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Good Tempo and Balance Will Help You "Swing Easy and Hit Hard"
All great players have the ability to swing every club at a consistent
tempo and with great balance. Rhythm and balance are linked. Some players,
like Tom Watson, exhibit faster tempos. Some, like Ernie Els, exhibit a
slower tempo. Yet all remain balanced.
The key to consistency is to maintain your balance and use a smooth
rhythm.
If you rush your swing you will loose your balance and the end result is
inconsistent contact and poor ball flight. Outstanding ball strikers are
rarely off balance at impact and their rhythm is the "glue" that bonds
their positions and movements. Often their swings seem effortless and
they, as Julius Boros described it, "swing easy and hit hard." Great
rhythm allows you to properly sequence your body motion and arrive at
impact in a position of leverage and power.
Ten-time PGA TOUR driving accuracy champion Calvin Peete says the three
keys to straight driving are "Balance, Balance and Balance." If you want
to be a more consistent ball striker, you must understand how the body
should be balanced in four key positions.
The following are those four positions and how the body should be
balanced in each.
Although your spine is tilted away from the target at address, you should
have your weight evenly balanced between your right and your left foot
with your middle and long irons. Also, you should feel your weight evenly
balanced between your heels and your toes, roughly on the balls of the
feet.
As you pivot to the top of the back swing, your weight moves into the
inside of the back foot. You should feel approximately 75-percent of your
weight on the back foot and 25-percent on the front foot. The weight must
never move to the outside of the back foot.
By the time you arrive at impact, approximately 70- to 75-percent of your
weight should be shifted onto the front foot. Your head must be behind the
ball and your hips must shift forward approximately 4 inches past their
starting position. This increases the spine tilt by at least
double.
At the completion of the follow through, you should have the majority of
your weight - about 90-percent of it - on the outside of the front foot.
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