Secret Balance For Extra Power & Control - Scott CranfieldI hope you enjoyed my last feature on The Warrior Posture and that you have been able to put it to good use. In this article we are going to look at what I use as my No 1 check point when I am assessing the movement of a golfer's swing and that is Balance!
For my money any time a golfer is slightly out of balance, or changes balance during the golf swing it will immediately cause other compensations and the more compensations you make the harder it is to have a consistent swing & timing, which in turn makes it harder to hit consistent shots! By understanding and working on your balance you will immediately reduce some unnecessary compensation and all will be much easier.
For the record I have seen swing path and swing plane as well as rhythm change on literally hundreds of swings without ever directly working on them! HOW? by simply improving the golfers balance, that's why I rate it so highly!
Now I really want you to buy into this idea of how important good swing balance is and how destructive it is if you are getting it wrong. To do that just give some thought to normal everyday life situations where when we loose balance think of the extreme moves we make with our arms and legs etc to remain balanced. Now the likelihood of loosing balance this way during the golf swing is hopefully limited and certainly not as life threatening however you must appreciate any time our brain is getting the message we are out of balance it is going to do something to compensate because remaining balanced is of high priority to our brain!
In golf swing terms loosing our balance mean the compensations will have one if not both the following effects…
1. Harder to keep the clubface square, causing off line shots 2. Loss of power as energy is now going on correcting balance and not simply hitting the ball
So the upside?…stay balanced and you will have…
1. Maximum energy moving towards the same cause giving you extra power. 2. Less compensations plus a strong body at impact making a square clubface easier to achieve.
So are you saying enough of the sell I buy in just tell me how to achieve this optimum balance in the golf swing….OK, lets get on with it!
The first step to swinging in balance is to obviously start in balance which was discussed in detail in The Warrior Posture article. As a quick re-cap the normal body weight position for a human being is right through the centre of their feet, meaning you would feel your weight evenly balanced across the soles of your feet so the heel and ball of your feet are securely on the ground. Poor balance is normally when the weight is sitting too far onto the heels or toes of your feet. This is true in a normal standing position as well as a golf posture. So assuming you are in a fairly good golf posture what is the next step to staying in balance during the golf swing?...
The first step to moving in balance is to have a clear concept of the golf swing, and where our weight should move during it to stay balanced. Something very few club golfers have, and its easy! How would you describe the golf swing in one word? Having asked this to thousands of people the answer 100% of golfers settle on that gives them a clear picture and feeling of the desired golf swing in their mind is a….CIRCLE! That's what the golf swing is a circle, think about it when you watch good swings they stand to the ball nicely and then rotate their bodies and swing their arms in a way that creates a big circle.
(ideally can you drop in a photo of me No. 060807 100 with a yellow circle projected around me meeting at the ball) Just having this clear image in our minds can be so beneficial as it can rid us of all the smaller detail parts we try and perfect in the swing that often just makes us tight and restricted. So how does having this concept help our balance you ask?? Well using this image we can review the motion of the club during the swing relative to our body, because after all it is the club that hits the ball if we can move in harmony and balance with it we will go a long way to improving our ball striking, so lets review it.
From a balanced start position i.e. weight in the middle of your feet and evenly distributed between right and left side the swing begins for a right handed player by swinging the club and your arms to the right (See Instructional Photo) the natural reaction to this movement is to allow our weight to start moving to the right so as we complete the backswing our weight is now 60-80% on our right side, depending on the club (See Instructional Photo). Now the next stage the transition from back swing to downswing is the most important…your arms and club will be re-tracking what they have just done on the backswing meaning they are still to the right side of your body (See Instructional Photo),(See Instructional Photo) therefore there is no need to rush the weight to your left side, do this and you will break connection with the golf club, its only as your club is approaching the ball (See Instructional Photo) that your weight really shifts to the left. Then of course as your arms and club switch sides to the left of your body your natural response should be for your body weight to work in harmony and also move to the left. (See Instructional Photo)
So you see when you think simply and clearly about the golf swing once a good set up and posture is achieved it really is a a movement of two half's at least as far a s balance is concerned and allowing your body weight to move into each half as the club travels there!
