Video Lesson: Shifting Weight in Golf Swing

05/18/2015

Proper weight distribution is a major part of a solid golf swing.  Knowing how and where to disperse your weight throughout the swing can be the difference between whether or not you get the shot you intended.  In this segment of Teaching with Technology, PGA Professional Todd Kolb shows us a great drill to get our weight in the right place, both at the top of the swing and at impact.

Hey golfers, PGA Teaching Professional Todd Kolb here with another segment of Teaching with Technology; and today we’re talking about one of my favorite subjects, and that is the proper way to shift pressure—or what you might feel as weight—on your feet at different points of the golf swing.  So I’m going to focus on two specific spots—top of the backswing and impact—and then I’m going to give you a drill here at the end to kind of implement this information.

So basically, here’s what we’re talking about.  As you watch this swing play here, what you’ll see is when I get the club to the top of the backswing, there’s an equal balance in terms of pressure on my trail foot—the right foot—in terms of heel and toe.   I have maybe a little bit more pressure on the heel, but for the most part, the entire foot is nice and connected to the ground.

Now as we shift into the impact zone—as we start to move into contact—of course, that pressure shifts to the lead foot—the left foot,  And once again, you’ll notice that the entire left foot—the lead foot—is nice and grounded.  We don’t ever want to be on our toes, we don’t ever want all of our weight on our heels.

So the thing to take away from here is that at the top of the swing, the entire foot’s on the ground.  Equal pressure throughout the foot; maybe a little bit more on the heel.  As your work more into impact, you want to feel that lead foot nice and planted, so you have good contact with the ground and can make a good impact position.

So one of my favorite ways to practice this is what we call the Drag Foot, Drag Club Drill; pretty simple.  Take your regular setup, start to drag the club back slowly, and as you’re dragging the club, you’re going to also drag your lead foot until the club reaches the top position.  At that point, you’re going to feel a lot of pressure on the middle of your right foot; your trail foot.  Now, as you start to swing forward—your arms and the club go forward—you’re going to step forward with the lead foot; you’re going to plant it into the ground so that you have a good plant, good connection with the ground at impact, and you’ll notice that the pressure’s in the middle of the foot.

It’s a great way to get a feel for what we’re talking about.  So at the end of the day, I want you to feel the pressure—or what you might feel as weight—in the middle of the foot on the backswing, also in the middle of the foot—the lead foot—at impact.  If you do that, you’re going to have better contact and hit better quality golf shots.