We reviewed the backswing pivot a few weeks back. Since then, you may have been wondering what to do next.
Here’s a recap: The backswing pivot is where you coil, wind up and make a nice, centered turn where your right side gets taller and left side gets smaller (for a right-handed golfer).
What happens next will also determine how much power you’ll get and whether you can deliver the club on an inside path.
The first move on the downswing is slight movement laterally over your lead foot (the left foot for righties) while your back faces the target and your hips and shoulders are closed to that target. You should feel like a surfer who found your balance as you’re riding off a wave and leveling out. This movement is designed to deliver the club from an inside path to produce a draw or to reduce a slice, all with added power.
Allow your weight to float to your left side while maintaining your golf posture. You will feel the left side of your body compressed and lower to ground than your right side.
The final piece of the puzzle happens in a jiffy — or a bang — right at impact and continues to the finish.
While maintaining your posture, feel the left side your body straighten and extend upward as you clear your hips. Your left shoulder extends and opens up as your right shoulder moves down and through impact, maintaining your spine angle.
All of that will happen in an instant as you unwind, carrying you to a completed finish in balance with your body tall and facing the target.
In summary, coil and wind up on the backswing, float your feet and center of balance like surfer, extend and continue to pivot around your lead leg, and finish tall and in balance.
So much going is on with sequencing a sound pivot, and it sounds like a lot because it is. But it’s worth practicing.
Improving your pivot will allow a much easier time swinging your arms and delivering the club for more power and accuracy. Sound good? Give it a try.
Peter Harris is the director of Golf at the Fore-U Golf Center in West Lebanon. His column appears weekly in the Recreation page during the golf season.