Getting into and initiating the golf downswing is one of the toughest accomplishments for the average golfer.
So, in this series of Tips for Golf, this is what we’ll discuss next.
If you haven’t read my article on the footwork, you should start with the Tips For Golf – Footwork then come back
At the top of the backswing is where you really have to think about initiating your golf swing from the ground up.
It is at this point where many golfers lose all their hard work and begin to fire their hands and arm at the golf ball.
If this occurs in your golf swing, you have spent all of your stored energy at the top of your swing.
And even though you think you are swinging hard and accelerating the club, you have now lost the effortless but explosive power that you had stored.
As the transition from the golf backswing to downswing begins your weight will begin to shift from the right foot to the left foot and your hips will begin to move toward the target. As the weight shift to the right foot continues, the hips shouldn’t begin to rotate until the weight gets back to about 50% on both feet and your downswing is about waist high. Remember, you have a tremendous amount of stored energy that you want to deliver to the ball. You don’t want to begin the release process too early.
Just before impact, your hips open and your bellybutton is turning toward the target. Throughout all of our discussion this is when the pure physics happens. As your hips begin to open, your weight is now being transfer over to the outside of your left foot. As you should note, very little discussion about the shoulders and upper body at this point. And certainly none of the arms and hands in the golf swing. This is because it’s your legs and footwork that are the engines of the golf swing.
With your weight over your left foot and your hips opening up, it’s time for your shoulders and upper body to follow suit and catch up.
And catch up they will. As they do, the head of your golf club becomes that of the tip of a whip at the moment of impact with your shoulders now funneling all of that tremendous stored energy down through your arms and hands and into the shaft of the golf club.
In fact, although it doesn’t feel like it, your upper body is moving so fast that it outpaces your lower body by 45 degrees and you finish with your stomach pointing at the target and your shoulders rotated by in much of a mirror image as you were at the top of your backswing.
All of this brought to you by your legs and feet. The lynch pin and foundation of your golf swing that ultimately allows you store and release… or right foot then left foot.