Drills for shifting weight

[acing1]

I am a 13 handicap golfer but am trying to trim several strokes off.

I have problems properly shifting my weight from my right side to my left side on the through-swing. What drills can help me properly shift my weight?

[MPS67]

Sorry, I don't know any specific drills to get your weight onto your left side during your through swing. But you might want to think about a few things.

1. Are you set up properly on the top of the back swing in a good power V position? Without this vital position, it'll will be difficult for you to laterally shift your hips forward during the next swing segment.

2. Are you initially shifting (not turning) your hips forward, toward the target in the downswing while keeping your head back as an anchor? If you shift your hips as far forward as possible, they will eventually rotate around automatically to face the target and bring your upper body down into hitting zone at the same time. At this position, your wrist cock from the back swing set should still be maintained.

3. Once you get to the hitting zone, do you finally engage your hands by swinging them hard toward the target, while keeping the wrists passive?

If you swing down with the correct fundamentals, the angular momentum conserved from the start of the downswing will release into the club head and should easily carry your right shoulder past the ball position in a rotating motion, catching up to the hips.

[DGStinner]

One drill I saw in a David Leadbetter video I had seen was to step into the shot, very similar to how baseball players step as they're swinging to hit the ball. It was also suggested in the video to place a tee on the ground next to your lead foot so you don't step beyond where your foot would normally be.

[scottmilk9]

Im a fairly hi handicapper, but the book i have that talks about weight transfer says to imagine stepping over with your right foot as your walking up to someone to shake their hand. This has helped me and my drives are alot straight due to this. I also stopped trying to crush the ball and let my natural swing take its course.

[907golfer12]

On Playing Lessons With the Pro's on TGC Annika Sorenstam said a good drill for this is on your practice swings, or at the range when you take a practice swing. On your down swing let you back foot come off the ground completely and have it land in-front of your front foot.

[acing1]

Sorry, I don't know any specific drills to get your weight onto your left side during your through swing. But you might want to think about a few things.

Thank you for your suggestions. My swing executes everything in number 2 and technically, most everything is correct. My problem is rhythm or lack of it. LOL. I have sporadically struggled with rhythm, that is i start my downswing with my arms and not my body. This season, I am focusing on "stepping into" the ball prior to hitting it. That is a good image for me since I used to play baseball in high school. The things pros say you should have like lag, I have, that is, when I coordinate the timing of the upper body with the lower body. Towards the end of 2007, my body started to "get it" and my drives straightened. The problem is that when my arms lead my body, hooks and duck hooks can result.

[acing1]

Thank you; I have heard of this one and will try this one and others to "slow" down my body. I often try to crush the ball and subsequently, my arms lead my body to the ball. When my body leads, I make excellent contact with few hooks.

[tm22721]

I don't perform any weight shift at all and it has improved my ball contact because there are less things to go wrong. I also use a 3/4 swing because a full backswing is too long a lead-in to work consistently. You don't hit the ball with your backswing.

I am always looking for ways to simplify my swing. Lately I am looking at Moe Norman's one plane swing because it appears to have fewer moving parts.

YMMV

[ClintonM3]

Saw this drill before:

Setup normally. As you are turning your torso right for your back swing, lift your left foot. As you turn left, lift your right foot. After a few, decrease the lift.

[MPS67]

Thank you; I have heard of this one and will try this one and others to "slow" down my body. I often try to crush the ball and subsequently, my arms lead my body to the ball. When my body leads, I make excellent contact with few hooks.

From reading your other post, It sounds as if you do indeed understand that if you start the downswing with your shoulders and arms, you're dead. You will have expended all of your stored up energy and momentum too early and will end up flipping the club head through the ball in the hitting zone. Once you begin to release your wrist lag from the top, you'll never be able to control it and stop it. This fault will ruin anyone's tempo, so you must swing with the correct fundamentals from start to finish.

Instead, what you'll want to do from the top of the back swing, or even a fraction of a second before, is to lead the downswing with the hips only in a forward lateral movement. Don't do this too quickly or aggressively, as you'll want to maintain your balance. But move the hips forward at a slow tempo to begin with, because you'll want what the pros call a 'late hit,' where you're accelerating through the ball and not releasing early. As long as you haven't manipulated the hands, wrists, and arms in order to help hit the ball, this lateral hip move automatically brings your right elbow into your right hip, bring your right shoulder down and the left shoulder up. It's important to realize that your shoulders don't turn much, but instead pivot laterally towards the target. At this position, your head should stay back, your club shaft should be positioned behind you and parallel with the target line. The angle between your forearms and shaft should be about 90°, the same as it was on the top. Then, you're ready to unleash the hands quickly through the hitting zone. In the hitting zone, a few things will automatically take place. The body will bow out towards the target. The hips will automatically start turning about your left leg. The hands will start in the zone about 12 inches behind the ball. Now, you must swing your hands forward and a little down as fast as possible. But only your hands. Make no conscious effort to activate your wrists in order to square up the club. The momentum that was stored in your shoulders and arms will transfer from the shaft to the club head and square it up automatically. This is because of the release of COAM (conservation of angular momentum.) If you've done everything correctly to this point, this released momentum will carry your right shoulder and upper torso through without any problems. Your weight will be drawn forward onto your left foot automatically. You don't need to consciously do this as it will be taken care of by itself or the by the laws of physics. The tempo should be slow (from the start of the downswing) to fast after impact. You'll want to accelerate through so that you can maintain a balanced swing throughout and to maintain a feeling of control on your shot, something you won't be able to do if decelerating. So remember, a slow start to a quicker finish in order to achieve a 'late' hit and not an early one from the top.

