Golf Tips – Rotate, Don’t Slide
To make solid contact with the golf ball you need to shift your weight away from the target, then back to the target. Correctly shifting your weight should not result in your hips “sliding” away or toward the target. Many new golfers make this mistake and it results in shots missing to both the right and the left sides of the target.
Many golf instructors teach some variation of what I call the wall drill. Simply put, imagine a wall just a inch or so to the left of your left foot (for a right handed golfer). Now when you swing, try to imagine your upper body being flush against that wall in your finish position. From your left knee, to your belt buckle, to your chest, you want your entire body to be pressed up against that imaginary wall.
If you try this drill and you find that you likely would have hit the wall it’s probably because you are not rotating correctly when you transfer your weight from your right side to your left (for right handed golfers) as you complete your downswing. Once you begin to “firm up” your leading side you will find you can rotate your body over your leading leg, and finish with your weight mostly on the outside of your lead foot and your body will be against the wall when you hold your finish position. This may result is a more compact swing, but the improvement in your accuracy will be well worth any marginal drop in the distance you may lose on your shots.