05/11/2015

Every golfer wants to hit the ball further and with more consistency.  While that may be an obvious statement, what’s not as obvious is the reason for a lack of either, or both.  In this segment of Teaching with Technology, PGA Teaching Professional Todd Kolb describes how weight distribution in golf throughout the swing can be the key to finding longer, more consistent shots, or the reason why you’re still searching for a better swing.

Hey golfers, PGA Teaching Professional Todd Kolb here with another segment of Teaching with Technology; and today we’re going to take a look at weight distribution in golf on the feet in terms of the golf swing.  Where should the weight be right and left at different points of the swing, but more importantly, where is that weight positioned on the foot?  Now one of the beauties of teaching with technology these days—I’ve got my Swing Catalyst system here—is that I can tell when a student comes in exactly where the weight is positioned on the foot.  Not only the percentage, but is it on the toe, is it on the heel, and where is it on any point of the golf swing.

Now today I’ve done an example of one of the most common things I see with amateur golfers, and one of the biggest reasons they slice the ball, and they lack consistent contact with the golf ball.  So what you’re going to notice here is I’ve taken both of these swings to the top of the backswing (this is where weight distribution in golf can show the difference in two otherwise similar swings).  So the first thing I’m going to point out is that I have pretty much the same distribution of weight in terms of right or left.  Over here on the—I’m going to call it the improper swing—or bad swing, I’ve got 73 percent of my weight on the right foot, and over here I’ve got 81 percent; almost identical at the top of the swing.

But there’s a big difference in where that weight is positioned.  On the good swing over here, notice that by the color code right here that weight is very even from toe to heel; it’s almost right in the middle of the foot.  This is exactly what we’re striving for; as a golf instructor, I want to see my students be able to do.  Over here on the incorrect one—we’ll call it—the weight is definitely on the toe; almost all the weight is on the toe.  Even though I’ve got 73 percent there, which is good, it’s almost all on the toe.

Now, what’s going to happen?  Number one is you’re going to lack any power at all.  Because you’re swinging from your toes, you’re not going to be able to hit the golf ball solid; you’re not going to be able to shape it the way that you want to.  Also, this pattern’s going to continue; so if we look at the impact position, we’re going to see a very similar trend, and you’re not going to be grounded.  The ground is a great source of power and speed.

So, when you make a back swing, you want to get the majority of your weight over on your right side, but also be aware of where that weight is at.  Try to get it even through the entire right foot, versus out on the toe.  If you do that, you’re going to see more consistent ball contact, and therefore you’re going to hit better shots and shots that go that much further.