Finding Balance - Closing your eyes
 

One of the areas in which far too few golfers focus their attention is balance, one of Homer Kelley's essentials. At any course or driving range you can see golfer after golfer attempting to hit drives as hard, and as far as possible, but almost none of them realize the basic requirement of good balance in the swing.

Ask most golfers if they swing in balance and you'll generally find that people think they are 'mostly' balanced during their motion, and tend to dismiss the need to work in this area.

For the next month I would suggest practicing every day for 5 to 10 minutes swinging two clubs held together, or any one of the many 'heavy' clubs on the market, especially those that encourage rotation through the release.

Focus on these keys:

1) start and finish in complete balance - feel 'comfortable' and well 'set' at address. Not tense or rigid in any way.

2) close your eyes

3) swing back and through without stopping

4) swing slowly, as if in 'slow motion' letting the club and gravity show you the pace

Focus on the feels in your hands and feet - one of Toski's best keys IMO.

Find your balance and you will find your ball in the fairway much more often.

I think one of the reasons for bad balance is the idea that some sort of weight shift is needed to hit the ball far. Ideas concerning weight transfer through the ball, etc. I therefore like to remind myself that we do not want to shift the weight consiously or on purpose in the golf stroke. Weight shifts because of the twisting and tuning of the body. And the reason for the turning of the body is so that the hands can take a direct ball back and through the ball.

I like the drill. I have practiced hitting the ball with my eyes closed and discovered that I don't perform as well as I do with just the drill and no ball.

Balance is an essential and it is a function or a result of the pivot

I know that some of the pro's practice with their feet together and hit balls. This will usually tell you immediately by the unnatural feel that you don't have as good as balance as you thought you did.

Also I know the guys who developed the Whippy, have a number of drills and though they don't mention balance they are aimed at learning to pivot correctly which means to be in balance.

Eyes closed is a good drill. Nice write up, thanks

The weight shift happens in a full power swing so that shoulder rotation alone can get the hands ahead of the ball at impact without adding independent arm motion and without losing your balance. With educated hands, this becomes unconscious. For those who are still learning to move the hands ONLY with the pivot, a conscious effort is required to lead with the tailbone.

Balance
 

Try hitting balls on your left foot only. A very good balance drill from David Lee.

Good article on Swinging EdZ.

I like to swing a Momentus (my home-made model- zinc rod) to remind myself to tap into Centrif. Force.

That feeling of "the club swings itself" IS much easier to discover with a heavy club....and it's such an important thing to learn and PRACTICE.

As your signiture says: "Support the SWINGING FORCE in balance."

That swinging force...

Or with your feet very close together.

I like hitting balls with my eyes closed and really letting my "brain" do the work for me. No need to even see the ball if you just "shut down" and let your brain do it.

I've been known to hit 180-190 5 irons this way too ;)

Balance
 

I did this once what a great drill. I am going back to this because I have felt the way the ball gets compressed and i remenber being able to hit my ONE and TWO Irons with very little effort. I have fallen and know its time to get back up to the well 12-1 /12-2 /12-3 till I have mastered all 24 componnets,This is really a fun drill and you can really use your imagination.


Ball turf;) ;)

Balance
 

Hi Ed,

Do you concern yourself with imbalances in your feet only?
Eyes closed is good. What about inner ear balance? Core imbalances? What are some other ideas for balance improvement?
Do you like Bosu balls or balance disks? Foam rollers? Eye restriction?

I have noticed that my balance in my golf swing has improved as a result of doing squats in the gym. When I started doing squats my legs were bowing in under the strain which is a no no with squats. As mysquat form improved I found that my balance in the swing improved particularly when hitting from awkward lies. I think this has something to do with subconsciously learning to balance and hold the weight bar throughout the squatting exercise .

Balance of each part of the machine depends to a degree on how much other parts require a 'counter balance'. The more motion, the more it must be counter balanced.

A true effecient machine has the least moving parts and hence is easier to balance without 'effort', so if you find that it is difficult to stay in balance, chances are you have too many moving parts in your machine, or you are moving them incorrectly (off plane). You may likely not be moving 'smoothly' as well.

I think any type of training that helps you become 'aware' of your balance is worthwhile. Depending on where you may be out of balance, different approaches can be useful.

The less effort required to hold your finish until the ball stops, the better your balance is likely to be. In a true swing, when motion is well balanced, you can hold your finish a very long time and feel very 'comfortable'.

Ed,
Great post!

Two suggestions:

1. Actually hit balls! Yes, we can do it!
2. I would hold off on weighted clubs doing this - I know some people that have almost destroyed their swings using weighted clubs because they didnt monitor themselves (obviously, eyes closed falls in this range).

Great suggestions.

Patrick

Balance
 

A question on balance if I may,for some reason I feel that on follow through that my L/elbow (R/hander) tends to move away from my R/elbow,could this make it harder for me to keep in balance...Thanks in advance

If I am not mistaken Brian Gay sets up at impact fix and just leaves everything there. Certainly makes for less moving parts if you can do it.