Gain Speed In Your Golf Swing By Quieting Your Body

Last year’s edition of the Hero World Challenge was supposed to be Tiger Woods’ tune-up tournament for the upcoming PNC Father-Son Championship. As is often the case these days, an injured Tiger opted to forego his playing duties at Albany Golf Club in order to rest up for the highly anticipated scramble-style event with his son and partner, Charlie.

In the Bahamas, an ailing Woods decided to take his talents to the NBC commentator’s booth alongside Dan Hicks and Paul Azinger. There, Tiger offered golf fans a small glimpse into what he believes is fundamental to any good golf swing.

At one point or another, virtually every golfer has heard the all-too-familiar swing advice, “let the club do the work,” “easy does it,” or “don’t over-swing.”

While there certainly are players who over-rotate or over-swing too often, this doesn’t mean these same amateurs are swinging “too hard” or with “too much speed.” For your average player with typical hand-eye coordination, swinging “hard” is often a recipe for less speed, less consistency, and less distance.

Embed from Getty Images 

Let me be clear: if you do feel you’re swinging hard and you’re also creating a lot of club-head speed, keep it up. But, if you’re off balance at the finish and/or over the course of your swing, do not keep swinging as hard. As Tiger told us last December, you’re supposed to swing hard and go after the ball. What you’re not supposed to do, as Tiger pointed out, is swing as hard as you can if you’re unable to come to a balanced finish.

Vintage Tiger may have been able to finish on his back foot after pounding a drive down the middle with regularity. Us mere mortals cannot. Sure, you may hit the occasional drive down the middle without coming to a balanced finish. More often than not, however, you will hit monster pushes and/or pulls if you do not swing on balance.

Just because Justin Thomas and Scottie Scheffler “dance” with their feet during their swings, as Tiger referred to it, doesn’t mean they are off balance. JT and Scottie both routinely come to a full finish with their upper body/weight loaded up and onto their lead left leg paired with a right trail foot that’s almost entirely up off the ground. At the finish, the entire bottom or sole of their right shoe is visible to whoever stands behind them on the same line as their intended target (down the line vs. face-on).

Embed from Getty Images 

They also swing the club at over 120 mph with the driver, which makes returning the clubhead to the back of the ball in a consistent fashion an impressive feat. They know that in order to strike the ball in the middle of the clubface, they know they must swing on balance and come to a full, balanced finish. Not only do they routinely come to a full finish, but they are also able to hold the finish for however long they want to.

Frequently, amateurs tend to associate excessive lower and/or upper body movement with trying to either “swing harder” or “add club-head speed.” When these same players do try to give their ball a ride, they also finish off balance after over-engaging their lower and/or upper bodies in each’s effort to gain more yards. Too often, amateurs possessing far less talent than the world’s best will dance with their feet like JT or Scottie. If you feel you’re a dancer to some degree and struggle coming to a full, balanced finish, it’s time to examine how your lower body movement is affecting your golf swing.

Trail Foot Sliders:

After getting into your setup position, ask yourself where your weight is. For a right-handed player, you tend to set up with more weight than what’s optimal on your trail foot (right foot). Be mindful that the same oft-seen unequal weight distribution (too much on trail left foot) applies to the lefty dancer. If this applies to you, “push” more weight into your lead foot while standing in your setup position over the golf ball.

If done properly, you’ll be in a much better position to create a more adequate shoulder/hip turn on the backswing coupled with a weight transfer that doesn’t push too much weight into the outside part of your trail foot during your backswing. You’ll also notice you’ll be less inclined to bend your lead knee too far forward as you swing the club back. Too much forward knee bend in your lead knee on the backswing can be the result of picking up your lead heel on the backswing.

Embed from Getty Images 

If you lift your lead heel during the golf swing and drag your trail foot excessively on the downswing or after impact, you compromise your ability to create clubhead speed efficiently and effectively. Furthermore, this lower body action hampers your ability to remain level during the swing, which negatively impacts the quality of your strike when you return the clubhead to the back of the ball at impact.