For some golfers this concept alone and simply letting their body move in harmony with the club instead of being obsessed with positions can improve their balance and ball striking. So why don't you simply your swing and try it you might be pleasantly surprised how free and easy it becomes!! In case you don't find your 'Eureka' from the above lets look at a couple of other ways you can enhance your balance during the swing…
Shoes Off!
Obviously our strongest feedback regarding balance is our connection with the ground. The following exercise has helped golfers from European Tour level to novice club golfers. Play some shots in bare feet. Doing this obviously enhances your awareness of your balance. Follow along with the swing sequence of me doing it before having a go yourself, and I always recommend starting with gentle ¾ practise swings before building up to hitting full shots.
1. Start with your toes up. A common mistake for many golfers is to get weight on to their toes during the setup &/or swing. Your weight should be equally distributed between your heels and the balls of your feet. (See Instructional Photo)
2. As you swing feel like you are responding to the motion of the club whilst keeping both toes of the ground. If you are working in harmony with the club you will complete your backswing with your weight still centred and your toes off the ground. Place too much effort into your backswing or over control the swing from your body and you are likely to fall too far into your heels or fall forward causing your toes to drop (See Instructional Photo)
3. Impact - the all important point! At this stage in the swing it is critical to feel balanced with the weight still feeling centred. Because of your weight moving to your left the toes of your right foot will now be down, but look at this picture (See Instructional Photo) and you get a sense of a balanced and stable impact. Compare this to the example where my weight is not staying central and you can see a post impact position that is out of balance and one that is difficult to keep a square clubface! (See Instructional Photo)
So get those shoes of and start enhancing your own awareness of balance!
Throwing & One Hand Swings
As much as possible I like to refer to 'normal' functional movements that can relate to the golf swing, as my experience shows when pupils can relate to something else they can very quickly improve their movements in the golf swing. Throwing is one such exercise…
To throw a ball with any real force there is a need to use your body weight and to stay balanced, very much as we have been discussing here in the golf swing. Lets first look at the sequence of me throwing and how it relates..
1. Start position is evenly balanced (See Instructional Photo)
2. Arm swings to the right and my weight shifts (See Instructional Photo)
3. Transition - arm beginning to change direction but still to the right side with my weight (See Instructional Photo)
4. Impact, weight now into my left side (See Instructional Photo)
5. Finish, weight turned fully into my left side.
Now as I mentioned from my experience many people find the motion of throwing more natural than swinging a golf club so simply practising the motion of throwing and realising many of the positive moves you are looking for in a golf swing are already hard wired into your brain can be quite reassuring and empowering. If this appeals to you follow the next step to bring a throw into the golf swing…
One Hand Swings
A gentle transition from throwing to a normal swing is swinging with one hand (right for right handed players), the reason being for many golfers holding with the one hand reduces tension and certainly some of the restrictions we have compared to swinging normally, so in this state we get closer to the natural weight movement and solid balance we have when throwing. I normally get clients to alternate between a few throws and one handed swings before progressing back to a normal swing. The key focus when doing this exercise is to feel as though you are throwing the club head down the range (please don't!!) and to allow your body to respond to it without over controlling. Lets take a look at the swing sequence one handed and compare to throwing…
1. Top of the back swing- weight nicely positioned on my right side
2. Transition - While arm and club come down re tracing backswing weight is holding in right side
3. Impact - Weight now into left side
4. Finish - Weight fully turned around left side.
So the point again sometimes we need to come away from over complicating swing thoughts and use movements we learnt at school that can enhance our golf swings!
I cant stress enough the importance of learning to stay balanced during the golf swing not just for balance sake but because of all the knock on benefits that quickly follow, and the fact it normally always lead to more ball control.
In closing let me summarise with a final thought…
"If you start balanced, have a clear concept of the club head tracing a big circle on either side of your body, simply give up control and swing your club on this circle you will almost certainly begin to move better and improve your balance and weight transfer"
I wish you the very best of luck.
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