Surfing Movement

[Sheldon]

In my own swing, both my knees seem to slide towards the target on the downswing. On the downswing in the Surfing Movement the left knee and foot seem to act as a post and your hitting against the left side and the left knee does not slide past the left foot. Is this correct.

Thanks
Sheldon

[Dennis]

I’m having an issue understanding the sequence of the surfing movement. Does the surfing take place during the down swing before one reaches the right thigh doing the baseball throw or after you reach the thigh?

[David]

Sheldon, it is my understanding that that is not correct. Depending what day you’re on this will probably become more clear (geez I sound like Bryan) but I don’t think you’ll ever get to the crescent finish unless you get the front knee past the front foot. I’d lose my balance in the Speed and Strength part if I didn’t do that, but I guess if that turns out to be your swing and it works, that’s fine, but this is not really a “hit against a firm left side” type instruction.

Again, my understanding is that the surfing movement IS the downswing. Everything starts from the ground up. Once you “turn the corner” with the pressure in the hands and the front shoulder extended back, the feet, ankles and knees are what starts everything moving TOGETHER. You’re pretty much surfing from the top of the back swing (but we don’t really call it that) to well past impact. You have to “surf to level.” That gets the baseball throw basically to your right thigh. The knees do move toward the target but they have to also go back just a little while the chest stays up to get the club head out to the ball properly. I had a hard time with this at first and was hitting everything way off the toe. My ah-hah moment so far has been: ribs up through impact and that little move back with the knees and back and up with the front hip. Still a work in progress. Pretty cool stuff though!

[Tathata Staff]

David, great explanation. Sheldon, David is correct in the fact that the front knee should move outside or closer to the target than the front foot in the “surf to level” movement. Dennis and David, you are both correct in the fact that the “surf to level” movement translates to the baseball throw movement to when the back hand is even with the outside edge of the back thigh. To David’s point, this “surfing” motion is felt well past here however as you move into the “soccer kick” movement and begin to thrust into and out of impact.

Sheldon, it sounds like the knee movement you naturally come to this program with in your swing is very similar to the knee action we teach. I hope this helps clarify any of the points above, happy training!

[Sheldon]

Thanks guys for your response. So at the bottom of the Surfing Movement, the knees, hips and shoulders should be square or parallel to the target line and nothing opening up or turning to the left. Is this correct.

[Tathata Staff]

Yes Sheldon, that is correct. The knees, hips and shoulders should all be parallel to the target line. If you struggle at all with pulls or slices you can practice this movement so that all of these parts of the body are all about 5 degrees closed or aiming right of the target at the end of the movement. If you struggle with pushes and hooks you should practice the movement so that all of these body parts end up aiming about 5 degrees open or to the left of the target. Either way, you will want to make sure that the back knee, hip and shoulder is slightly closer to the ground than the front knee, hip and shoulder. Again, the finish position of this movement mimics where the body is when the back hand is just about even with the outside edge of the back thigh and the club shaft is just slightly past parallel with the ground coming into impact.

[Jim]

I have some confusion about the baseball throw. Does it begin when starting the “surf to level” or after when the back of the right hand is at the back of the right thigh?

[Tathata Staff]

Jim,

This is a great question. The baseball throw begins from the top as we surf to level. The back arm is strong and WIDE as we throw the baseball and it is all together from the top. All together meaning we are throwing the baseball with our entire body with complete strength in our feet, legs, pelvis, ribs, shoulders and arms moving together to create strength in this movement.