Weight transfer ?

I'm right handed golfer.

My question is there any laterial shift of the body toward the target in the start of the down swing?

Thanks for any info. offered.

Yes there is - the lower body as opposed to the upper body. Feel the weight shift through the legs.

Absolutely, you need to shift your weight over your left leg by a slide of your lower body, your head should stay back behind the ball though.

I find this to be a tricky thing to do right. It's almost like a hip check in hockey, I guess, but it's easy to overdo, and if you move the hip out from under your weight, you can easily end up falling back on the rear leg, which is exactly what you don't want. I've yet to find a consistent way to do this weight transfer.

Setup as up as you normally do to swing, move the left foot back to the right foot, make your backswing, then replace the left foot to the starting position as you swing down, this will give you the correct amount of weight shift your looking for, it is more a get your weight moving thing, then actually moving this much or that much. This is just a drill, to use on the range, you'll get the idea after you do it a few times.

I believe Greg's walking drill would be relevant here too..?

Hello:

The weight transfer starts at the feet. Whether or not you lift your left heel (righties) in the backswing, the first move of the left foot in transition would be to place the weight to the left heel. For those that do lift the left heel in the backswing this is plain to see. They plant the left heel back to ground as they begin to unwind. Since today's swing uses the flat left foot method, you can't really see it but the action is the same. Weight to the left heel like you were crushing an aluminum can with the heel. Of course this will only work if you have transfered your weight to the right side in the backswing correctly. It's really ok to let your head move to the right laterally in the backswing to get the weight over and eliminate the reverse pivot.

When you tranfer the weight back to the left side as described above you should also have the sensation of bumping the left hip forward like nudging a car door closed with your hip as if your hands are full. I do not like the term slide because to me, it connotates a more drastic move that can take your weight outside of your left foot which is a problem. It is a transfer of weight to the left foot as you simultaneaously bump and rotate the left hip. All of the weight transfer in the backswing and downswing should never get beyond the outside portion of either foot.

The most important thing to remember is that your head and torso remain slightly behind the ball at impact for short irons and more for the longer clubs especially the driver that is being swept not compressed down. Take a look at stop action photos of pros at impact to see the interesting body shape. Weight is moving foward in the feet, legs and mid torso but the upper torso and head are always behind the ball. This is a dynamic position but crucial to solid ball striking. Proper weight transfer and maintaining posture allows this to happen.

Yep. Seems like such a simple thing. It *is* a simple thing, and yet so hard for me to execute.

I've actually watched a lot of stop motion videos of good swings, and I've especially watched the lateral motion of the hips. In most cases (not all), there is little visible motion to the rear on the backswing, but several inches forward on the swing through. In my case, the weight shift tends to happen far too late, long after the ball is gone.

Something I noticed in my videos is that I sometimes straighten and lock my right knee in the backswing, and that of course is deadly. I had no idea I was doing that. It's a good example of how looking at video can help to figure things out. I'm hoping that if I can keep that right knee flexed and aimed in a bit, I'll have an easier time getting my weight forward.

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Todd
Philadelphia, PA
USA

The reason the pro tells you to keep your head down is so you can't see him laughing. ~Phyllis Diller

dont mean to jack your thread mate..... but i think this site might help uzzi


great video i found might help this you and many others out. keeping the tush line (as some call it) is very key, and no keeping it is reason for many slices and bad shots

he is a good teacher too, very simple, direct easy to follow i recomend all his videos.

To start the weight transfer could I say that I could push off using my right leg and or foot? ....or maybe better word..brace against my right foot?

I love clemshaw ,I watch all of his vids!

I've been struggling with this. I realize it's a huge problem for me. To me, when I get it right, it's a feeling of bracing against the *inside edge* (i.e., arch) of the right foot.

When I don't get it right, which is often, my weight goes back to the outside edge of my right foot and then the damage is done; I can't shift forward until well after impact. I first became aware of this looking at videos, frame by frame. Once I saw it (and also saw my right leg locking straight sometimes), I started to become conscious of it in my swing--the feeling of weight going back to the outside edge of my right foot. In the video I could see the inside edge actually leave the ground in the backswing. Terrible! No wonder I hit the ball thin most of the time.

What I've found helps is if I tell myself not to even try to move my weight back in the backswing but to stay centered over the ball, with no lateral movement at all. When I do that I can *feel* the weight on the inside edge where it belongs, and the tension right up the inside of the right leg, a very rooted feeling. That feeling shows the weight has shifted, without much overt change in my torso position.

Light goes on... it's not necessary to shift the body to shift the weight to the right foot. Hanging the arms and club out there does that without moving an inch. D'oh! If I just keep my body centered, my weight will shift. It's not something I have to make an extra effort to do.

2nd light goes on...if I don't shift my body forward on the downswing, the forward motion of arms and club (along with Newton's laws) will tend to pull my body back, so I have to do that to stay down on the ball. But if I succeeded in staying centered on the backswing, it only takes a little forward motion to do it. This is also why pausing at the top of the backswing helps me; it keeps me from pulling my weight back.

Suddenly a lot of problems become clear. Clarity is one thing. Doing things differently is another. Observation: if I can get that braced feeling going back, I'm probably going to get a better shot.

__________________
Todd
Philadelphia, PA
USA

The reason the pro tells you to keep your head down is so you can't see him laughing. ~Phyllis Diller

Todd:
you have discovered a key factor in the swing; don't try to do something, just let it happen.
When one stays centered over the ball(ok, maybe a little spine tilt) instead of swaying or trying to transfer the weight, voilla, it forces one to pivot and get the X factor going.
The feet together drill teaches us that weight transfer is overrated. Years ago I punished myself for swaying by playing an entire round with my feet together as I swung on every shot. Guess what, I shot my usual score. My distances were about 80% of normal so I used one or two more clubs than usual.
You can play golf without a conscious weight transfer and very well.
Put it out of your mind and take time to enjoy your swing, if you know what I mean.

Well, the trick seems to be figuring out those things that I have some control over, and taking advantage of those, and letting the rest take care of itself.

For example, all this stuff about rotating the wrists through impact...fuhgeddaboudit. For me, impact is a blur of motion. I can't "do" anything with my wrists in the middle of that, and if I try to do so, the result is a mess.

I have control over my posture and setup, and how I take the club back and...the start of the downswing, the "transition." And that's the end of the control zone for me. The rest of the way I just ride it out.

__________________
Todd
Philadelphia, PA
USA

The reason the pro tells you to keep your head down is so you can't see him laughing. ~Phyllis Diller

Correctomundo! Todd.

You are spot on and IMHO you are also right with the weight shift on the back swing. Ive been for a few lessons with my pro lately and he's had me just feeling as if I rotate the left arm up and onto my shoulder plane during the BS as I have a tendency to shift too much to the right and over rotate the shoulders getting me too flat. By just rotating the left arm up and back in a swinging motion and feeling like my head and body stay still I feel very wound up at the top. I then just bump my left hip at the target feeling as if I keep my shoulders closed as I start down. Thats it, no hands, no arms, just the bump left. This is all obviously done quickly as a swinging/athletic movement but working on it my ball striking has become much improved again