Maximizing power in your drives starts with proper weight shifting.
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Golf instruction is always evolving, but the best tips stand the test of time. In GOLF.com’s new series, Lifetime Tips, we’re highlighting some of the greatest advice that teachers and players have shared in the pages of GOLF Magazine. Today we’re looking back at our July 1988 issue, where Peter Jacobsen shared a great drill to properly shift your weight on point shots. For unlimited access to the complete digital archive of GOLF Magazine, join Inside GOLF tODAY; you’ll enjoy $140 worth of value for just $39.99 per year.
Getting the most out of your drives requires you to use your body efficiently. Part of this equation comes in the form of weight shift.
If you look at the pros hit their balls, you will notice that they always end up on their main side. If you want to hit the ball like them, you’d be wise to copy this move—and it all starts with a proper weight shift.
In 1988, GOLF magazine highlighted this move as Peter Jacobsen showed us a workout for it proper weight shifting. Over 30 years later and training can still do wonders for your game. See below.
Peter Jacobsen’s weight shift workout
If you’re hitting weak “popcorn” drives, your weight may be the problem. I’m not suggesting you go on a diet, but that you’re not making the right change to shift your full body weight—and, therefore, your power—into the stroke.
To appreciate the importance and role of weight shift, think about how you throw a ball. You shift your weight in the same direction as your arm—on your back foot as you swing your arm back, on your front leg as you swing your arm forward and release the ball, pushing off your back leg for power. The same weight shift must occur in golf.
Players who do not use their weight properly make one of two mistakes. One, they do a reverse shift, shifting their weight to their front foot (left foot for righties) as they swing the club back, then to their back foot during the downswing. Or two, they shift the weight properly on the backbend, but never shift it forward on the descent. In both cases, by the time they reach the next point, they are falling back, away from the target. And that’s the direction their power is moving—away from the target—resulting in a weak, arms-only swing.
If these are your symptoms, there is help. Pick up a ball on the practice range and swing it with your driver. As you move into the next lane, step forward with your right foot, leading it over your left as if you were starting to walk down the freeway. Working on this step in your movement will get you shifting your weight properly, and this has been suggested by such knowledgeable people as Gary Player and teaching professor Peter Beames.
Taking a big step
At address, distribute your weight evenly between your feet and the balls and heels of your feet. Spread them shoulder-width apart and bend your knees slightly until you feel balanced.
In the backbend, your weight should flow to the right side so that at the top about 90 percent of it rests on the inside of the right foot. If not, and you feel yourself falling forward on the backswing, redistribute your weight more to the right side at address and make sure your knees are bent.
GOLF magazine
Swing down from the top without thinking about a weight shift, then step forward with the next right leg. The step actually has little to do with the stroke; the ball is gone the moment you pick it up. But thinking about the step to come will encourage proper weight shifting: You won’t be able to move your right leg without shifting your weight to the left side on the downswing.
Keep doing practice swings with your right leg crossing over your left until you get used to the feeling. Then try a swing without doing the step. The change may still be there, maybe not. If not, there’s nothing wrong with incorporating the step into your regular movement.
