The culmination of our three-part series on correct weight shift in the golf swing gets us off the trail side and properly loaded onto the lead glute. This video demonstrates how to correctly and safely shift your weight to the lead side during the golf swing.
The activation of the correct muscles is critical for stability and the effective application of power from the rest of the kinematic chain.
Want to feel this in YOUR swing? Try a free AI-powered golf lesson → — GOATY gives you real-time voice coaching, pose tracking, and instant feedback on every rep.
Al Consoli of Rotary Swing Golf demonstrates the proper movements while Chuck Quinton explains the mechanics, drills, and exercises to train your brain how to move correctly.
This movement, while seemingly simple, has numerous potential pitfalls that not only limit your chances of solid contact but actually put you at risk for injury.
Injury to the lead hip in the golf swing is very common among golfers of all levels, and performing this simple move correctly can significantly reduce your potential for injury. If you experience low back or lead hip pain, it is imperative that you pay close attention to the movements demonstrated in this video.
If you have performed these movements incorrectly for many years, it is likely that you will need to spend a considerable amount of time on the exercises on this website and potentially work with a personal trainer or rehabilitation specialist such as our partner Motion Memory Golf of St. Louis, MO, to rebuild strength in the hip area.
While I spend a great deal of time discussing how the glute muscles stabilize the hips in this video, in actuality it is the internal hip muscles — the piriformis, gemellus superior, etc. — that perform the stabilization. We use the term "glute" to represent this general area because most people are unfamiliar with the smaller muscles but understand the glute and can actually feel it when contracting.
In other words, do not get overly caught up in the specifics of the terminology. Rotary Swing Golf is here to make you a better golfer, not a muscular anatomy expert!
To provide another perspective on the muscles we want you to visualize, observe the image below. The areas highlighted in yellow are the muscles you are going to use and feel while performing this move correctly and while doing the exercises.
Video Transcription: Proper Lead Side Weight Shift
Top of the swing
Chuck: Hi, Chuck Quinton here with Al Consoli, our new RotarySwing Golf Instructor.
We are continuing the Weight Shift series. This is Part 3. First we discussed the basic foundation — the setup. In the previous video, we covered loading into the trail hip, activating the trail glute. We discussed the trail hip line. Now that we are loaded correctly, we are going to have Al demonstrate what it looks like to actually shift back into the lead side.
Now we have arrived at truly one of the most crucial parts of the golf swing, and one of the most important movements to master. You can forget about the golf club and the rest of the swing mechanics. If your weight shift is not correct, you are going to struggle with multiple aspects of your game.
Al, go ahead and go back to the top of your swing. We will show that trail hip line. His hip has not really moved from the line. He is loaded up into that trail side. He has made a good turn. I am going to take a club and place it on top of Al's head. Now as Al loads into that lead side, watch what happens. Notice his head drops slightly.
The head drops a little
Al, go back to address. Good posture at address — go ahead and go to the top of the backswing. Now go ahead and load into that lead side. Notice how his head drops slightly. That is a natural reaction to creating downforce — actually activating these muscles. That is precisely what we are trying to accomplish.
Al, turn sideways for me — actually flip around the other way. Go to the top of your swing. Now watch what happens. Go ahead and sit into that lead side. Notice how the lead knee bend actually increases slightly. Al, where do you feel that?
Al: Very much in my lead glute.
Chuck: What he is doing is activating the lead glute — the largest, bulkiest muscle in your body. As you load into it, he is actually performing what we need to stabilize the movement that is going to come from the upper torso during the downswing.
Weight moves to the left heel
As he starts to unwind — go ahead and begin to unwind — now his weight moves back onto the lead heel, and this is fundamentally important. If it did not move onto the lead heel, if it moved out to the ball of his foot — go ahead and shift to the ball of your foot there — now not only is he off balance (I can knock him over very easily), he has also changed his primary balancing joint from the hip, which is designed to rotate freely, to his knee.
Now you are taking a joint that is designed to hinge, just like your elbow, and trying to make it twist and rotate.
Obviously, that is extremely detrimental to your knee, so it is critically important that Al sits back into the lead heel and actually feels like he is driving it into the ground. Go ahead and face the camera for me and let us see that full sequence in motion.
The move looks exaggerated in slow motion
He is going to load back to the trail side — good. Notice he starts to squat down into the lead side. Now, he is performing this in slow motion so it will appear somewhat exaggerated. When you execute it at full speed, you are obviously not going to settle into that lead heel as dramatically, but it is going to feel that way initially. That is the sensation you are trying to achieve.
Let us do it with a bit more pace now. There you go. Now you can see his hip is in neutral joint alignment. He is anchored into the lead heel. His weight is probably 60-70 percent on his lead foot at this point in the swing, and he has substantial stability because he is able to utilize the big muscles in his swing. That stability is essential — being anchored is the key when loading into that lead heel. To see how your own weight shift and impact position compare to elite standards, try a free AI swing analysis.
Now go back to the top. This time, do not shift your weight — just start to unwind. We will demonstrate what it looks like when you do it incorrectly.
