How ‘loading’ in your backswing can generate more power

Your backswing is much more than getting the club to the top so you can swing it back down to the ball. It’s your chance to “load” into your right side — the key to storing downswing speed. There are two parts to this: a shift element and a rotational factor. Here’s how you can check and improve both. 

Slide an alignment stick through your front belt loops. Grab another stick and set it about a foot inside your right hip. With any club (no ball needed), start your backswing. As you do, focus on shifting your weight so you feel it move into your right hip as you start back. (That’s the shift part of loading.) As you continue to the top, take pains to rotate your lower body. 

Here’s where the alignment stick in your belt loops comes into play: Shift, then rotate until the stick in your belt loops lines up with the stick on the ground. That takes care of the rotation factor needed to load. 

Get these two moves right and you’ll add speed you never knew existed. See more from 

Jake Thurm is a GOLF Teacher to Watch. See more from him at jakethurm.com.