Something that many golfers struggle with in the one plane swing is learning to rotate the body rather than slide through impact.
Long-time golfers who have been using a more traditional swing are used to lifting the arms and having to drop and give them time to move back down. This makes a slide feel like a very natural and fundamental thing to do.
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.
However, when it comes to the one plane swing this can create a lot of problems, so it's something that needs to be overcome when you're learning this new way to swing the club. Tools like the AI swing analyzer can help you identify whether your body is sliding or rotating correctly through impact.
Rotation back and through is critical to the one plane swing
Eliminating the Slide
Never do this!
Rotation back and through is very, very important in the one plane swing. There's no sliding.
There's a small amount of natural lateral movement — in the sense that you're not leaning back — but everything stays in place as you turn your head and shoulders back, then everything kind of stays behind and rotates through the shot.
It's critical that you never make the sliding move. That sliding movement affects everything in the golf swing mechanics.
We talked about this when we looked at missing shots to the trail side. The slide is a huge part of what causes those nasty shots to the right, high blocks, and flippy, quick snap hooks with the hands as you try to save the shot.
You absolutely have to learn how to rotate the body properly so you don't slide and drive your hips into the ball. You have to learn how to rotate.
Here's How: The One Legged Drill
This drill is very simple.
Take a midiron — Chuck is using a 7 iron in these photos — and go ahead and tee up the ball to keep it easy at first.
Place the ball directly off your lead toe or heel, then put all your weight on the lead leg. Pull your trail foot back behind you. It can touch the ground for balance, but your weight is all on the lead side.
Now just hit some simple little golf shots while standing on this one leg.
Rotation back and through is critical to the one plane swing
Now if you try and slide you can't possibly make good contact. You have no choice but to learn to rotate back and through the shot.
Use your whole body to turn rather than moving off the ball and then sliding back into it. You won't be able to hit the ball properly if you do that. The GOAT Drill system builds this same pattern of centered rotation into every rep you take.
Start Small
Just make little half or three quarter swings at first, then rotate through the shot and let your trail leg come around into a natural finish position as the rotation of your body pulls it through.
If you're falling off balance, that's obviously a sign that you've got some work to do on your swing. Balance and stability are huge fundamentals here. You have to be able to stay perfectly balanced as you make the swing.
One Legged Drill: Setup and backswing
There's nothing special about the swing itself. It's just a little half swing to give you the feeling of rotating around the shot.
Set up on your lead leg. Get all the weight on the lead side. Get very centered over the ball, then turn back and turn through.
When you move on to making full swings on both feet, you're going to focus on maintaining that same sensation. Your weight will be more centered — you're not going to keep all your weight on one foot in a regular shot — but you want that same sensation of body rotation through impact.
Make a slow transition between the One Legged Drill and full shots on both feet. Start out with a little more weight on your lead foot, and then as you hit more shots and get more comfortable you can get more centered.
Work on rotation. Work on these one legged drills, and watch your golf swing improve!
One Legged Drill: Impact and Finish
Want to Feel This in YOUR Swing?
Try a free 10-minute GOAT Drill lesson — GOATY coaches you in real-time based on your actual swing.
Try a Free Live AI Golf Lesson →
Watch part 2 now to see how you're moving your body in the opposite direction of the pros!
