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Weight transfer for Long Driving

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  • Weight transfer for Long Driving

    I have posted various tips recently but one I forgot to include is weight transfer. This gets controversial because of the spectrum of one end saying don't transfer, ie. stack and tilt and at the other end saying one needs a major transfer, ie. mo norman et al.
    Well, I am somewhere in the middle for the following reasons:
    1. I advocate keeping the left heel on the ground(for Right Handed) during the backswing and rolling from middle of the left foot onto the side of the foot.
    2. I advocate also using the left knee during the pivot which will usually tranfer the weight onto the right side. Note should be taken not to go past the balance point of the right foot, this is a sway and will destroy the shot.
    3. I finally will say that timing is critical in weight tranfer to make sure you transfer back properly to the left side on the downswing. My downswing begins with my weight transfer to the left before I have completed my backswing. This puts one in a strong position to lag the club down to parallel.
    Questions or comments are appreciated.

  • #2
    Re: Weight transfer for Long Driving

    My swing these days is very rotary (Single Plane) based. In this swing I work on keeping my weight even on both feet at address and keeping my core fairly centered during the back swing and forward swing into impact. Some weight will move into the back foot as the club is taken back but I keep this minimal. At the top I make a short pause while I move my weight a little more to my front foot, I do this by moving my left knee over my left foot. The forward swing is then completed by rotating the hips and shoulders while maintaining the forward tilt. I have found this swing easy to maintain as it has few moving parts and does not rely on manipulation of the club and swingplane. Weight transfer is also simplified as the basis is to keep stacked and centered.

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    • #3
      Re: Weight transfer for Long Driving

      I believe that you cannot have distance without weight transfer. Children instinctively do this (transfer weight) when throwing balls or even swinging golf clubs.

      The proof is in throwing balls. Throw a ball as far as you can keeping all your weight on one leg or the other. Now throw a ball as far as you can allowing your weight to shift (what it wants to do naturally). There's more distance in a weight shift.

      The other curious thing about weight shift is where the weight should be at impact. I like looking at baseball players to figure a couple things out (that seem to corellate very well with my own golfing experience; especially driver off the tee): Those with high batting averages tend to be on their front leg at impact - a lot of control over the bat and can 'pick' their spot. Those with high homeruns are fairly centered with their weight at impact - very rotary and very powerful. In my own swing I've experienced my longest drives (and notice those who pound their drivers) tend to hang back, never really getting to their front side at impact. Those that hit a lot of fairways (but are shorter) get to their front foot very well but tend to have negative angles of attack, but excellent control.

      Just my $0.02

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      • #4
        Re: Weight transfer for Long Driving

        I have a very full backswing and through swing; on the backswing, I sometimes will even go past parallel and on through swings, the club wraps around me at the finish. Because of this, I like a solid weight transfer, if I did not transfer that weight(I have muscular arms legs and chest), I would be hitting hooks and pulls all day.
        If I want to hit a draw, I stay behind a little at impact and slowly transfer my weight; if I want to hit high power fades, I get aggressive into impact.
        I was a pitcher for years when I was younger and even without realizing it, I was really tranferring that weight onto my front foot after my windup; old movies have me lunging forward with my front leg stretched out in front of me. I draw some conclusions from those days for golf, it just seemed natural for me when I started playing golf.
        I have never understood stack and tilt to be honest so I can't criticize it; just not for me.

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: Weight transfer for Long Driving

          It is easy to agree with Keiko. A good article on stack&tilt is at www.articlegold.com/article/understanding-the-stack-and-tilt-golf-swing/5359

          There it is said that stack&tilt "promotes a shallower swing at the same time as turning the ball into a moving target. This increases the chances of bottoming out too early" which may be quite true. I have no experience of or idea about stack&tilt but if "you have the sensation of jumping up and striking the ball while on your toes", it sounds good because that is exactly the feeling you will have if you are able to transfer energy from your low starting stance to the ball at impact.

          The actual movement of the weight during the swing does not much increase the clubhead speed: your weight moves maybe 1% of the speed of the clubhead. So I believe the actual factors for favouring weight movement are elsewhere and my bets are on balance and timing.

