Focus on Balance for a Consistent Golf Swing

February 14, 2008
By: Butch Bundy

The biggest difference between a good golfer and a novice golfer is pretty easy to see. Watch the amount of effort that each one exerts when hitting a shot. The bad golfer is seldom in balance and looks to be working much harder than the good golfer. A basic teaching tool of mine is to get a player to hold their finish. Where your balance and momentum goes after the swing will go a long way in telling you what went right or wrong in your golf swing.
A common drill that I use is to have players hit balls with their feet very close together. I am a firm believer that if a golfer can’t feel what they are doing wrong, they will never get better. This does a few things, it makes the player use the right tempo and it also encourages the right muscles to move the golf club to start the golf swing. For a player that overuses their lower body, it will quickly give them the feel of allowing their arms to get more involved. Conversely, if a player uses only their arms or torso in the golf swing it will encourage the golfer to use the proper leg action.
Start out with the ball slightly teed up with an 8 iron. Put your feet about 3 inches apart and place the ball off of your front foot. Begin by making very short swings from about waist high to waist high at about 50% of your maximum effort. As you get comfortable, add length to you swing, not speed. As you do the drill get into a habit of holding your finish. You will quickly be able to feel what parts of your swing are out of sorts.