of the body.” Timing, in terms of impact, is sensing and feeling impact on the club. At that split second, and maybe a slight split second preceding impact, the head, hands and arms, back shoulder and hip are starting to stand up.
The hands win the race to impact. With centrifugal force pulling and stretching the arms down, delivering the shaft and club head to the ball, standing up this split second prior to impact cause ball contact because of the stretching out of the arms. The perfectly timed standing up with the swinging up is what helps the impact to be shallow.
Adding thoughts like “nipping the ball off the ground,” and pinching the ball off the ground” help add firmness to the hands and forearms to keep them leading and getting to impact first before the club. Thinking and feeling sweeping the ball off the ground or tee is another good thought and image. Another great one when the ball is sitting on the ground is to think and feel like when you impact the ball, the club will bounce or ricochet off the ground.
I know that many golfers hate hitting off mats at a driving range. I will propose here that hitting off mats can be a valuable tool to learning and developing proper timing of impact, especially with wedges. Hitting balls off a mat using the mental and physical concepts of “nipping it, pinching it, sweeping it, ricocheting or bouncing off the ground” powers up the dose of these senses and feelings. Why? Because mats are firm yet spongy and will give an extra good feedback dose to the brain through the fingers and hands, as the club head hits the ball “FIRST” and then bounces off the mat. Firm, yet spongy enough to get extra feel and touch of a shallow down-to-quick up of the club head into and through impact. The mat is still firm enough to give you a jolt if the down is too steep and deep. All in all, I think hitting off a mat is a great way to feel and time impact for the swing up and stand up to the T-finish.
These thoughts, images and feeling about impact produce firmer hands and forearms approaching the ball. This adds to and helps perfectly produce the touch, feel and “The Timing Sequence” of impact, while swinging up and standing up to the T-Finish.
The Surge!
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I have started using the DT swing and it is working great, my problem is the swing at chipping from 50 yds in, how do you control the distance?
How do I hit a draw with your system?
How do I hit a draw?
I agree 100% with your thoughts on driving range mats. You certainly know when you’ve hit behind the ball:-) I have a question if I may? I use steel shafted metal woods #1, #3 & #5 and hit fairly straight 98% of the time. I have tried numerous graphite shafted metal woods and 90% of shots push, fade or give a gigantic slice. Any reason why graphite doesn’t work for me?
To Jonathon,
Check the flex of the graphite shafts mainly the tip section to see what the firmness of the tip is.
Would you please address the most probable causes of the “shanks”.
There is a par 3 course that I play quite frequently that has the mats in place for all the tee boxes and I love em. I find the mats more forgiving than the ground because the club just bounces nicely instead of digging into the ground. I was wondering if you could give us some backspin tips, I know you’ve said that tightly mowed fairways help out but what about the sand?
Thanks Don
Hi Surge,
Great Post about timing the T finish! Clears it up alot….
you have opened my eyes to all the misconceptions about golf…
Would like to learn more about hitting that second and third shots
on long par 4 and 5’s such as Woods and Irons…..after a good Tee shot
my contact and distance control on these shots is inconsistent….
* Also, Hank Haney does not believe in using Pitching Wedge to Pitch
only to Chip………Your thoughts on this please..
Thanks,
Jimmy P
regarding topping the ball — check and make sure that you are not swinging too steeply. If you swing into the ball too steeply, sometimes the body compensates for the steepness by causing you to raise up a little, thereby hitting higher on the ball, and topping.
if I may sneak in a name, this info is from John Jacobs in one of his books.
John
this is for Bob Baker :
the usual cause of shanking is standing too close to the ball. when you swing the club, the club can move outward a little due to centrifugal force, which then causes the shank of the club to be closer to the ball than when you set up. try to set up so the ball is in the middle of the face of the club, and and your arms are hanging “straight” down from the shoulders. It may take a few swings to find the best setup for yourself, but with a little trial and error you will find the right distance.
something I have used to help my set up is by making a fist, then stick my thumb out, and use that “width” as the starting point of how far from my body my club grip needs to be for consistent ball striking.
the reason for arms straight down is if you are reaching too much, then when you swing, there is a good possibility your hands get closer to your body at the bottom of the swing, and the ball will be struck closer to the toe of the club than where you initially set up.
