Tips on Finding the Perfect Balance in Your Swing

It has long been said that golf is little more than a good walk spoiled. This is because a typical golf course provides you with breathtaking views and a chance to see a variety of animals in their natural habitat.

However, while it’s good to get outside for a few hours, you don’t want to spend an afternoon searching the forest or the bottom of a lake for your ball. It may be possible to reduce your score and have a more enjoyable round by improving your balance. Doing so may help you hit better shots that land on the fairway instead of in the sand or water.

The Importance of Proper Balance

If you are standing too far over the ball, you may be at a greater risk of topping the ball instead of hitting it directly in the center. This can result in shots that don’t travel very far or that veer to the right or left as soon as they leave your club. If you stand too far away from the ball, it can make it difficult to generate the clubhead speed necessary to drive it more than 100 yards.

However, when properly balanced, your body can easily shift its weight from the back to the front, which allows you to hit the ball squarely and with force. It also makes it easier to hit the ball where you want it to go instead of slicing or hooking it into the trees.

Read: How to get in shape for Golf?

Simple Is Better

If you watch a professional swing a club, you’ll realize that it comes across as smooth and easy. This is because generating a quiet and steady rhythm is the best way to maintain your balance and hit a quality shot. While it may seem counterintuitive, an easy backswing and relaxed follow-through is the best way to generate the clubhead speed needed to launch a ball 200 to 300 yards. In addition, the use of proper technique can make it easier to survive a round of 18 holes without hurting your back, knees or other joints.

Proper Balance Starts with Your Feet

You may think that good posture means that you place most of your weight on the balls of your feet. However, this is generally only true if you need to walk or run in an efficient manner without hurting yourself. As you don’t need to move during the process of swinging a golf club, the above advice does you little or no good.

Ideally, you will stand in such a way that your body weight is distributed through the center of your ankle. This will make it easier to create a solid base for your knees, hips and other body parts used during your swing. Having such a base of support allows you to shift weight from your back foot to your front foot in a seamless manner. It also allows you to rotate your hips and take other actions without putting a lot of stress or pressure on your body.

Read: Why Attend a Golf School?

Shift Your Weight from Front to Back

When you address the ball, you want to have your weight evenly distributed between both feet. As you begin to swing the club, you’ll want to initially put most of your weight on the left foot, which is typically in front of the right foot. As you reach the top of your swing, you’ll want to gradually shift your weight from the front foot to the back.

As you begin to bring the club down, you’ll want to reverse the process. At this point, you’ll want to shift your weight from the back foot back to the front foot. In addition, you will need to rotate your hips gradually while keeping your knees bent at a consistent angle to maintain proper balance.

What Else Should You Know About Staying Balanced?

While good balance starts with proper footwork, you’ll need to keep your entire body in alignment throughout the swing. However, you won’t be able to keep your body in alignment unless you keep your head down from the moment you bring the club back through the moment that it makes contact with the ball.

Lifting your head forces your body to come out of alignment, which will mess up your timing and rhythm. A good way to keep your head still is to focus on one particular dimple on the ball throughout the entire process of swinging the club. You will also have to learn to avoid the temptation of trying to track the ball before you have actually hit it.

If you are playing with a friend, you can have that person keep track of where your shot went. Alternatively, you should feel good knowing that your ball will likely be visible in the air for several seconds after hitting it. Therefore, you aren’t at risk of losing where your ball is simply because you kept your head down for a split second after it goes into the air.

Even the Professionals Make Mistakes

You shouldn’t feel bad if you lift your head, bend your elbow or make other errors that impact the quality of your swing. Movies such as “Tin Cup” (on fuboTV) and “Happy Gilmore”(on Prime Video) teach valuable lessons about how even those who play the game for a living don’t necessarily have consistent or conventional approaches to swinging the club. You’ll also learn the importance of staying calm while on the course and how staying in control of your emotions can make it easier to play to your potential.

If you want to see a film about how passionate people are about the game, check out “The Legend of Bagger Vance.” It has a number of quality actors and tells a story of a man who is willing to die on the course because it means departing this world doing what he loves most.

Summary

It will be difficult to be successful as a golfer if you don’t have a consistent swing. To achieve consistency in your swing, you’ll need to maintain good balance from the moment that you lift the club to the moment that you make contact with the ball. Over time, you’ll notice that proper technique makes it easier to hit the ball with authority and put it wherever you need to on the course.