By: Piers W.
February 12, 2015
WEIGHT TRANSFER IN THE BACK SWING
We often hear about weight shift or weight transfer in the golf swing but time and time again we see golfers confused about how our weight actually moves. The high majority of touring professionals will transfer some weight to their trail leg during the backswing and this helps load the muscles to then fire in the down swing to help produce power and an efficient delivery to the golf ball.
Understanding how that weight is transferred is key to allow you to produce the correct movement. Many golfers “try” and shift weight in the back swing and this often leads to a poor lower body movement causing a sway.
Instead of thinking about “shifting” weight, think about your trail hip being anchored as you wind up your torso against it. You will not only feel your weight move but you will also create a stretch between the upper and lower body ready to fire as you start the down swing. Here your weight will move as a result of the torso rotating rather than any shift of the lower body.
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I like the diagram right / wrong, very helpful
Thanks Tom we’re glad you like it. Keep interacting. TakeCharge
I like all your tips, very helpful.
Thanks Tom! let us know if you have any questions.
Hey guys, this is an area where I get a bit confused. I hear the weight transfer as mentioned above, however, I also hear to keep more weight on the front (pivoting off the front) essentially keeping…
Hey guys, this is an area where I get a bit confused. I hear the weight transfer as mentioned above, however, I also hear to keep more weight on the front (pivoting off the front) essentially keeping the lead hip slightly “bumped”. Is there a true “right” way or can both be correct?
Hi, thats a great question. In general we prefer to see people transfer weight as demonstrated above but there are examples of how we would get you swinging back feeling that you “feel” (feel not rea…
Hi, thats a great question. In general we prefer to see people transfer weight as demonstrated above but there are examples of how we would get you swinging back feeling that you “feel” (feel not real) more on the front side. We would only do this if someone needed it to counter balance the swing. Think of this, if you Hang Back (lack of transfer in downswing) or early release (early loss of wrist set angles in the down swing) we would get someone short term to feel as though their lead hip was hanging more towards the target. So if you hit the ball fat or too high getting your lead hip to hang more towards the target at the top of the back swing will counter balance the poor down swing and will help you achieve more solid contact! I hope this helps.
Hey guys, hopeless case here. I cannot stop swinging over the top and it’s starting to really really get to me. I’ve gotten my handicap down from 20 to 10.7 since last May but still come over the top …
Hey guys, hopeless case here. I cannot stop swinging over the top and it’s starting to really really get to me. I’ve gotten my handicap down from 20 to 10.7 since last May but still come over the top on all drives and most iron shots. Ive been checking out you you tube vids and your website but still can’t seem to get my weight onto my left without sliding too much or spinning out.
I’ve just cancelled my membership to Haney University as it was no help to me, I would really like to join yours but after the Haney stuff I’m just a little concerned that again I will get nothing from the site but ads for equipment and training tools.
Any thoughts guys?
Hi and thanks for the email. I think you would hopefully get a lot from the site as we feel there s more of a clear plan to find out what you are doing wrong. What a lot of people do is actually join …
Hi and thanks for the email. I think you would hopefully get a lot from the site as we feel there s more of a clear plan to find out what you are doing wrong. What a lot of people do is actually join for the Hole in One membership and then have a reduced online lesson. What will happen here is we will do your online lesson so that you know exactly what is going on then build you a plan in with all the drills needed. This take out any guess work for you and you the have a clear plan to move forward. let me know if you have any questions.
Hello and thank you for your email. I think the best thing to do from a golf swing point of view is to make sure that your club face is doing a good job! If your club face is open through out your sw…
Hello and thank you for your email. I think the best thing to do from a golf swing point of view is to make sure that your club face is doing a good job! If your club face is open through out your swing it won’t matter what drills you try to stop coming over the top you will find it difficult to change until you change the face position. Secondly as far as membership is concerned the only emails we send out are our monthly newsletter and our weekly email telling what new videos have been uploaded. We don’t sell equipment and training tools. The best option i feel for yourself is to try our free 7 day trial and see what you think of the Fault Finder. The Fault Finder is 5 simple questions from which we recommend potential swing faults and the relevant fixes. We have had great success with it. If you wanted to take it a step further you could order an OnLine lesson, that way we could tell you your faults and reasons for them. You do also get a discount on OnLine lessons if you are a member so that is always an option as well. We have a lot of members who take up the OnLine lesson option as we send back their video analysis and we then also prescribe and save the relevant drills in their membership locker. I Hope this helps, don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any more questions. #TakeCharge
Hey I have a question, sometimes when i drive the shot seems good then it just goes down really fast. How do I fix that?
