Weight Forward Throughout Entire Swing

[SimpleSimon]

I have shot the best golf of my life for the last month or so. My friends always tell me how jealous they are of my swing, but I could never hit the ball consistently. Always hitting fat, or shooting low spinners off to the right. I started practicing a ton on the chipping greens, grab my shag bag and spend some times 2 hrs just pitching chipping. Realized the more I put my weight forward the better contact i would get.So I tried putting more weight forward in my full swing with my irons (id say 70 front foot, 30 inside of back foot) and I cannot believe how crisp i am hitting the ball. I am pin point accurate with just about every iron.

I shot a 78 over the weekend (40-38), missed 6ft birdie on 18. But my best score coming in was 83. I am hitting just about every green I go for. I have never had a lesson and just do my own research, and try out a ton of stuff in the offseason. Is it normal to keep weight forward through out your entire swing?

[Mordan]

I'm not trying to discourage you from what is working, results speak for themselves. But be aware that your feeling of weight forward 70% is most likely just that, a feel. Here is a photo with some numbers based on actual measurements, and you'll see how extreme true 70% weight forward is. He's almost falling over forwards and is still only 68%.

So while 70% weight forward is obviously a great feel for you, it's probably just the feeling you need to stop yourself shifting backwards off the ball. So keep doing it, but be aware that it's a feeling, rather than a reality.

[Mr. Desmond]

Stick with what you feel and is working.

Review the 5SK Video thread about weight forward and watch how Erik (iacas) gets his lead foot beyond his lead ankle and shifts his hips forward laterally and then turns. See if you're doing something similarly.

But if it's working, it's working. Don't question it.

[SimpleSimon]

Mordan, It's very easy to not look anything like whats in the picture you provided. It's def not just a feeling. I don't look anything like the picture you posted. Take a look.

This is exactly what I look like at address. I get over the ball, do my waggle, and feel out my weight. My last move before i start my swing is a small weight shift forward over my lead leg, EXACTLY like the guy in this picture. I have the thought of keeping the weight of my head over my lead foot and lead leg.

I feel like I have taken the weight transfer completely out of the swing since my weight is already forward. I believe that the timing of transferring the weight during the transition of back swing to down swing is what I was struggling with. Take a look. The video below is before i started keeping my weight forward.

[iacas]

You're doing it in a way that's not going to be very good for you. Both now, and before.

Notice that now your head starts forward. Before, it stayed centered THEN went forward.

Yes, you can "clean up" ball contact that way, but you will lose speed, and more importantly you'll lose height unless you can flip at the ball and try to add loft and shallow the AoA.

[SimpleSimon]

What is considered the "perfect way to hit a golf ball"? There isn't one. The idea of the perfect golf swing has been mirrored off of the best golfers of their time. So when someone else comes along in 20 years and does something different than his swing will be considered the ideal swing. Some of the best golfers in the world, I am sure are doing a ton of stuff "wrong".

All I am saying is what is working for me. I haven't lost any distance since making this change, in fact I added about 10 yards on every club since doing this, maybe because I am hitting the ball flush every time. I have always hit the ball high so that's not an issue. This is working for me, the 78 on the scorecard looks the same whether I'm swinging with an iron or a broom.

I was just wondering if this is normal. I suggest everyone try this and see how well you strike your irons.

If it's wrong, I don't want to be right.

[Mr. Desmond]

My counsel is to be open to Erik's advice.

What you are doing may be working well now. But you're in this for the long term, right?

And all of can profit from excellent advice, right?

Erik knows his stuff ... believe me.

[SimpleSimon]

I am sure he knows what he is talking about, and by no means am I saying he is wrong. It's just that I am seeing the best results I have ever seen by eliminating the weight transfer in the swing. My body no longer has to try and get that timing down. I'm interested in results.

I have watched all of your 5k videos, tried a few things and some of the things didn't work for me. That doesn't mean I think what your teaching is wrong, or that im questioning your intelligence on the golf swing. We all have different games.

What I am trying to say just because something doesn't work for you, doesn't mean it's not going to work for someone else.

[Golfingdad]

Originally Posted by SimpleSimon

I am sure he knows what he is talking about, and by no means am I saying he is wrong. It's just that I am seeing the best results I have ever seen by eliminating the weight transfer in the swing. My body no longer has to try and get that timing down. I'm interested in results.

I have watched all of your 5k videos, tried a few things and some of the things didn't work for me. That doesn't mean I think what your teaching is wrong, or that im questioning your intelligence on the golf swing. We all have different games.

What I am trying to say just because something doesn't work for you, doesn't mean it's not going to work for someone else.

Mordan is right.  What you feel and what you do are two different things.  But it's no big deal.

I actually did something very similar to you last summer.  I started golfing with a guy (Beachcomber, actually) that had a pronounced "lean" forward at the start of his swing.  I didn't know at the time, but I guess it's sort of a "stack and tilt-y" posture.  He hit the ball a lot better than I did, so I figured there was something to it.  Anyway, I tried it at the range one night, and boom!, I was striping everything!  It was amazing the way the ball felt coming off the clubface.  I have since toned the "lean" back down a bit, but regardless, there is definitely something to be said for it.

However, the fact remains ... unless you put yourself in some really awkward positions like the guy in Mordan's photos (is that Dave???) you do not keep your weight/pressure on your front foot like you think you do.

