Other Sports and Golf

Other sports which involve “impact” with an object such as tennis, baseball, ice hockey and even boxing can also relate to golf.  In particular it’s the similarities in body movement heading to impact.  There has to be a weight shift to the lead leg as the downswing starts.  The fact that the golf ball is just sitting there and not moving toward us tends to make us think too much of hitting at the ball instead of swinging thru it.  The end result is a huge percentage of golfers fail to move off their back foot and this can lead to all kinds of issues.

I will always ask a student about a sport they may have played or still play and show them how it relates to golf.  In the following pictures you can see how in his initial swing, not much weight transferred forward.

He informed me he had played a lot of tennis in his younger years.  I handed him a tennis racket and asked him to show me his standard forehand move.

It was amazing how he transferred his weight to his lead leg when using a tool he much more familiar!  Now the trick was to put the golf club back in his hand and create the same motion.  

After a little practice rehearsing and hitting balls he was consistently getting his weight transferred to his lead side!  If you’re struggling with your weight shift give this idea a try.