When you excessively drag your trail foot thru the hitting area, there’s a high probability you’re sacrificing not just clubhead speed but your stable connection with the ground/surface you’re standing on. Dragging your trail foot excessively is an act often performed during the swing in order to stay on your feet or somewhat on balance thru the hit. Dragging the trail foot is often evidence of a less solid strike than one intended at the onset. These draggers also find it extremely difficult to hold their finish.

Back Foot Finishers:

If you fight the high pushes or the toe pulls, there’s a very good chance your weight is too far on your back foot at the end of your swing. If you do finish on your trail foot, there’s also a high probability that your stance at the setup is either too wide in relation to the width of your chest and/or shoulders; or you take the club too far back or past parallel-to-the-ground on your backswing. Back-foot finishers do not excessively drag their trail foot thru the hitting area like some “dancers” with their feet/lower body.

Instead, they finish on their back foot because they are either “falling away” from the target on the downswing or do not have enough weight on their lead leg due to an excessively long backswing. If this is you, visualize or pretend you’re a pitcher in baseball throwing from the stretch. In order to throw the ball, pitchers explode from their trailside onto their lead or front side in relation to home plate. Back foot-finishers must get their weight onto the lead side in order to come to a full, balanced finish. Whatever the reason, get into your lead side instead of staying trapped on your trail side thru the hitting area.

Embed from Getty Images 

Because the sand makes it difficult not to slide with your feet, golfers are taught to hit fairway bunker shots with a quiet lower body/knees. Many golfers would wisely do the same on standard shots from the rough, fairway, and tee. If you’re making consistently solid contact on your shots and still struggling to get the ball out there, you need to focus on adding clubhead speed. Adding clubhead speed does not equate to adding excessive lower body movement or losing one’s stable connection with the ground.

A full, balanced finish is the result of performing a series of other moves properly over the course of your golf swing. Do not make the mistake of thinking that your body’s movement(s) after you’ve struck the ball is irrelevant with respect to how you strike the golf ball. It is extremely relevant. The best players in the world routinely arrive to full finishes and swing the club faster than the rest of us do. While it’s true many of them arrive at these balanced finishes using certain, unique moves many of us are incapable of doing, we’re all capable of striking the ball more consistently if we swing within our own body’s limitations.

Swinging within your specific body’s limitations is another way we can play within ourselves. Swinging/playing within yourself often means utilizing less lower body movement in order to gain the speed you need in order to hit the ball longer and more on-line. Maximizing your potential to hit it further and on-line involves playing the percentages each and every time we approach our ball on the course.

Embed from Getty Images 

Excessive/improper lower/upper body movement tends to rear its ugly head when our brain incorrectly associates precisely that with hitting the ball longer distances or trying to hit it longer distances. There’s a very good chance your excessive body movements during the golf swing manifest themselves in poor balance at the finish and less consistency at the point of attack. Before you jump into examining various club positions during your golf swing in order to gain clubhead speed, try refocusing on how your body moves and determine what your limitations and capabilities are with respect to flexibility and movement.

This is all to say that a proper weight transfer combined with an adequate hip/shoulder turn with respect to your body’s capabilities requires far less foot, knee, and head movement than too many of us realize. Understanding that most of your tendencies originate from this inherent imbalance between your dominant side and non-dominant side is critical for golfers who want to gain more yards in a consistent fashion. Limiting your knee bend in order to create more stability at both the point of attack and at the finish is a simple mental thought that many golfers will benefit immensely from.

More stability at impact and at the finish is merely another way of outlining what it takes to hit the ball more solid and, in consequence, hit it further. Just as importantly, a full, balanced finish similar to Rory McIlroy’s is evidence of neutralizing this inherent imbalance we all have when comparing our dominant side to our non-dominant side. In the golf swing and in all sports, balance is everything.