Shifty Business
By Dr. T. J. Tomasi, Keiser University College of Golf Senior Faculty and Director of Research
The very first move you should make on your downswing is a transfer of weight into your front hip joint, then a slotting of the club. This establishes your front hip as the center of rotation, which is the key to keeping your clubhead on the plane and loaded with power.
In both photographs, our models have done this beautifully. Foot pressure measurements confirm that good players have at least 80 percent + of their weight on the front leg at this point in the swing. From this powerful position, they can turn aggressively through the ball, using an explosive pivot around the front leg to generate maximum power. In his book “Exercise Guide to Better Golf,” Dr. Frank Jobe proved that the downswing starts with this weight shift. He placed electrodes on tour players while they swung and documented the fact that there is a hip switch at the beginning of the downswing.
Here’s a drill to help you get the feel of the correct hip switch: Swing the club to the top of your backswing and stop. Then pick up your front foot, so it’s completely off the ground. You’ll be able to do this if you’ve made a good weight shift into your back hip. Now step your weight onto your front foot and complete your swing. Do this drill in front of a mirror so you can see that to start the downswing, you shift your weight before you uncoil to hit the ball. This shift before uncoiling leaves the clubhead so far behind that most golfers get the uncomfortable feeling they will be late for impact. But in this counterintuitive game, you must feel late to be on time. Now return to your normal address position and hit some shots using a 6-iron while focusing only on the hip switch. After every fifth shot, do the step drill again to keep the feeling of the hip switch fresh in your mind.
A major difference separating a good player from a wannabe is that the good player is in the correct hip socket during the downswing. Being “in” means to have established the front hip joint as the center of rotation by shifting your weight into it and then turning your body around it.
PGA Tour professional Heath Slocum exhibits the look common to all good players — both legs are flexed, his hips and left arm are parallel, and the majority of his weight is in his front hip joint. At this point, his upper body is still coiled with the clubhead well behind his heels, but it won’t be long before his levers release, catapulting the clubhead to the ball.
If you’d like to study with Dr. Tomasi and other PGA Master Professionals, contact The College of Golf today.
