Your ball-striking will improve a lot if you focus on weight shift and segmental body rotation
My golf swing has a lot of rotation. A big turn back is how I create speed. A big turn through is how I unleash that speed.
You might not have that kind of flexibility, but if you want to hit quality iron shots, make your body the swing’s engine. There’s less that can go wrong if the big muscles lead instead of focusing on the movement of the arms and hands. I like to feel my chest moving the clubface instead of my hands. It gives me more consistency.
However, there is one good swing thought involving the hands that will help you blend the rotation of your body with the swinging of your arms. On the downswing, I feel like my right arm is skipping a stone, not chopping an axe. It helps me stay down and make a good turn through the ball.
A lot of amateurs stand up too soon, flipping their hands and hitting fat shots or hooks. You have to stay down and turn.
Back to proper weight shift, I like to feel a big move into my right side in the takeaway, but it’s back to 50-50 on both feet at the top. Then comes the key: I transfer my weight to the front leg before starting down. That is the most important move if you want to pure a shot off the turf or muscle it out of the rough. I see many amateurs who aren’t very good at this, but you have to get your weight moving towards the target. Keep in mind that this shouldn’t be a violent move. I was the skinny kid growing up, so I learned to use my flexibility and swing hard to hit the ball longer. Now I know it’s more important to stay in control and not hit the ball off the planet.
It’s why I do a few things during every range session to get my swing in check: (1) I make sure to stretch. I turn my upper body back and forth without moving my hips. Then I turn my hips without moving my shoulders. You need separation between your upper and lower body to swing properly, so it’s important to get warmed up; (2) I hit balls with a PureOne iron, which is like a 9-iron with a way smaller head. When the sweet spot is that tiny, you have to find good rhythm or you’ll mis-hit it badly; (3) I focus on tempo for a while, but I finish a session hitting different kinds of shots.
If I leave the range with a good feel for that day, I know I’m ready to rip it.
Photography by Golf Digest Staff
