Proper Weight Shift on Takeaway and Downswing - Correct a Reverse Pivot Golf (Video) - by Pete Styles
Proper Weight Shift on Takeaway and Downswing - Correct a Reverse Pivot Golf (Video) - by Pete Styles

Now let’s look at a proper weight shift here in the golf swing. If we take sort of a normal iron and mid-iron here, which should be a six-iron for me, setting up to the golf ball, normally I should feel my body weight is 50-50 nice and even between my left and right feet. Now, if I want to try and generate some power, I should be moving my body weight back and move my body weight through again. I think the simplest way to explain this would be to imagine you just picked up a golf ball and you try and throw the ball forwards. It would seem quite natural to want to rock back and then go forwards as you do that. Rocking back is okay, but a lot of people in the golf swing would then stay on their back foot, creating the reverse pivot effect where they go back during the swing. Now, we want to go back to forwards during a swing.

So start by imagining that you’re throwing the ball down the fairway then maybe actually have a look at what we term as the Gary Player walkthrough. Gary Player, South African golfer; quite famous for walking after some of his shots. So as he hits the ball, particularly on the ones he really likes, he turns through and he almost walks after them down the fairway, also the caddy would catch it with the bag and the divot. But if you’re practicing this swing, it’s a good exercise to get you on your right side, hit the shot and then think about taking your right foot forward as if you’re marching down the fairway, so your right food would come through to here, releasing the right hip and allowing the chest to turn fully to the target.

So let’s have a little go just knocking this ball away with a half swing then taking the step through and finishing right onto my front foot going forwards. And there’s no way if I was to do that exercise I could get myself caught leaning back because I can’t lift this foot up in the air. So a nice practice drill for you: swing through, step after it just like Gary Player and that should help you with your good weight transfer and particularly stopping the reverse pivot.

 2012-04-10

Now let’s look at a proper weight shift here in the golf swing. If we take sort of a normal iron and mid-iron here, which should be a six-iron for me, setting up to the golf ball, normally I should feel my body weight is 50-50 nice and even between my left and right feet. Now, if I want to try and generate some power, I should be moving my body weight back and move my body weight through again. I think the simplest way to explain this would be to imagine you just picked up a golf ball and you try and throw the ball forwards. It would seem quite natural to want to rock back and then go forwards as you do that. Rocking back is okay, but a lot of people in the golf swing would then stay on their back foot, creating the reverse pivot effect where they go back during the swing. Now, we want to go back to forwards during a swing.

So start by imagining that you’re throwing the ball down the fairway then maybe actually have a look at what we term as the Gary Player walkthrough. Gary Player, South African golfer; quite famous for walking after some of his shots. So as he hits the ball, particularly on the ones he really likes, he turns through and he almost walks after them down the fairway, also the caddy would catch it with the bag and the divot. But if you’re practicing this swing, it’s a good exercise to get you on your right side, hit the shot and then think about taking your right foot forward as if you’re marching down the fairway, so your right food would come through to here, releasing the right hip and allowing the chest to turn fully to the target.

So let’s have a little go just knocking this ball away with a half swing then taking the step through and finishing right onto my front foot going forwards. And there’s no way if I was to do that exercise I could get myself caught leaning back because I can’t lift this foot up in the air. So a nice practice drill for you: swing through, step after it just like Gary Player and that should help you with your good weight transfer and particularly stopping the reverse pivot.