GolfTec Lesson: Weight Shift through the Swing
I went in for my first lesson in about a month and was pleased to find out I could move on from a total focus on the backswing. This time, we focused on getting my swing properly loaded up on my right heel on the backswing and then shifting weight to the left foot and ending facing the target after hitting the ball.
I told my instructor that if I picked a spot on the ground to aim at for my practice swing, the club head would consistently come through inside that mark. I’ve had problems with lifting my upper body as I swing, so I thought that might be the cause.
Instead of upper body, my instructor had me work on this weight shifting issue because I was coming up artificially high on the backswing with my arms, not really putting my weight on my back (right) foot. This caused my swing to kind chop down too far inside, on too vertical a plane. What I should have been doing was shifting my weight straight down into my right heel, creating more of a wind up, so that my swing followed the natural arc through where the ball was with a weight shift to the left through the ball.
My instructor gave me a few drills to work on this:
• Do the whole swing with feet completely together. To maintain your balance, you’ll have to do the weight shift and this will give you a feel for how it should be in your regular swing.
• Do the backswing standing on only your right foot, and switch to only your left as you transfer your weight through the swing.
• Use a chair to mark how far back to go on the backswing and how far forward to go on the follow-through. Your body should be perpendicular to the ground on both the back swing and the finish, not leaning too far in either direction.
Working on this has noticeably improved my swing, particularly with irons. The next time I went out to play, I hit the ball much more solidly and consistently with the irons. That’s about all that improved, but I’ll take it.
October 8th, 2008 at 8:03 pm
Great blog! I’m a newbie too - just started taking a group class 6 weeks ago and I’m loving it, even though class time has been entirely on driving range and practice green so far. Hope your blister troubles have subsided! I had a similar issue that I believe was entirely due to gripping too hard. It’s fine now.
As for this particular post, has your instructor said anything about if it’s OK to slightly raise your left heel on the backswing? I don’t know if this is considered bad form or not, but I find myself doing it accidentally - and naturally - sometimes as a part of that weight shift to the right leg. Always seems to result in more distance too. Keep at it!
January 23rd, 2009 at 11:08 am
Hi Keith,
Thanks for your comment, and sorry for the delayed response! I guess you could say my blog has been hibernating through the Minnesota winter.
I found myself lifting my left heel off the ground occasionally, too, on the range, and someone told me it wasn’t a good thing. It never came up in lessons, though, and somehow I stopped doing it. Not much of an answer for you!
Hope your golf game is going well and that you live somewhere warm enough to get in some golf during the winter!