Create easy power using this dynamic exercise for weight shift

Welcome to Play Smart, a regular GOLF.com game-improvement column that will help you become a smarter, better golfer.

To generate your maximum power, you’ve got to know how to properly shift your weight during the swing. Of all the intricate movements composed in a golf swing, the weight shift is among the most important.

The thing about a proper weight shift that most recreational golfers fail to grasp is that it should start back toward the target before you even finish the backswing. This move — commonly referred to as re-centering — is seen in the swing of every high-level player, regardless of how the rest of their swing looks.

Think of it in terms of a baseball player making a swing. As the ball approaches the plate, they take a small step toward the mound as they turn their torso and make a “backswing.” This helps create separation between the upper and lower body as you coil them in opposite directions, which creates tons of potential energy ready to be unleashed.

If you want to maximize the power in your swing, you’ve got to add this move. And for help learning the feel of this move, instructor Joe Plecker has a great drill he demonstrates in the video below.

How to feel proper weight shift

Plecker, a GOLF Top 100 Teacher, explains that he likes to teach moves in the golf swing with dynamic exercises. One such drill, which he learned on a visit to Korea earlier this year, is a modified version of the “step-swing” drill.

For this routine, all you need is an alignment stick or an old shaft that you can whip around with ease. Grip it like you would for a normal swing, and then take a stance.

“What I like to do is start out with the club a little bit in front of me,” Plecker says. “Then I’ll swing back and swing my lead leg behind my trail leg, swing back fully this time and then through.”

You should hear a whoosh sound when you swing through the impact zone. Once the club gets to the finish position, draw it back again and whip the stick back as you take your lead leg and stagger it back behind your trail leg.

“What I’m getting is a separation of the two halves of my body,” Plecker says. “The lower half is going forward while the upper half is going back.”

When you do this, you are creating that “coil” that can be unleashed on the downswing and generate tons of clubhead speed.

“What you’ll feel is that it really does start to become a cadence, a rhythm,” Plecker says. “Doing it two, three, four five times in a row, you’ll sort of find your rhythm or best pace that you can control the motion in.”

Do this routine a few times, and then pick up a club and make some swings, making sure you keep that feeling of shifting your weight toward the target before you complete the backswing. As you start to master this feel, you’ll notice that you can generate clubhead speed much more effortlessly and should see longer drives.