Curious........

[vp27519]

about your thoughts on weight transfer during the swing.

Recently had pitching lesson with someone other than coach (why with someone else - there are two reasons).

During this lesson I was told that 60 percent should be on the left side and 40 on the right. This person also said that is what he teaches for the full swing.

Coach wants my weight to transfer like I am swinging a baseball bat.

What are your thoughts......?

[vp27519]

Re: Curious........

Ohhhhh, I forgot to add, I am only talking about the takeaway here.

[bdbl]

Re: Curious........

about your thoughts on weight transfer during the swing.

Recently had pitching lesson with someone other than coach (why with someone else - there are two reasons).

During this lesson I was told that 60 percent should be on the left side and 40 on the right. This person also said that is what he teaches for the full swing.

Coach wants my weight to transfer like I am swinging a baseball bat.

What are your thoughts......?

There are many "right ways" to swing a club and, unless you have any reason not to, I'd suggest that you stick with what your regular coach advises.

[LowPost42]

Re: Curious........

LOL - I like the idea of stacking a bit more on the lead side.

Most amateurs shift their weight to the right side and never get enough back to the left.

Personally I stack up the left side for anything other than driver and putter.

[BrianW]

Re: Curious........

This is what I do:

When pitching you are making a shortened version of the full swing so will need to preset yourself into the impact position from address. I set around 70% of my weight on the front foot and take a slightly open stance so that my hips are already cleared. The reason is that due to the shorter swing you will not have time to make a full body turn back and through, also because the shot is more about accuracy than power presetting gives you stability.

[Neil18]

Re: Curious........

Hi Nicole,

It sounds to me as though you have been given advice from two different schools of thought here.

If I'm reading this correctly, your unofficial tutor is advocating the stack 'n' tilt method where your weight during the backswing remains forward (see Zach Johnson/Aaron Baddely).

Of course, there will be much more to your backswing swing than just where your weight is. Sticking to the subject, however (HA!), I am of the opinion that momentum comes from various sources withing the swing, including weight shift.

If a player keeps their weight more on the front foot during their stock swing, then they will more than likely be a low hitter. It keeps the centre of gravity more over the ball, steepens the downswing arc in relation to the ball and creates a lower follow through. It may be a tad more accurate than a more traditional swing method, but distance can be compromised. The reason? Momentum. For me, shifting the weight to the rear foot slightly in the backswing means the weight has to move forward during the downswing.

It's difficult to describe, so I guess the best way to show how I look at it this; if a car was to run you over (morbid, I know, but bear with me!) and had a running start of 5 feet, you'd barely get bumped off balance. If a car ran you over from a runnng start of 30 feet, you'd get knocked a fair distance.

If your weight is already on your front foot before your downswing starts, weight shift has no bearing on momentum because it ain't shifting anywhere. The speed build up and power has to be all rotation - which is why Zach Johnson has a monster follow through.

It seems to me to be the more strenuous way to do it. It will have it's uses though. Into the wind, a classic swinger will leave his weight forward with a low follow through, essentially employing stack 'n' tilt for the type of shot at hand.

The problem comes when a player tries to hit it high when their weight is already so far forward. The only way to do it as effectively as possible is collapse the leading wrist through impact to add loft to the clubface, which can be hit and miss in terms of direction, but it will go high!

I'm more of a "shift it back then through the hit" kinda guy. The weight shift not only aids momentum a touch, but also (to me) flattens out the hitting area just a fraction to keep the clubface going more toward the target through impact. I'm talking a small difference here, but a difference none-the-less. And I'm referring to my "stock swing" here too.

I guess what I'm trying to get at here is that there's no need to look at it one way or the other. Both methods have their uses and their own types of misses. So practice both, and you'll instantly have more in your armoury on the course. No two golf shots are the same, so why should two swings be identical? This is where the imagination of the best players comes in.

Looking at various swings on Swingvision, nobody can tell from the naked eye what type of shot pro's are hitting, but rest assured they are trying to hit a specific shot. It narrows the margins for error further.

Yes by all means try to groove a repeating swing, but the only part that needs to repeat is the quality of impact. How you get there will determine how the ball shapes.

I've gone and rambled abit (again!) but I hope this is of some help.

[BrianW]

Re: Curious........

Just to clarify Nicole,

The method I explained is only used in my pitching shot. For a full swing I always transfer weight back and through.

[gatorguy146]

Re: Curious........

It's different on every shot really for me. I use what I heard Anthony Kim say once that when he makes his shoulder turn he tries to imagine that his left shoulder is over his right knee, he says it never gets all the way there but that's the feeling he wants for his weight transfer. For pitch shots my stance is with my feet much closer together, but I try to still get that feeling of my left shoulder over my right knee. With a narrower stance my weight shifts a lot less. It's just a good way for me to keep my head out of the equation and give me one less thing to have to worry about during the swing. It might not work for you, because my swing requires me to get that weight back so I can force it through, I almost try to model my swing after AK, so this works for me.

[vp27519]

Re: Curious........

Thanks guys.

Personally I prefer to transfer the weight onto the right side on takeaway. It feels so awkward not shifting it.

Coach wanted me to practice a majority of pitching prior to the next lesson to quicken my lower body.

At impact my lower body stops and the upper completes its turn, thus, causing the snap hook.

It also affects impact position. I don't have that straight line from shoulder, hips and hands. My hands are behind the ball at impact - like casting.

For those who are interested, coach puts my swing with Stuart Appleby's on the computer screen. Appleby's swing is our goal.

I have a lower back problem so subconsciously I stop my lower body at impact to protect it (a young'n with athritus in between the discs of the lower back. Yee haa for cortisone and panadeine forte).

Andrew - pitching coach says I am to active in the lower body on the takeaway - laterial movement.

Cheers


Nicole

[vp27519]

Re: Curious........

Well fellas,

I learned a valuable lesson yesterday, ie, 25/9/08, I went to coach and had a lesson.

Ordinarily I would not have seen coach until I had fixed what we were working on, but, I was confused.

I spoke with him about my pitching lesson and reason for having that with someone else (distance).

He agreed with the concept of 60/40 for the pitching but not in the full swing. He agreed with this part as it would help to have a lower more powerful ball trajectory.

Coach said there are some coaches that teach Gary EDWIN'S theory. A problem with the theory is with non transfer of weight, the pupil has to play a heck of a lot to get it down pat.

The pitching lesson had totally screwed my swing. Old habits have returned, ie, dipping on the takeaway, open club face at top of swing and coming over the top.

Never going to get advice from another again. A learned a valuable lesson - listen to the one coach.

Nicole

[dreamswinger]

Re: Curious........

Yea i found a really good tutorial that explaind this in greta detail actually. There are a few good articles explaining in detail how to achieve the perfect golf swing.

The site is hear

hope you found it as helpful as i did

[bdbl]

Re: Curious........

I'm not the kind of person to say I told you so Nickers, but I did, so I shall....

There are many "right ways" to swing a club and, unless you have any reason not to, I'd suggest that you stick with what your regular coach advises.

Hope you get your proper swing back soon.