Hi Nathan. When the ball is dipping fast, does it have hook spin on also?
Yes it does and thanks for replying
Hey guys, I just started recovering from a nasty over the top move which was the result of being over plane in my takeaway. My turns feel much better now, but I started to struggle with not getting o…
Hey guys, I just started recovering from a nasty over the top move which was the result of being over plane in my takeaway. My turns feel much better now, but I started to struggle with not getting onto my right side. (My right leg straightened, left knee buckled which resulted in a massive turn, however the swing gots very long and over the line, and without much torque). When I think about getting into my right leg in the turn, I feel like Im swaying. I know that feelings dont reflect reality when undergoing a swing change, but do you have any suggestions for where in my right foot should I feel Im turning into?
Finally today at the range I was working on getting into my right side, (expecting yet again that I was one problem away from getting a tour-like swing) and found a new problem (yay!). I was hitting fat, off the toe, and drawing (wtf?). My suspicion is that Im not getting off my right side, and my swing is bottoming early. Does that sound probable and what can I do to transfer properly in the downswing? Have you guys ever seen this sort of learning trajectory? Help? I make adjustments quickly, but sometimes I feel like I have too many swing thoughts, and its starting to feel as if too many things have to go right for me to hit purely. I was a big baseball player, so sometimes I notice that I fly open quite a bit, or that Im massively on my left heel after impact. Sorry for the manifesto.
Thanks for the comment. Yes building up a good coil is important and you should ideally feel the weight on the inside of the right foot with out the lower body swaying. It can be very difficult to thi…
Thanks for the comment. Yes building up a good coil is important and you should ideally feel the weight on the inside of the right foot with out the lower body swaying. It can be very difficult to think lots of things, so our advice would be to focus on one thing at a time. If you are loading the right side better in the backswing then it can affect the bottom of your swing yes. The key is to load the right side well then shift your weight to your lead side in the down swing. Focus on improving the backswing first but make sure you film yourself or use a mirror so that you can check that you are not swaying. Also check out the “Hanging Back” Swing Fault in our video vault section. You will see if you have this fault and then you can choose one of our fixes and work on that also. Hope that helps.
Yes it does
Great!
I said yes it does to your question that you asked me
In terms of weight distribution, would you like to comment on the balance between heel and toe in addition to right and left?
Hi Derek. Thanks for the comment. Yes that’s a great point. We like to see the weight in the arches of the foot so it is even between front and back and ready to move.
should my front heel be lifted as I load up in the end of my backswing ?
That is fine if you raise your front heel yes. It will allow you to feel a good weight transfer and also help you start the down swing with your lower body.
Hi guys,
I have recently noticed the distance of all my shots have reduced, and I’m told its due to placing too much weight on the back foot once the shot is finished, I’m also finding …
Hi guys,
I have recently noticed the distance of all my shots have reduced, and I’m told its due to placing too much weight on the back foot once the shot is finished, I’m also finding the ball flight is higher as well.. DO you have any suggestions to combat this problem? Also I’m happy to send through the video of my swing however the online coaching section doesn’t seem to be functioning correctly.
Hi David. It sounds like you have the “hanging back” swing fault. Take a look in the video vaults section and go to “swing Faults”. You will see this swing fault and there are many fixes to help you i…
Hi David. It sounds like you have the “hanging back” swing fault. Take a look in the video vaults section and go to “swing Faults”. You will see this swing fault and there are many fixes to help you in there. Let us know if these help.
Thanks
Andy