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Swaying on the back swing will generally cause problems. This movement will create off centre hits due to poor timing and fairly irregular shot shapes and direction due to a poor swing path.

There are two major misconceptions about lateral movement (swaying) during the swing because some golfers think it will help them speed up their swing and enable them to hit the ball further. Others will try not to move at all and stay far too static during the swing and then actually hit the ball too short.

Many believe that swaying into the ball will generate more power because they can physically feel themselves moving towards the ball with the speed they think they have created.

The most common form of advice from playing partners is “Keep your head down” which has to be one of the most detrimental things to hear because they instantly tuck their chin into the top of their chest and remain totally static with the rest of the body. This creates a golf swing with only arm movements because the player is now too scared to move. A golf swing with just arm movements creates very little power and extremely inconsistent shot strikes due to the steepened angle of attack into the ball.

For a player to avoid swaying during the swing, they need to check they have a good posture at address because the swing is primarily about rotating around the spine angle not laterally moving away and towards the target.

Once a consistent and strong posture has been found, the shoulder rotation needs to be at the forefront of the players thought process. When taking the club away from the ball, the shoulders should rotate 90 degrees around the spine allowing the hips to rotate 45 degrees. This leaves a 45 degree tension between the two areas which converts into energy and power for the down swing. Once at the top of the back swing, the weight will have shifted slightly to the right foot but the head should have remained reasonably central throughout the movement.

Beware; there is potentially too much lateral movement when the weight of the player is on the outside of the right with the body in line.

Swaying during the back swing will cause the player to move too far away from the ball making the down swing more difficult to consistently get back to the ball, not only with a good swing path but also makes striking the ball consistently from the middle of the club head hard to repeat.

Swaying during the back swing can help create an over swing but not a correct length of swing. Any player who feels that their swing is not long enough should not use the swaying motion to create more shoulder turn as this will cause problems for many other aspects of their game.

Lateral movement has a direct effect on the ball striking of a golfer, it will not play a big role in the players swing path, however, if it did then the swing path would go more out to in and create a slice shot rather than in to out and draw the ball.