How balanced are you? Do you eat a balanced diet of protein, fruits and veggies? Is your day balanced between work, family and play?
There’s no question when you eat a balanced diet and live a balanced life, you thrive. The same goes for your golf swing.
One of the most important elements of the golf swing — and one that’s often overlooked due to its simplicity — is the ability to swing the golf club and finish in balance at the end of that swing.
Basically, as you complete your stroke, you should feel balanced with your weight on your left foot, chest extended and facing the target, and the left side of your body completely rotated while your right hip and knee are turned through toward the target.
Even more simply, you will be in balance at the end of your swing when your weight finishes on your left foot, your right foot is on its toes and your body has rotated with your belt buckle and chest facing the target on every full swing.
When in balance, you will notice that your skeleton has lined up where both your knees are over your ankles, your pelvis is over your knees, and your head, neck and spine are over your pelvis. When you are lined up at the end of the swing, you will be in balance. If any part of you is lagging behind at the end, it will be much more difficult to finish in balance.
There are several key factors for maintaining balance during your golf swing. First, if you are off-balance during your initial set-up, then you’ll likely finish your swing off-balance. Make sure you do not have too much weight out toward your toes or back on your heals. Good balance will have weight centered on the balls of your feet.
Second, swinging the club in the proper sequence will help your balance. On the backswing, let your upper body turn to create pressure toward the inside of your right foot. On the downswing, begin by changing pressure to your left foot.
It’s pretty common for the higher-handicap golfer to begin the downswing using too many forces from the upper body and not enough from the feet and ground. Get your feet involved early in the downswing.
Finally, the right tempo for your golf swing will help your balance. Tempo is basically the ratio of time between the backswing and the downswing. You can take the club away too fast or too slow, causing you to change directions in your swing too fast or too slow. That will result in a loss of balance at the end of your swing.
Oftentimes, when you’re able to hold your balance at the end of your swing, you will have taught yourself many important golf positions and motions necessary to hit a good shot.
Make your life more balanced: Focus on holding your balance at the end of your swing.
Peter Harris is the director of Golf at the Fore-U Golf Center in West Lebanon. His column appears weekly on the Recreation page during the golf season.