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by David Lake 1 Iron Golf, Inc. |
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1 Iron Golf®
Swing Tips XVI |
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Eliminating the dreaded lateral move from your swing You can’t sway my opinion on this
We receive e-mails from customers who initially have trouble with their new 1 Iron Golf fairway woods or Driver and upon analysis the cause is always the same - swaying to the right during the backswing and swaying to the left during the downswing (right-hand golfers). I know that I have stated this in a number of past newsletters but it is of such vital importance that it can not be repeated too many times. The problem lies with the ingrained swing a golfer has developed over the years in order to hit conventional woods that did not fit him properly in conjunction with using a forward ball position. A secondary but major contributing factor to swaying during the swing is the concept of weight shift. My guess is that the culprit for this secondary swing killing fault is the oft repeated instruction to make a weight shift to the right side on the backswing and to the left side on the downswing. Believe me, nothing will devastate a good swing faster than this conscious weight shift ideology. At address, regardless of which golf club is being used, your weight should be evenly distributed between your feet and towards your heels. During the swing this weight distribution should not consciously change (although as a practical matter it will shift slightly). By consciously incorporating a weight shift you will unconsciously create the swaying motion mentioned above and eliminate any chance of a good swing. The main problem with a swaying motion is that instead of being able to bring the golf club around and behind you during the backswing the sway to the right forces you to bring the club directly out to your right side. This destroys your power potential and creates an outside to inside swing path through impact causing a slice as was discussed in Swing Tips XVI. As well, the forced sway to the left during the downswing makes it virtually impossible to bring the club-head through the ball on a consistent plane. Power in a golf swing is produced by the torque created between the torso and hips as your upper body rotates clockwise around your lower body during the backswing. This brings the golf club behind you instead of out to the right which allows you to fully unleash the built-up power during the downswing and starts you off in the correct plane through impact. Any sway or conscious weight shift to the right side during the backswing will completely negate the possibility of this from happening and result in inconsistent performance and a distinct lack of power. The next time you watch a golf tournament on television notice the hips of the golfer during the swing - their relative position never changes during the backswing or downswing but remains stationary throughout. Try this at the range and you will see a definite difference in your fairway wood and driver play. I will caution you that it will feel very strange at first but once you see the results your comfort level and confidence will increase dramatically. |