          In theory you weight will first move slightly (even if you did not want) back when your hands and the club go through backswing and then move forward again when your hands and club downswing towards impact. For many of us it may be easier to sustain proper balance by letting the body follow this weight movement.

          Failure to resist the slight weight movement may cause unbalance and timing problems - you might even be moving backwards at impact with terrible effects (*).

          The other good consequence of weight movement is the shallower swing (horizontal ellipsoid) and thus a little wider area (longer time) to make a good hit. In the opposite case (*) the swing will be steeper (vertical ellipsoid) and timing the hit will be nearly impossible (max clubhead speed lasts only for a few millisecs).

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          • #6
            Re: Weight transfer for Long Driving

            Not a physics guy but there's an equation that deals with Force=MassXAcceleration. How does one do the stack and tilt or any other non-weight tranferring technique without losing some Force applied into the ball by the clubhead. The weight movement or transfer seems to be necessary in order to get maximum Force, ie. movement of mass(clubhead, weight of one's body)applied with acceleration(speed of clubhead).
            I believe I read somewhere that every stack and tilt guy while more accurate than they were before adopting that technique, has lost a measurable amount of distance with the technique. Adam Baddley I believe is an example; he is much shorter off the tee and with his irons than he was before stach and tilt. Also, Villegas may be a stack and tilt guy and he seems much shorter also.
            One thing about a particular technique, look to the playing pro's to see if they are using it in great numbers; very few guys who make their living from playing professionally are using stack and tilt, they still believe in weight transfer for distance.
            I am open to comments for sure.
            p.s. how are things in your part of the world?
            Originally posted by Paraneva View Post
            It is easy to agree with Keiko. A good article on stack&tilt is at www.articlegold.com/article/understanding-the-stack-and-tilt-golf-swing/5359

            There it is said that stack&tilt "promotes a shallower swing at the same time as turning the ball into a moving target. This increases the chances of bottoming out too early" which may be quite true. I have no experience of or idea about stack&tilt but if "you have the sensation of jumping up and striking the ball while on your toes", it sounds good because that is exactly the feeling you will have if you are able to transfer energy from your low starting stance to the ball at impact.

            The actual movement of the weight during the swing does not much increase the clubhead speed: your weight moves maybe 1% of the speed of the clubhead. So I believe the actual factors for favouring weight movement are elsewhere and my bets are on balance and timing.

            In theory you weight will first move slightly (even if you did not want) back when your hands and the club go through backswing and then move forward again when your hands and club downswing towards impact. For many of us it may be easier to sustain proper balance by letting the body follow this weight movement.

            Failure to resist the slight weight movement may cause unbalance and timing problems - you might even be moving backwards at impact with terrible effects (*).

            The other good consequence of weight movement is the shallower swing (horizontal ellipsoid) and thus a little wider area (longer time) to make a good hit. In the opposite case (*) the swing will be steeper (vertical ellipsoid) and timing the hit will be nearly impossible (max clubhead speed lasts only for a few millisecs).

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: Weight transfer for Long Driving

              You asked it again, Keiko, so here it comes: It is still really cold and everything is frozen but the sun tries to do its work every day, see www.foreca.fi/Finland/Helsinki. In 48 hours I should be in Algarve area (South Portugal) waiting for the first golf round of this year to start next morning, see www.meteoprog.com.pt/en/review/Faro. Incidentally I visited today a new golf course still under work, see www.3drender.fi/public/tapiola_golf/Virtualgolfer and was able to make my first outdoors shot there for this season (in snow), nice fade in a terrible wind with (Callaway?) x7

              You are right (again) in your post that "stack & tilt" swing must be decreasing the amount of power you can transfer to the ball. But it has probably more to do with the overall stiffness of the swing, not specificly with weight transfer. Natural weight transfer happens in a relaxed swing but weight transfer itself does not add many yards. The best shots that I have made have been nearly unconscious, eg. no forced stiffness anywhere just very relaxed body and arms and ...

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: Weight transfer for Long Driving

                I watched a training video on a Golf channel this week by 'AJ Bonnar' I know he has mixed responces to his training methods but one thing he showed registered with me as it is very similar to the 3-Skills system.

