Shannon

Thank you for the question and the analogy you make to “learned behavior” of boxing. You are smart to recognize the importance of the surf to level motion and to be sure you are performing it accurately. Here are a few check points you will want to be sure you are hitting. Most of these relate to the finish position of the movement that you can easily check to be sure you are doing this correctly. At the end of this movement:

a) Your knees, hips, shoulders and arms should be parallel to your target line / aim line. If you struggle slicing the ball, be sure these body parts are square to the target line or are all even slightly closed to the target line (0-5 degrees). If you struggle hooking the ball, be sure these body parts are square to the target line or are all even slightly open to the target line (0-5 degrees).

b) Your front knee (closest to target), hip, shoulder and hand should be slightly higher than your back knee, hip, shoulder and hand.

c) Your front knee should be slightly outside of your front foot with your front hip over your front foot.

d) Your front knee should have a bit of flex still in it and your back leg will be straighter than your front leg.

e) Be sure your upper body is still bent slightly over the ball but you have lifted your rib cage rather than concaving your rib cage to the finish of this motion.

To help the feeling of the knees pushing back through impact, although this should start at the end of the “Surf to Level” movement, it may help to feel it during the “Hug Through Impact” movement. As you hug, can you feel your back foot sliding slightly back away from the ball as you do this and add speed to the motion? Do you feel what would cause that to happen? You will also notice as your thighs turn down and body turns toward the target, the front knee will move backwards as well. This is a great movement to help train these feels.

I hope this helps, let us know if you have any other questions. Happy training!

Hi Shannon,

The ball position for your driver should be up off of the front heel but no further forward. We wouldn’t want it any further back than the front ear as we want to provide room to surf down and toward the target in the downswing. If ball position gets too far back, it can be difficult to execute this part of the motion. Let us know what ball position you find to work best with the driver.

Thanks Shannon.

I’m having some trouble with slicing my longer clubs, especially my fairway woods and driver. I feel like when I drive my hips back and to the left as I come to impact, I’m putting myself in a position where I have to cut across the ball. Do you have any advice on how to correct this?

The surfing to level is something that was a flaw in my game for many many years. I believe I referred to it as transition. That said, while I’m getting better at it, its still a very conscious thought to do so. I am now understanding all aspects of the swing, and I’ve been able to access accurately now how my swing functioned prior, which was lacking the pressure, and always a rushed hard swing from the top. Now what I’m finding, is that when if I “feel” just a second of patience, and feel I’m to my front side, the power comes with out any physical added effort. Contact is solid, and I’m taking divots for the first time ever. I do want to be able to move away from as Bryan describes, the hitting ball after ball (from the deeper discussion on Practice), that its “not real”, but in order to actually play a shot on the course, there has to be a reasonable thought that yes, I got this, and I know I can repeat it.