One of the most important factors in making an effective backswing is controlling your lower body motion. A common fault with many amateurs is attempting to keep the lower body too quiet. It is true that to produce a powerful coil at the top of the swing there must be resistance between the upper body and lower body. However, by over-restricting lower body rotation to the top, many players produce an undesirable sway.
A sway occurs when the lower body moves away from the target during the backswing. This improper lower body motion makes an effective weight transfer during the backswing nearly impossible. Proper weight transfer to the top of the swing occurs when the upper body shifts and turns behind a stable lower body. When the lower body sways, the upper body cannot physically move enough to get behind the lower body. This results in a poor weight transfer and, more often than not, a reverse pivot.
So the question is…how do you produce a good coil at the top of the swing without allowing your lower body to sway? The answer is simple; focus on proper weight transfer first and X-Factor/Coil second.
To start producing power in your golf swing your number one objective must be to develop a proper weight transfer. If your upper body does not shift behind your lower body during the backswing the probability of coming down on plane and in a powerful position is very low. Once your body knows how to transfer weight properly during the backswing then you can start worrying about coil and X-Factor.
How to Stop Your Sway
To prevent a sway during the backswing focus on allowing your hips to rotate and pivot. By actually over-rotating your hips you will feel the lower body stay more stationary and feel the weight stay on the inside of your back foot. A great drill to help you with this feeling is the chair drill. Place a chair against your back leg and make a swing to the top feeling your back hip pivot against the chair instead of swaying into it. In addition, make sure that your upper body is shifting behind your lower body so you feel a majority of your weight on the inside edge of your back foot.
How to Produce Coil
Once you have gotten rid of the sway in your lower body you can focus on producing a coil. To produce a good coil during the backswing the lower body rotation must be reduced while maintaining the proper weight transfer with the upper body. A great addition to the chair drill is the ball between the knees drill. By placing a ball (basketball, volleyball, soccer ball, beach ball, etc.) between your knees you will minimize the amount of lower body rotation you are able to produce. By using this drill along with the chair drill you can ensure a restricted lower body rotation while promoting a proper weight transfer to the top.
Interesting Facts!
Talk about comebacks. George Duncan was 13 shots behind in the final round, yet still won the 1920 British Open. Seven years later at the Irish Open at Portmarnock, he was 14 shots behind in the last round, and came back to win the tournament
They Said It!
No one will ever have golf under his thumb. No round ever will be so good it could not have been better. Perhaps this is why golf is the greatest of games. You are not playing a human adversary; you are playing a game. You are playing old man par.
-Bobby Jones, the greatest amateur golfer of all time.
Submitted article by:
Chris Jefferson
Head Golf Professional at Paris G&CC
– Class A memeber of the P.G.A. for 18 years.
Josh Allen Josh is the Managing Editor of www.eParisExtra.com. If you have a suggestion or comment about a story or possible story, you may email him at josh@eparistexas.com.
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