How do you get your weight forward in the downswing withoiut getting ahead of the ball?

[Mike Boatright]

Iv'e been researching this forum diligently and being self taught I disagree with some aspects off it but I can clearly see tour player example getting the weight forward on the down swing. How do you this with getting ahead of the ball and shamming it right or pushing it right. I tend to play shots off my left foot and hit a baby divot it's what I'm use to but I can see some photos of getting this weight forward and it looks good.

[mvmac]

51 minutes ago, Mike Boatright said:

How do you this with getting ahead of the ball and shamming it right or pushing it right.

 

[iacas]

14 hours ago, Mike Boatright said:

Iv'e been researching this forum diligently and being self taught I disagree with some aspects off it but I can clearly see tour player example getting the weight forward on the down swing. How do you this with getting ahead of the ball and shamming it right or pushing it right. I tend to play shots off my left foot and hit a baby divot it's what I'm use to but I can see some photos of getting this weight forward and it looks good.

The hips go forward.

Plus, it's more about pressure and force than true "weight" (though it too is forward, just not always as much as 85-95%).

[Mike Boatright]

13 hours ago, iacas said:

The hips go forward.

Plus, it's more about pressure and force than true "weight" (though it too is forward, just not always as much as 85-95%).

Don't the hips rotate as you knees flex into a balances finsih? If this hips go forward that means in my mind a slide forward you never want to to that.

[Dave325]

Hi Mike - This hip thing is something I am still working on as my priority piece too. This is something that may help answer some of your questions. Hope it helps.

 

[saevel25]

11 minutes ago, Mike Boatright said:

Don't the hips rotate as you knees flex into a balances finsih? If this hips go forward that means in my mind a slide forward you never want to to that.

On the backswing your back knee loses flex because your right hip turns on an axis. In transition your hips slide towards the target. They continue to slide a tad as you rotate around upper center.

Depending on the club the hips can slide a good 4-6 inches from where they were at address for some golfers.

 

 

 

[RayG]

I had an issue with this. Resulted in a pulled trapped hook. I KNEW I was in the wrong position and my hands would fight to get caught up.

A Teaching Pro just said to try and WATCH the ball hit the bottom, back of the ball- either with an iron and especially with a Driver. Thinking about watching the driver hit that bottom half keep my head back and behind the ball.

[Big Lex]

On ‎3‎/‎12‎/‎2016 at 1:57 AM, Mike Boatright said:

Iv'e been researching this forum diligently and being self taught I disagree with some aspects off it but I can clearly see tour player example getting the weight forward on the down swing. How do you this with getting ahead of the ball and shamming it right or pushing it right. I tend to play shots off my left foot and hit a baby divot it's what I'm use to but I can see some photos of getting this weight forward and it looks good.

As someone who's miss is right, I have wondered about this also. Now, I'm a slightly higher hcp than you, so probably what I say wouldn't apply to you, but in any case. There are two things I learned regarding this that helped me, meaning reduced my right misses and gave me a more consistent bottom of my arc.

The first is related to what I think mvmac and iacas are telling you. I was taught to "load up" on my right side in the back swing and "transfer my weight" to my left side to start the downswing. For years I tried to do this so much that I was moving my head several inches right going back, and moving it quite a bit back forward when swinging down. I think this lead me to over-shifting. When I started making a more centered backswing, keeping my head more steady and feeling more pressure on my left side swinging back, I got much better at striking. The way I think of it is that I don't so much shift my weight from left to right going back....my weight or pressure changes from being equal on both feet at address to feeling more pressure in the right heel and left toe on the backswing.

The second thing I learned is that I had a lazy lower body on the forward swing. I would have the weight on the left side, but wouldn't turn correctly on the forward swing. After the hips slide, in good players you see the hips begin opening to the target, before the upper body does. In video of my swing, it seemed as if everything turned together, and tended to turn late. My body looked slow and the swing looked armsy or handsy. As I worked harder on making a more athletic move, the hips started opening ahead of my body and this allowed me to swing hard with less fear of blocking it. What I think I'm saying is that if you shift your weight or pressure left, but don't follow up with the proper sequence of body rotation, you might end up blocking the ball right. This part of the swing I'm still not great on; I'm still learning it. What seemed to work last season was doing a rehearsal where I put myself in a "perfect" impact position, and then made a swing with that impact feeling as the goal or destination. Another thing I tried was sort of imagining I was actually stepping into the shot with my left foot, the way you step into a baseball swing. The stepping thing seemed to make the shift of pressure and the opening of the hips BOTH happen, rather than just one of them. There is a long drive pro who actually DOES step into his shots.

