Today we are going to discuss what we like to call "swing glue." It is the invisible force that holds your golf swing together and allows you to hit great shots even when your technique is not perfect.
Swing glue is composed of two essential elements: balance and rhythm.
Great balance and great rhythm allow you to get away with a lot in the golf swing. You may make a couple of incorrect moves, fail to achieve perfect positions with your arms, elbows, or knees, and still hit some fantastic shots.
Conversely, if you lack good balance and rhythm, you are going to hit poor shots even if your technique is mechanically sound.
We are obviously not saying technique is unimportant — it is incredibly important — but balance and rhythm are equally critical to consistent ball striking.
If you combine great technique and great balance and rhythm, you will hardly ever be beaten!
Find Your Center of Gravity
There is an incredibly simple training aid that can help you develop these skills.
Pick up a simple wooden dowel for a couple of dollars at the hardware store — Clay is using a 5/8" dowel in these photos — for instant feedback when working on balance and rhythm in your swing.
The first thing you can do with your new training aid is practice achieving proper balance between your heels and toes. You want to feel very centered, from front to back.
In previous lessons on finding your true balance, we discussed rocking forward and back to locate your body's natural balance point.
Your center of gravity, and your natural balance point, should be somewhere between your ankle bone and a few inches forward of that. Imagine this range as a "green zone" for your weight distribution throughout the swing.
The exact location of your center of gravity will depend on your build, but if you lay the dowel on the ground just in front of the heel of your shoe, that should approximate where your weight will be centered.
Rock gently back and forth to find your balance point, where weight is evenly distributed between heels and toes.
Maintain That Center Throughout the Swing
You want to keep your body perfectly balanced as you execute your backswing.
You should feel that your weight remains evenly distributed between heels and toes on the rod as you swing back. Paying close attention to your weight distribution will help you achieve a solid position at the top of the backswing.
One common mistake we observe is allowing the hips to over-rotate.
When the hips rotate too far, the trail knee straightens and, as you can see in the photo, the weight shifts too far back onto the ankle or heel.
Standing on the rod provides immediate feedback if this happens, because you will feel yourself releasing pressure off the rod.
Another issue that nearly every golfer has struggled with at some point is maintaining posture through impact.
Focus on keeping your weight centered on the rod as you swing down — do not let it drift too far toward the heels or toes — to stay in proper posture as you come into impact.
The most common mistake we observe — something almost every golfer does in an attempt to generate more power — is rushing the top of the swing. They allow their weight to shift to the toes, causing the hips to slide forward toward the ball.
Probably 9 out of 10, if not all 10, golfers have done this at some point. It causes you to come out of your posture, as Clay demonstrates in the photo.
The root cause is letting the weight shift forward while the hips spin open prematurely. Again, it is an attempt to generate maximum power from the top of the swing.
You can solve this problem by simply ensuring your weight stays centered on the rod as you swing down. Do not let it move to your heels or toes, and you will stay in perfect posture through the entire swing. To see how your own balance and swing mechanics measure up against elite standards, try a free AI swing analysis.
Correct Even More Faults from Face On
Let us turn to the face-on view to correct even more swing faults with the humble dowel.
Start by finding your proper stance width and marking it on the rod. Use a marker to draw a line at the inside of each foot so you can automatically get into the correct stance width without thinking about it any time you work with the rod.
As you discovered in the balance exercises above, standing on the rod heightens your awareness of weight distribution. You can feel which foot, and even which part of the foot, is bearing your weight.
Your weight is centered between the feet at address and shifts smoothly to the inside of the trail foot on the backswing.
You are only actually moving about an inch, but your weight transfers to the inside of the trail foot. The rod helps you feel that your weight is not only centered from heel to toe, but also balanced on the inside of the foot.
We demonstrated above that keeping weight correctly balanced from front to back addresses two problems: over-rotating the hips on the backswing and coming out of posture at impact.
Shifting your weight properly corrects several additional swing faults.
For instance, as you can see in the photo on the left, a reverse pivot places too much weight on the lead foot and rolls the trail foot to the outside. You definitely will not have any weight on the inside of the trail foot when you are leaning back like that — you will be more concerned with trying to stay upright!
Swaying to the trail side on the backswing, as shown in the photo on the right, will also cause you to feel excessive weight on the outside of the trail foot.
In the downswing, your weight needs to shift very smoothly from the inside of the trail foot to the center of the lead foot, as shown in the two center photos.
Getting Into Neutral
When you are in proper impact position, approximately 90% of your weight will be on the center of your lead foot. It is easy to verify this when standing on the rod.
Getting your weight onto the lead foot puts you into neutral joint alignment, as shown in the photo below. That means your lead ankle, hip, and shoulder are all stacked vertically, allowing your body to move exactly as it is designed to.
Once you achieve neutral joint alignment with the weight centered on the lead ankle, you can rotate freely on the lead hip without risk of damage.
If you allow the hip to slide out, it ends up too far forward. You will feel your weight shift too far forward on the lead foot, and when you try to rotate, the hip bone grinds into the hip socket, causing damage over time.
Repeat that pattern frequently and you will develop a very sore lead hip. If you fall into the classic Reverse C position like many of the pros from the '60s and '70s and hit every shot like that, you could ultimately require a hip replacement.
Get Rhythm
Throughout the swing, you are focusing on starting with your weight centered, moving to the inside of the trail foot on the backswing, and then returning to the center of the lead foot on the downswing. You are also ensuring the weight stays balanced between heels and toes.
Once you are able to get your weight in the correct position throughout the swing, you can begin to practice shifting it rhythmically.
All of your weight transfers should be smooth and controlled. You do not want to reach the top and then shove everything aggressively to the lead side. Just work on developing a nice, smooth rhythm.
This simple dowel will probably cost about $2.50, but it will help you with approximately six or seven different elements in your swing — from balance and timing to the specific faults it corrects. It is an outstanding way to develop "swing glue" so you can hit consistently great shots even when your technique is not perfect. For real-time feedback on how your balance and weight transfer are performing, try a free AI golf lesson.
Watch part 2 now to see how you're moving your body in the opposite direction of the pros!
Rock back & forth
Center of gravity falls into a range
Over rotation: Knee straightens & weight shifts too far back
Getting weight onto toes shifts hips forward
The rod helps you feel your weight shift
Smooth weight shift from the inside of the right foot to the center of the left (center) helps prevent swing errors such as reverse pivot (left) and sway (right)
Neutral joint alignment allows the left hip to rotate safely. Rotating after sliding the hip out (right) would damage the hip joint