Hi Surg
Do you recommend any training aids to help learn or grove the PPG Swing?
I am writing to tell you that the money for my DVD have been taken
form my account but there is no DVD. Can u tell me when they will
Arrive. Thankyou. John Flynn.
I find that when I top the ball.I don’t believe that it is coming to the t finish too soon, but for me it comes from SWAYING. I find that when I stay in the athletic stance and keep my lower body quiet I hit it just like you say say I should Don
Bob Baker:
Shank causes
1.. Position of ball on club face. Do you set up with ball in heel, middle, toe. If in heel, move to middle or toe.
2. Weight distribution. If at address you set up more on your heels, during down swing the body will correct for this and move weight more towards the toe and cause a change in club path.
3. Aim. What are you looking at when you address the ball? Are you looking at the back of the ball? If so, try picking a spot on the insider quarter of the ball or an imaginary ball just inside the “real” ball.
4. Swing path. Do you try to come from the inside. If you are having trouble with this being your natural swing path and you are exaggerating the move, you can actually come so much from the inside and be late with hand rotation that the hosel gets to the ball first. This is also in conjuction with weight not being properly distributed at set up.
Hope this helps!
surge,have tried and tried to get tru to you when you had your videos on sale with no results.
I can’t get them by e-mail as have no way to download them.so was asking how much they cost by mail sent to me.
would love to of had them but just no way to get them by p.c. as i have to go to the libary to get my e-mail.so if you can let me know would love to try them need all the help i can get for my game.if you can adivise me of a way will be apprecaited.
James Griffith
e-mail is jcgrifith3@yahoo.com
thank you
Surge; I have tried to find the compression raitings on many of the galls used today. I have a 76mph swing, and have been told to use Srixon Soft Feel, and i think there compression is 90. I went on the USGA sight and looked up compression, and there isn’t a thing. What they did have was a test of 25 different balls of High and Low compresssion they tested. Out of the test they said there was only 8.5 yards diffference between all the balls. Some of the softer or lower compression balls went the farest, but they wouldn’t say which ones. Do you have a list of the compressions of golf balls, and what should a 72yr old with a 75mph swing use?
I started to geton your new club list but there was a mixup, and no one ever called me back, like I was told they would. Now reading some of your members questions I am wondering If it is safe to try your courses at any cost, if there is a proublem getting the info after paying for it?
Thank you; Phil
In practising the PPGS method I have found the T finish is the RESULT of the correct PPGS back swing and THROUGH swing. It happens without trying. Hitting off the mat is very good for learning the clean strike or nip off the grass. The method is becoming more natural as I practise and try to play it on course. I am hitting my irons twice as high and 10 yards further than I have for years when I get the action in the slot. Thanks again Surge.
Phil Schwenk,
You can find compresssion numbers of many balls by going to eBay and looking for used golf balls; in particular, Knet is a seller which lists much info about balls. Look for Knet listings, log in to the balls of interest and read the specs on them.
By the way, almost all modern balls have a compression rating of about 90 or below. A “soft” ball may be rated at 85 or 90 while a “hard” ball may be rated lower. The key is whether it is 2-piece or multi-layered and the firmness of the cover. Confusing to say the least.
I am a senior golfer with about the same swing speed as you. I focused on what kind of ball gives me the most control from 100 yards and closer; distance off the tee, from one type ball to another, is essentially irrelevant in that they all produce about the same (give or take 6 yards). My attitude is that I will gladly give up 6 yards off the tee in order to be able to be able to stop my ball closer to the cup when hitting approach shots, pitches and chips. After all, this is REALLY where one scores.
Good luck to you. Thanks to Surge for helping all of us so much with the game we all love.
