Finding your best golf swing is a matter of balance. Your brain is telling you to swing hard in order to hit the ball farther. But if you don’t have balance figured out before you take that mighty swing, the odds that you'll produce a shot at the target are subpar.
Think about the effortless power many Tour Pros exhibit each week on TV. They all make what we would consider to be a fast, powerful pass at the ball. But, how often do you see that in combination with losing their balance? Just about never.
As Hit IT Great’s Coach Joey D points out, if your body can’t acquire balance in your swing, it has but one choice in trying to maintain control — deceleration. And that’s the last thing you want in your quest for more speed and distance.
Joey’s got a couple of great Tour-proven drills to help you improve your balance and, in turn, your overall game.
Foam Roller Drill
Know from the outset that this is a tricky drill. But it does a great job at building a sense of overall body balance and teaches you how to quickly and naturally correct once you start to slip into a position of being out of balance.
Start by placing two foam rollers on the ground roughly shoulder width apart. Locate your balance points and place yourself atop the rollers while getting down onto your hands and knees.
From that position, alternate extending one arm and the opposite leg, so that your balance is being maintained on the rollers by just one arm and the remaining opposite leg.
Cycle through a few repetitions to get the feel for balance with each opposing setup. On the rounded surfaces, you almost certainly will start to feel that you are losing your balance. That’s the point. This becomes a helpful exercise for working on the little moves that have to be made to regain balance when your body is in motion.
One-Leg Balance Drill
This exercise looks simple but is a bit tricky when it comes to learning how to maintain your balance points as you might think from the visuals.
Start with a golf shaft or speed stick in your hands across your upper chest. From there, take a step forward onto one foot.
If you're able to, lift your trailing foot off the ground to balance on one foot. If that’s too challenging, start by lifting your trailing foot just a bit and tap your toe on the ground to help balance.
On that one leg, assume the posture of your normal golf stance. With the golf shaft across your upper body, rotate your body to your backswing position and then through to your finish.
Reps of this drill will create a sensation of stability and being able to maintain balance even if you aren’t in optimal swing positions. Learning these skills will really help on those shots where we can sense, as the club is in motion, that not every aspect of your swing is in that comfortable spot. This teaches your body to innately rescue those swings that are less than perfect.
Now what?
Your goal after working on these two drills should be to learn how to maintain control of your entire body throughout your golf swing. You will diminish the tendencies that come with loss of balance, which include swaying or stepping out on your swing, which will rob you of both speed and accuracy.
For his full rundown and step-by-step instructions for these drills, check out the Fitness Friday video below. For even more golf fitness videos, check out our YouTube channel!
