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    How to transfer your weight: A 4-step drill to fix your golf swing

    December 15, 2023

    How do you transfer your weight in your golf swing? Moving your weight, or pressure, from side-to-side should feel as natural as walking, because it is, ultimately, a stepping motion. But what I see a lot of golfers do is slide way too far back on their backswing, and never make that next step forward through the ball. This drill is a simple way to fix that, and I think it's going to help a lot of players. — Joe Plecker, Director of Instruction, Landings Club, Savannah, Ga., Golf Digest Best in State Teacher

    How To Transfer Your Weight

    • Move weight back and up on the backswing
    • Move your lead foot to your trail foot
    • Take a big side step with your lead foot
    • Swing through to your finish

    Transfer Your Weight #1: Back and up

    The foundation of a good weight transfer in your golf swing starts on the backswing. The feeling your chasing here isn't just that you're moving your weight back, but that you're moving your pressure back and up, towards the sky. This is called unweighting, and it'll help increase your vertical force later in your swing. A common fault I see is players' swing moving down, towards the ground, on the backswing.

    Transfer Your Weight #2: Lead foot to trail foot

    Bring your lead foot back to your trail foot. This shift fully over to your trail side happens earlier in your golf swing that you might think, but this will give you the feeling of being fully over to your trail side, and sets the stage for the forward sequence.

    Transfer Your Weight #3: Lead foot sidestep

    This step—literally—is simple. There's no rotation, and no rise. Just take a big, wide sidestep and plant your lead. You want to land in a wide stance; it's a feeling of a complete shifting. That's the feeling you want to replicate in your golf swing as you transition from backswing to downswing.

    Transfer Your Weight #4: Swing Through

    Once you've planted that lead foot, your pressure has shifted, and you want your arms and club to flow in the same direction.

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