If you are taking lessons from a golf instructor that tells you must have a passive lower body in the golf swing. RUN! The golf swing is no different than any other upright motion of the body. The lower body must be involved and it should be the most aggressive part of your golf swing. In this article I will show how your lower body must be involved and where to find help to do it properly.
Even though we don’t realize it, from throwing a ball to swinging a tennis racket or just walking, the lower body initiates the movement. Anytime the upper body does anything, something lower is involved. It always seems to have a relationship to what we call gravity. A simple example could be opening a sliding door. You don’t think about it, but when sliding the door all the strength used in moving your hand and arm is transferred to your feet and ground, which gives leverage to move the door. If you are pushing or pulling the door to the left most of the pressure is transferred to the right foot when pushing to the left. The heavier the door, the harder you push.
The example above is the same method used in swinging a golf club. When at the top of the back swing the weight is on the foot and leg opposite the direction you are going swing, (if you are going to swing left the weight will be on the right foot). The down swing is initiated by pushing or transferring the weight to the other foot which basically causes you to turn you hips, then your shoulders, then your arms, and finally the golf club. The more aggressive the lower body is the faster the golf club will swing. If you are wound up properly on the back swing the sequence above will happen simultaneously.
A passive lower body in the golf swing will encourage the upper body to unwind too quickly and create a reverse weight shift, throwing your body backwards. Rotating the shoulders without hip movement first can also cause an over the top move.
The leveraging of the body from the ground up is not all there is to swinging a golf club. Other criteria are necessary such as: posture, grip, and aim, these are the basic fundamentals of the golf swing. Other factors, such as hand and eye coordination and confidence come from practice.
The main purpose of this article was to have you understand that if you are in an upright position, the lower body is never passive. You may not be aware of what it is doing, but it is not passive, it is doing something. The movement of the body in the golf swing is natural. Don’t make it hard. Practice! Your golf game will improve and you will enjoy it more.
If you are having trouble achieving the required movement of the lower body check my site below it may be helpful in solving some of your problems. As mentioned earlier there is a device to help you obtain the position of the legs and lower body needed to get a natural thrust from the ground up. Click on the link to view. http://bit.ly/hc8sD0.
Dale Bartlett, PGA member, golf instructor and author.
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