                He had a golf ball attached to a long nail so that the ball was the 'head of the nail' he set the nail on two golf tees so that it was laying horizontal to the ground and suggested to the class that the object was to drive the nail into a ficticious wall using a hammer that was infact a golf driver. Forgetting everything about the golf swing, if you carry out this instruction and attempt to drive the nail into the imaginary wall then the operation is completely natural and needs no consious thought, we will take the driver back while looking at the head of the nail (Ball) and swing into it with the driver on a nice inside path, our body will act exactly as it is naturally programmed by our brain to deliver a powerful strike squarely into the back of the nail (ball).

                He then went on to drive a golf ball a good distance while using only his left leg as if his right was disabled, then again using only his right leg as if his left was disabled, then keeping both feet together as if both legs were inhibited. What ever we thing of AJ and his methods I think he has a point! Do we restrict our selves in hitting a golf ball by thinking too much on the swing and not enough on the clubface, he says "It is the clubface that hits the ball and not the golf swing"

                I am not disagreeing that weight transfer is a crutial factor on creating power in the swing, but, rather suggesting that it would happen anyway if we concentrated on the output rather than the input.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: Weight transfer for Long Driving

                  Not sure I believe anything AJBonner is saying or doing in that infomercial; there have been many skeptics over the years who have watched his displays in disbelief.
                  My thing about weight transfer is not just to accomplish a few yards or even 10 yards more; I could do that with no transfer at all or with a little transfer.
                  What I am talking about is a huge increase in yardage, primarily carry and roll; I can hit a ball with no or little weight transfer and drive it a good way. I get at least two drives per side over 300 yards and there is no one who can do that without weight transfer.
                  Watch the long drive guys, too many to list here, they all have huge weight transfers in their swing. I saw a kid recently named Bonner who has a ball speed of 237mph and routinely drives it over 400 yards; Jamie Sadlowski is another guy and on the tour, Dustin Johnson, Bubba Watson, John Daly in his day, Tiger in his day, Jack in his day, and the list goes on. All I am saying is the number of no or very little weight transfer players who drive it far are very few.
                  So, no or little weight transfer=decent distance; achieving maximum distance for one's ability requires substantial and efficient weight transfer.
                  Always great to have you join discussions; I wish you would do it more often, I appreciate your input and always gives me food for thought.
                  Thanks.
                  Originally posted by BrianW View Post
                  I watched a training video on a Golf channel this week by 'AJ Bonnar' I know he has mixed responces to his training methods but one thing he showed registered with me as it is very similar to the 3-Skills system.

                  He had a golf ball attached to a long nail so that the ball was the 'head of the nail' he set the nail on two golf tees so that it was laying horizontal to the ground and suggested to the class that the object was to drive the nail into a ficticious wall using a hammer that was infact a golf driver. Forgetting everything about the golf swing, if you carry out this instruction and attempt to drive the nail into the imaginary wall then the operation is completely natural and needs no consious thought, we will take the driver back while looking at the head of the nail (Ball) and swing into it with the driver on a nice inside path, our body will act exactly as it is naturally programmed by our brain to deliver a powerful strike squarely into the back of the nail (ball).

                  He then went on to drive a golf ball a good distance while using only his left leg as if his right was disabled, then again using only his right leg as if his left was disabled, then keeping both feet together as if both legs were inhibited. What ever we thing of AJ and his methods I think he has a point! Do we restrict our selves in hitting a golf ball by thinking too much on the swing and not enough on the clubface, he says "It is the clubface that hits the ball and not the golf swing"

                  I am not disagreeing that weight transfer is a crutial factor on creating power in the swing, but, rather suggesting that it would happen anyway if we concentrated on the output rather than the input.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: Weight transfer for Long Driving

                    I am very much confused about the drivers,I have asked many friends around me but somewhat i was not satisfied with there views,There are lots of people around in here who are like pro's in this sport.So,i just wanted to know about the best golf drivers available in the market which would enhanced the quality of my game.I'm a rookie.

                    Comment

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