Just one half-decent-club-golfer's opinion. YMMV. Consult your local PGA pro!!

3 hours ago, Mike Boatright said:

Don't the hips rotate as you knees flex into a balances finsih? If this hips go forward that means in my mind a slide forward you never want to to that.

There is a slide AND a turn. And the hips sliding does not mean your whole body slides. The hip slide is definitely first. I don't know if the turn starts when you are still sliding....it probably depends on the club, how hard you are swinging, etc. But there is both. Has to be properly sequenced.

Toward the end of last season, when I was succeeding more and more often on the golf course in achieving an impact with my 1. weight forward and 2. my hips properly open (upper and lower body sequence/sync correct), the feeling of those swings was the absolute greatest thing I've ever felt in golf.

Edited March 14, 2016 by Big Lex
since they were merged, i needed to remove a superfluous phrase

[Big Lex]

Oh geez one last thing.....

A drill that really helped me with the proper hip action was the old Jack Nicklaus "roll the ankles" drill. You can do this with any club. Make full swings where you do not lift either heel at any point in the swing. You roll the left ankle in swinging back, and the right ankle in swinging forward. I think Dave Wedzik has a video where he does this drill. It helps so much in forcing your lower body to do the right thing, both the hip slide and the hip turn. You won't be able to swing quite as hard or make as long a swing probably, but you can get close. I've done this on the course when I really need to hit a shot accurately but where distance isn't as important.

[mvmac]

4 hours ago, Mike Boatright said:

Don't the hips rotate as you knees flex into a balances finsih? If this hips go forward that means in my mind a slide forward you never want to to that.

Yes they rotate as they move forward.

 

[iacas]

4 hours ago, Big Lex said:

The first is related to what I think mvmac and iacas are telling you.

Quickly… http://thesandtrap.com/how-to/mention-members

4 hours ago, Big Lex said:

The way I think of it is that I don't so much shift my weight from left to right going back....my weight or pressure changes from being equal on both feet at address to feeling more pressure in the right heel and left toe on the backswing.

Your weight still goes back if done properly. More so your pressure or force shifts back, though.

4 hours ago, Big Lex said:

There is a slide AND a turn. And the hips sliding does not mean your whole body slides. The hip slide is definitely first. I don't know if the turn starts when you are still sliding....it probably depends on the club, how hard you are swinging, etc. But there is both. Has to be properly sequenced.

The hips slide as they rotate, but often the sliding is "faster" earlier and slows down, and the turning starts a bit slower but speeds up more later on.

3 hours ago, Big Lex said:

A drill that really helped me with the proper hip action was the old Jack Nicklaus "roll the ankles" drill. You can do this with any club. Make full swings where you do not lift either heel at any point in the swing. You roll the left ankle in swinging back, and the right ankle in swinging forward. I think Dave Wedzik has a video where he does this drill. It helps so much in forcing your lower body to do the right thing, both the hip slide and the hip turn. You won't be able to swing quite as hard or make as long a swing probably, but you can get close. I've done this on the course when I really need to hit a shot accurately but where distance isn't as important.

Generally not a big fan of rolling the left ankle back on the backswing. Can too often lead to swaying the hips back.

[Big Lex]

12 minutes ago, iacas said:

Generally not a big fan of rolling the left ankle back on the backswing. Can too often lead to swaying the hips back.

I think the Nicklaus drill, to be specific, was roll the left ankle in on the backswing, and the right ankle in on the downswing. I think as long as you don't roll your right ankle OUT on the backswing, you won't sway.

The Wedzik drill

is talking only about the downswing, and he talks about both ankles, which makes sense.

[Mike Boatright]

Right on guys for some reason in my mind I want my shots to look this this and less Ricky fowerlish. I think you guys are correct in fact I tried it today and nailed one 7 iron 170 yards but I also caught one on the Hosel!

 

 

[Mike Boatright]

57 minutes ago, Mike Boatright said:

Right on guys for some reason in my mind I want my shots to look this this and less Ricky fowerlish. I think you guys are correct in fact I tried it today and nailed one 7 iron 170 yards but I also caught one on the Hosel!

 

 

When I say Ricky fowler I mean his aggressive follow thorugh not his backswing.

[Lazarus]

I've been working on something similar this week to get my weight forward. For me "slide the hips" feels instinctively like a little hip bump and driving the left knee forward.  That seems to be getting me better contact, weight transfer and finishing position.