Here's a good read that explains it pretty well ... http://thesandtrap.com/t/64993/weight-forward-using-swingcatalyst-and-sam-balance-lab-to-explain-pressure-throughout-the-swing/0_30

[Mordan]

Originally Posted by SimpleSimon

Mordan, It's very easy to not look anything like whats in the picture you provided. It's def not just a feeling. I don't look anything like the picture you posted. Take a look.

I wasn't saying that you look like the guy in the photo. But what the guy in the photo is doing is what you need to do to actually be 70% weight forward. That was the whole point of the experiment they did with weight and pressure measurements. It showed that 70% forward is extreme. You say you're not doing something that extreme, hence you aren't actually 70% weight forward, that is just your feeling.

[SimpleSimon]

Sorry guys, I wasn't clearly understanding what you guys were saying.

[SimpleSimon]

Originally Posted by Golfingdad

Here's a good read that explains it pretty well ... http://thesandtrap.com/t/64993/weight-forward-using-swingcatalyst-and-sam-balance-lab-to-explain-pressure-throughout-the-swing/0_30

Thanks, I will check this out as soon as I get the chance!

[iacas]

Originally Posted by SimpleSimon

If it's wrong, I don't want to be right.

I didn't say it was wrong. I just said it wasn't best.

You might be doing fine feeling like your weight is where it is and never moves. But that's going to put a ceiling on your golf swing (or a floor on your handicap). It might help you a bit now, but you'll quickly stop seeing improvements, IMO. You'll hit the floor (or ceiling) and won't improve, and in reality you may even have to go backwards a bit before you can improve. It would likely - though I agree not necessarily - be easier if you progressed from point A to B to C rather than trying to get to C via point 17 if you get my point.

I'm glad you're doing better. Moving your weight forward and keeping it there is the easiest way to move low point forward. It's not the optimal or best way, though. It's just the easiest way.

IMO you'd be better off beginning to do a lot of the "pre-set" drills in your practice. Keep playing the way you want until you feel you can master the pre-set drill and begin to incorporate the more dynamic hip slide into your full swing.

---

And nobody here can just take any and all of the 5SK videos and apply them. That's not how they're meant to be viewed. Each video is for a specific problem. If you don't have that problem, the video doesn't apply to you. PLUS, you have to do the drills and things properly and it's unlikely a lot of people do them properly.

[rehmwa]

Originally Posted by iacas

I didn't say it was wrong. I just said it wasn't best.

You might be doing fine feeling like your weight is where it is and never moves. But that's going to put a ceiling on your golf swing (or a floor on your handicap).

That's the comment ^

Weight forward without movement is, IMHO, equivalent to how some people do half and partial swings.  And short game shots (less than full swings) for most/many

I'd think:

• it would get fairly consistent contact - provided you don't swing away
• make one prone to thin shots and no divots
• misses are thins and inverse weight transfer whenever a more full swing
• keep one's distances down to under 3/4's of what they could truly hit
• be a nice bandaid until lessons

(I was doing this in order to play better, it was pretty good for a while.  But, I had bad basics and this gave me something better to work with so I got stuck in it and didn't know it was a poor fix for what I really needed.  A couple lessons on basics and some trackman time has really improved everything.  So I'm going to use this season just to mess with what I've learned so far, I can't wait for the next set of lessons after to see what's next.)

Seriously - how do you move forward through the shot if you are already stuck at the forward stops........

[mvmac]

Yeah just another recommendation to make sure you check out this thread http://thesandtrap.com/t/64993/weight-forward-using-swingcatalyst-and-sam-balance-lab-to-explain-pressure-throughout-the-swing

[OneShoeMike]

On May 27, 2013 at 9:08 PM, SimpleSimon said:

I have shot the best golf of my life for the last month or so. My friends always tell me how jealous they are of my swing, but I could never hit the ball consistently. Always hitting fat, or shooting low spinners off to the right. I started practicing a ton on the chipping greens, grab my shag bag and spend some times 2 hrs just pitching chipping. Realized the more I put my weight forward the better contact i would get.So I tried putting more weight forward in my full swing with my irons (id say 70 front foot, 30 inside of back foot) and I cannot believe how crisp i am hitting the ball. I am pin point accurate with just about every iron.

 

I shot a 78 over the weekend (40-38), missed 6ft birdie on 18. But my best score coming in was 83. I am hitting just about every green I go for. I have never had a lesson and just do my own research, and try out a ton of stuff in the offseason. Is it normal to keep weight forward through out your entire swing?

I agree completely.  It works for me.

My handicap is finally falling.  A local Pro recommend it and I'm glad he did!

The " bump your hips" to start the downswing has never worked for me.  Weight forward at setup works great!

[larry kelting]

keeping the weight on the forward foot at the setup and through out the swing takes the athleticism out of the swing .  more consistent and no loss of distance.  

[Marty2019]

It doesn't look to me like your weight is forward throughout the entire swing. 

I'm looking at that 7-iron swing, and it looks to me like you are shifting your weight.  Before the top of the back swing, it looks like you are about 50-50.  For sure at the end of the follow through, you are at least 90% on your front foot.  I see a little bit of a load onto the back foot during the back swing.  Maybe I'm wrong, but that's what it looks like to me. 

Nice swing, though.  To my untrained eye, it looks like a pretty good swing. 

 

Edited March 24, 2017 by Marty2019