Michael
Dear Surge,
I have had trouble with tension in hand & arms before takeaway, and it seems to be getting worse and I’ve gone from a 6 to an 11 handicap in the last 3 yrs I’m 58, is ther a cure?.I’ve been told I have a very good swing
HELP
Cheers
Alan
I can’t wait to try your tips…. Injured my hand in a fall yesterday. I fell down the stairs and caused injury to my left hand and face. Expect to use your advice as soon as I am able. I will also buy the program in the near futher.
Thank you kindly,
Josh.
Surge.
There are many types of golf balls out there, low compression, high compression, soft shell, hard shell, etc. I have never heard you discuss golf balls on your forum. Could you adress golf balls and what to look for when buying them. Thanks. Tom.
Having trouble off the tee box and long fairway shots. Topping everything. Because of back problems have got to learn the PPGS system.
There was a comment today that swinging to steeply may be the cause. Will try not lifting the club so soon and see if will help.
FOR BOB BAKER:
Next to completely missing the ball or topping it, the dreaded shank is the golfer’s nightmare.
I will paraphrase what the great teacher Butch Harmon has to say about what causes shanks:
1. Having the face of the club too closed; and
2. Swinging from out to in.
His suggestion is to place a headcover ouside of the ball and parallel with the hitting path and
then practice hitting wedges. If you are hitting with a shank swing, ie. face closed and hitting
from out to in you will hit the headcover. To miss it you will be swinging more from in to out with
the face a little more open (square) and the shank should disappear. If it does not (which it
should) try standing a bit farther from the ball.
Good luck, Jim
Response to Phillip: We do not sell any of the videos for $19.95, and we do not put any costs to the customer that were not charged by the customer. For PPGS to help you we will need more information so that we can look up your Invoice and check out the charges. You can call PPGS Customer Service at 800-603-2706 or Ken Trahan 888-847-9464
Response to John Flynn: I need more information like E-MAIL address, City, State etc: to help you with your order. You can give me a call Ken Trahan PPGS Customer Service at 888-847-9464, have a great day, Ken.
To Ron Hammond, I say oractice more using different length swings. You will soon learn how far each one goes. Then pick the one that goes the required 50 yards. EASY!
To Bob Baker,
Regarding your question on problems with the shanks, John gave you some good points to check out.
Another big issue that I have seen is a major cause of shanks is to much lateral shift and downward leg drive in the forward swing to impact. Work on keeping the knees quieter and driving more level in the transition.
The Surge!
Alan…
Regarding too much tension in your hands before the takeaway. You are 58 and say that it has been getting worse along with your handicap of 3 years now.
First place I would look is if you are having arthritis issues or loss of strength, you may feel like you have to squeeze harder to have control of he club. Grips that are too thin will also cause you to have to squeeze extra hard to fell like you have control. For both issues I have just mentioned, you can check with your PGA Pro or club fitter and get your hands size checked and theproblem may be just changing to more wraps under your grip or oversize grips. ‘
One other issue may be applying your grip pressure incorrectly. Proper grip is applied by squeezing the fingers upward like shaking hands. Many time golfers squeeze their hans on the grip but pressure downward on the thumbs. thumb grooves worninto the grip are great indicators of downward pressure.
The Surge!
Thanks for sharing all these mail in questions and answers. I have found several that relate to my own problems and they have helped me correct them!
Hitting off the mat will be my next endeavor!
Jim
do you start the takeaway with your arms or shoulders
To Don Feit
Do you have some vision’s problems? Just before your ¨email¨ Ken Trahan gave you his phone number to contact him directly to settle your complaint. By the way it’s not the first time he gave his phone number to help customers who have inquiries.
Have a good day!
André
Something i saw in an Arne’s tips is thumb postion of the right hand is it on top or left ? it should be to the right of center …..it will make a dif hope it may help some one try it …….as will a too week or too strong grip. A lot of little details but one can make a dif. in some ones swing at impect. we all go from being in the grove and or losing it ?
It happens to the pros too!