Pro Tip: Fixing The Power Leaks In Your Swing
- Details
- Category: Inside Golf
- Published: 2017-04-24
by Lisa “Longball” Vlooswyk
If you are looking to add distance to not only your driver but all of the clubs in your bag check your swing for the following Power Leaks.
1. Are you Making a Good Turn in your Backswing?
Many golfers are 'arms lifters' thus they do not create coil or torque. Coil and torque in your backswing leads to the ability to generate club head speed and ultimately more distance.
Ladies often complain that they hit their 9, 8 and 7 irons all the same distance. If this sounds familiar, you are an arms lifter. To stop arms lifting or to ensure a proper turn in the backswing, a fantastic swing thought is to initiate your backswing with your lead shoulder (left shoulder for right-handed golfers).
Often golfers will start their backswing by pulling their hands away or cocking their wrists.
Start the backswing with your shoulder. This will force your upper body to turn properly.
1. Lead Shoulder First 2. Weight On INSIDE Of Back Foot 3. NOT On OUTSIDE Of Back Foot
2. Do you Make a Fast Back Swing?
If you are trying to create distance by making your whole swing fast…STOP! You are losing yardage. To maximize your distance, make a slow deliberate takeaway. This allows you to fully wind up and coil in your back-swing. With a fast backswing golfers often transition to their downswing before they have reached the top of their turn robbing them of distance.
Once you get to the top of the backswing this is the time to create speed. A common power leak occurs when golfers want to kill the ball, and throw their back shoulder into the swing trying to swing as hard as humanly possible. This ruins the coil and torque you built-up. Instead, use the swing thought, 'Turn Harder,' not 'Swing Harder.' Start your downswing by turning your core (guts, belt buckle, lead hip) harder and swing through the ball as fast as you can.
3. Do you Shift your Weight to the Outside?
Some players make a great turn but in their effort to create coil-up they allow their weight to shift to the outside of their back foot at the top of the backswing (right foot for right-handed golfer). This is a massive power leak. It does not maximize the turn you made, impacts your stability and balance and does not allow you to use the ground efficiently to create maximum club head speed.
As you make your backswing, apply pressure inside of your back foot. At the top of the backswing you should feel pressure on the instep of your foot. From here you can make an aggressive swing.
Lisa “Longball” Vlooswyk is a 7-time Canadian Long Drive Champion and currently ranked Top 5 in the World. She is a Keynote Speaker, Golf Journalist, Golf Entertainer and just launched a new Instructional Video. Lisa can be reached through her website www.lisalongball.com or through Twitter @LisaLongball