Some Common Swing Reminders

8/8/08

By: Butch Bundy

True recreational golfers almost all make the same adjustments when the going gets tough and they lose their confidence. Teaching beginners is a good way to help me keep my teaching methods very simple. If you do several key things right, no matter what your skill level might be you will see noticeable improvements in your game. Here are a few things that I always look at when I’m working with my students.

Balance: This is always number one on my check list no matter what a golfer’s skill level might be. When I say balance, I am looking at whether your weight is towards your heels or your toes. This is a must to make a consistent golf swing. If your weight is towards your heels, which in my experiences is far more common, you will tend to get the club going too much around you on the back swing which will encourage you to either push the ball to the right or to "come over the top" and pull the ball to the left. It can also cause consistently thin or topped shots. If your weight is towards your toes, it will cause you to get too steep on your take away and will lead to pull slices or fat shots. In either case, you can’t properly time your body rotation with your arm swing.

Distance from the Ball: This is directly related to balance. Players that are too close to the ball are typically on their heels, while players that are too far away from the ball will tend to be on their toes. Most of the time when I change balance it is also necessary to change distance from the ball.

Ball Position: Again, this directly relates to the first two. Players that are too close to the ball and have their weight on their heels will tend to play the ball too far back in their stance. These types of players are making the compensation that they will not use their body rotation and will not shift their weight to their forward foot. Players that are too far away will tend to play the ball too far forward and will look as though they are reaching for the ball. These players are making the compensation that they will get ahead of the golf ball on the downswing. The proper ball position for all full swing shots is in the front half of the stance.

Golfers don’t always have all of these faults, but the tendency is to develop them over time if you have one of the above problems. This is also why if you don’t have someone watching you while you try to change your golf swing, you will get a bit lost and will change things that probably aren’t the true cause of the problem. These three flaws when corrected will almost instantly clean up off center hits and wayward direction of shots.