This is extremely common. Now his weight has actually shifted back to his trail foot. He did not get the weight transfer, the momentum and energy transfer we need from the lower body. Now he is going to end up throwing the club at the ball with his arms and losing significant power.
We see this frequently — golfers who reach the top of the swing and simply throw everything from the top with their arms. This is where they finish, and of course they wonder why they are off balance.
The second common error — Al, turn sideways for me again. Go to the top and come down onto the ball of your lead foot. Show how golfers tend to fall forward off balance. Go ahead, get on the ball of your lead foot and come through.
Having your weight over the balls of the feet is unstable
Then we see many golfers who are off balance and follow through like this, constantly wondering why they cannot maintain their balance. It is simply because the quad — the muscle that activates when you shift to the ball of the foot instead of the glute and hip — is not designed to stabilize the hip. The quad is designed to extend the lower leg. That is its function.
When he shifts onto the ball of his foot, he has nothing to stabilize the hip with, which means nothing to stabilize the torso either. It is critically important that the first move down is into the lead heel, and then rotation begins from there.
Now, one more time — turn around for me again. Go to the top of the swing — actually, face the camera — go to the top and now slide your hips outside of neutral on the downswing.
Now if we examine what we call neutral joint alignment — which is simply the ankle, knee, and hip all lined up in a straight vertical line — this is how your body is designed to be at neutral.
Hip outside of neutral
Now if I place a shaft on the middle of his ankle, his hip has actually moved outside of this neutral joint. Where do you feel that?
Al: Right on the hip point, right in here.
Chuck: On the outside of the hip. That is not a good place for it. This is actually going to end up injuring your hip. When you have excessive lateral movement and move outside of neutral joint alignment in the downswing, you put enormous stress on the hip joint.
Not only is he hurting his hip, but he is going to start damaging his back as he goes into the follow-through and falls into the classic Reverse C position.
Neutral joint alignment
What we are looking for — go back to the top and come down into neutral joint alignment this time — now as he comes down, we have him in basically neutral joint alignment. He has taken the stress off the outside of the hip and directed it to the glute, the muscle that is designed to perform this function. It is designed to stabilize the hip.
On the downswing, that is exactly what Al is going to feel. I am going to give you a couple of drills to practice. A good drill to feel this — and this is an exaggeration, but it is an effective exercise for many of you who have not activated your glutes before and may not be able to feel them at all.
Al, stand with your feet together. Come over here slightly. Feet together, then I want you to simply jump onto the lead side and take all your weight and drive it into the lead heel. Lead heel. Do that again.
Feet together, and he jumps. Now, as you notice, he has to stabilize a bit. This is an excellent exercise to start feeling that glute really load. If you do not actually increase the force and work that the lead glute is performing, you will end up just spinning out on the downswing.
What he is actually doing is loading, activating that glute, and then rotating — so it is a much more powerful move. This exercise gives you the feeling of what it takes to stabilize your golf swing effectively.
Hop onto the left heel
Keep in mind, when this happens during the actual swing, everything is moving at full speed. As we start to come down and everything is in motion, that lead glute needs to be extremely strong or you are not going to have any control over what happens in the downswing.
Al, do that one more time. You will notice he is not jumping to the ball of his foot first. He is landing on his heel. That is important because we want to activate that glute. We do not need to jump from a great height — it is just a small hop so you can feel the glute engage.
Al, step into a lunge position for me. Actually, turn sideways. Go ahead and set up. Drop your foot back.
Now what we want to see is that as he performs this lunge, his knee is in neutral joint alignment — basically the back of his knee is positioned over the center of his ankle.
Now go ahead and drop down. Notice as he descends, his knee does not move forward over the ball of his foot. It stays in position. Now push up. That isolates the movement to the glute. Go down again.
The knee stays in neutral
Now he can really feel that glute muscle start to activate. It is a fantastic exercise to strengthen that glute so you have stability on the way down. Now do it incorrectly — let your knee move forward. Now you feel it here, correct?
Al: I feel it in my quads.
Chuck: Now we have taken that glute out of the equation and gone back to the weight on the ball of the foot. The primary balancing joint is the knee again, and we are doing it incorrectly — without the stability we need.
Practice these two exercises. Then the final component is to sequence it the way Al demonstrated. Face the camera one more time. Go to the top.
This is the sequencing we are looking for. In the previous video, we discussed loading into the trail hip and maintaining the trail hip line. Now he is going to start setting into the lead side, driving the lead heel into the ground. What he is feeling is the effort to transfer the vast majority of his weight onto that lead heel.
Now he is going to start pulling from the lead oblique to begin unwinding the downswing, then release off the trail heel.
The knee stays in neutral
You might notice a small amount of weight remaining on the trail big toe. That is perfectly acceptable. We are not transferring 100 percent of our weight to the lead side — there will still be a small amount remaining on the trail foot. Then he will go ahead and continue through to a complete follow-through.
That is the sequence you are going to practice in front of the mirror until you master this movement. It goes: trail heel, lead heel, and then unwind. Master these fundamentals and your downswing is going to improve dramatically. For real-time feedback on how your weight transfer and downswing mechanics are performing, try a free AI golf lesson that evaluates your form.
Watch part 2 now to see how you're moving your body in the opposite direction of the pros!
