Practice Tip
Practice Tip
Swinging in balance
Learn to make balanced swings for consistently solid golf shots and lower scores. The two big keys to making balanced swings are to first start from a balanced athletic, aligned setup each time, and secondly, swinging at a tempo and rhythm that you can repeat without disrupting your balanced posture.
A balanced posture and setup in golf is similar to a basketball player in the defensive position ready to cover an oncoming opponent; his knees are flexed, stance width even with shoulder width, weight is centered equally between left and right foot as well as between the ball joint and heel of each foot, and a slight bend at the hips.
From this good athletic posture the basketball player and/or golfer can move in either direction well and without tipping or falling over in any direction once he starts to move. He's not bent over too much with weight out on his toes nor is he too tall with weight on his heels. Too often amateur golfers have to take a step or two to keep from falling over once they swing at the ball.
Parallel alignment to the target is also important for the golfer to achieve balance. Make sure your stance and shoulders are parallel to the ball/target line.
The next key to balanced golf swings is a repetitive tempo and rhythm. Swing the clubhead away from the ball slowly and ensure a full wind up of the body pivot( shoulders) while also fully loading the hinge of your wrists and right elbow( right hand golfer) to a ninety degree position for each.
These are the power sources for the downswing. When getting toward the top of the swing try to transition the club from backswing to downswing much like that of a pendulum changing directions,-smoothly and without any quick, violent movements. Too many amateurs try to get lots of speed in their back swings causing disruptive rhythm and bad balance because of a poor sequence of motion. They should really be concentrating on loading up their power sources for the downswing.
Come down gradually building up clubhead speed by turning the shoulders back toward the target, releasing the hinges of the right elbow followed by releasing your wrist cock. The clubhead should now be at its maximum speed down in the hitting area and the momentum of the clubhead swinging can then pull you around until you are facing the target with all your weight moved over to your left side but still centered over the outside of the ball/heel of your left foot.
Next time you're out playing, keep track of your nice balanced swings vs. the poorly balanced swings. Work on these keys until you've eventually eliminated bad balance and watch your scores go down!