To help maintain your balance through the entire golf swing, use these tips from Tommy Fleetwood.
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Welcome to Shaving Strokes, a GOLF.com series in which we’re sharing improvements, learnings and takeaways from amateur golfers just like you — including some of the speed bumps and challenges they faced along the way.
One of the more common problems that amateurs struggle with is maintaining their balance in the golf swing, with many of us mid-handicappers often falling either too far forward or too far back as we shift weight.
Obviously, when your weight isn’t distributed properly, you’re going to see inconsistent shot results due to poor ball-striking issues — which is also why many of us remain mid-handicappers!
To help get the feel for how to maintain swing balance, PGA Tour pro Tommy Fleetwood has an easy range drill to try. So check out the video and tips below (courtesy of the Iamthepar Instagram account).
Whether you’re a mid- to high-handicapper who tends to scoop with a wedge or someone who just can’t quite compress the ball by making ball-first contact, the drill Fleetwood describes is a cure-all for poor swing habits.
“One of the tips that I like, and that a lot of Tour players do on the range, is they take the [lead] foot off [the ground] in the backswing and then they try to stomp or step into the shot,” Fleetwood says.
“People talk about walking through the shot sometimes, but I particularly like — and I’ve seen a lot of guys — take it back and stomp [with the lead foot], and they swing from there.”
Working on this motion, Fleetwood says, will give you insurance against falling back, which can be one of the main causes of mishits like skulls or shanks.
“You can’t fall back,” he says, “you have to step into the shot, get your weight on that [lead] side, hit the ball first to create that nice, flush divot and then get the flight that you want.”
If you’re struggling to keep your balance in the swing, Fleetwood’s drill is a useful one to use in practice to feel how your body is moving in the backswing and through impact. So try it out for yourself: Avoid focusing on the outcome of the shot and simply go through the process to improve your ball-striking.