Any instructor will tell you that the swing isn’t so much a swing as it is a pivot — a combo of bends, tilts, rotations and weight shifts. The pivot is your swing’s engine and what drives all those motions from start to finish.
I know it seems like a complicated thing, but a golf pivot is actually more natural than it may seem. You don’t have to be a “swing mechanic” to develop a better one. In fact, I’ve got a great drill to help anyone get started.
To better feel how your body should coil over your trail leg on the backswing and uncoil over your lead leg (the one close to the target) on the downswing, try this: Hold a club across your chest and swing (1). As you turn back, lift your front foot off the ground (2). You should feel some added tension in your glutes and core, and you won’t stay in balance unless you center your weight over your trail leg. Do the same on your forward swing, this time lifting your trail foot off the ground (3). Unless you center your weight over your lead leg, again, you’ll fall off-balance.
Try this back and forth. As you rehearse, you’ll feel the proper pivot motion over each leg. When it comes time to hit a real shot, you should feel the same thing.
Tony Ruggiero is a GOLF Top 100 Teacher and is the director of instruction at Dewsweepers Downtown in Mobile, Ala.
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