[acing1]

I am all for simplification but without shifting your weight, how do you strike the ball squarely? Surely, your weight shifts and perhaps it is so seemless that you don't even realize it. I agree that a 3/4, more simplified swing is better than a full swing. It's much more repeatable, the fewer the moving parts.

[acing1]

This sounds good. I began making progress on shifting my weight properly and making "square" contact very late in the season. Early on I made progress, yet regressed when I started to speed up my swing. That's my killer; I get too quick and I become way to wristy and handsy. At one point of the season, I overdid the weight shift, which caused my head to be slightly ahead of the ball at impact. I think I just need to focus on slow swings, whereby I delay my release until late. I need to swing with my hands apart, which should provide the correct shifting feel throughout the swing. Thanks for your suggestion.

[MPS67]

Acing1, from reading your posts, it sounds to me that you're not clear on correctly understand this weight shift thing. If you want to improve, you must have complete understanding of how to put together a good golf swing and how the weight shifts. The popper golf swing is complex because it requires a good understanding of physics.

I highly recommend you read 'The Four Magic Moves To Winning Golf' by Joe Dante. This book will clearly, simply, and concisely explain it all. Once you learn it, you'll be amazed on how simple the swing will be. The following is an Amazon.com link to the book: http://www.amazon.com/Four-Magic-Mov...8721737&sr;=8-1

Here are some excerpts from the book on an unrelated website. Don't pay for Andy's 4th magic move. Just buy the more detailed book from Amazon for less.

http://www.golf-swing-magic.com/golf-downswing.html

[richardm]

when practising lift your left leg up on your back swing and then swap legs for the through swing. This helps you to get the feling of having weight on your right side for the back swing and then vis versa for the through swing. Try it 3 times and then hit a normal shot. Keep doing this until your muscle memory builds up.

Also, try having your swing though at the top of the backswing to be "left shoulder low and left" - all books say you should shift your hips to the left but i find to get my left shoulder left and low is a great trasition swing thought and if the shoulder moves left and you cant help but move the weight to your left leg. good luck

[acing1]

I totally "understand" the shifting of weight during the swing. Above I alluded to a swaying problem that resulted from my exaggeration of or incorrect shifting of weight. I realize that swaying is not shifting weight. When you say the golf swing is complex, that's true and untrue. It's as complex as people make it. For those that try to simplify it, the swing isn't rocket science. I will simplify my swing but simply need to ingrain better rhythm.

[acing1]

Not to be a smart alec, but do you think of all these things when swinging a golf club? I would think not. My problem has always been coordinating my upper and lower body parts and when I do that I play like a single digit handicapper. My problem is that it hasn't happened very often. LOL. It's a humbling game. This spring I will focus on a slower takeaway and smooth transition with my initial hip "bump." When I swing too fast, it results in a plethora of issues, all of which are about timing. I am confident this will finally be my season to get down to a 12 or even 11 handicap.

[MPS67]

Acing1, I didn't intend to insult you. Sorry that I did.

Maybe I misinterpreted your understanding of the weight shift when you mentioned getting your head forward of the ball at the impact position. It sounded like you were heaving your right shoulder down from the top in a hitting motion when ending up at this faulty position. After re-reading your posts, I now understand that your hip bump is a little too quick, or aggressive from the get go. In my humble opinion, you're on the correct track by slowing things down a little and keeping your system balanced and in an accelerated swing.

Best of luck,

Mark

[acing1]

No, you did not insult me but thanks anyway for the apology. The frustrating thing for me is practicing all of the things I know. I know the head should never be ahead of the ball yet I have been guilty of swaying in the past. I DO indeed get too quick with my upper body and am just focusing on a proper tempo this year. So far, so good; I shot an 82 the other day. Last year, my typical 87 average ballooned to an 89. It's tough when you know you possess more talent than you demonstrate. But, this year is off to a positive start. Once I get down to a 12 or 11 handicap, I belive I can get down to a 9. I would be ecstatic with an 11 though because I only average 25 rounds a year.