Uncommon Swing Fixes: Heavy Shots, Chunking

This post is part of a series of discussions where I tackle a lot of common swing issues.  However, instead of providing common fixes that you've probably seen elsewhere, I will be providing a more accurate way to think about how to obtain the correct feels of the swing.  This series is catered to help more of an intermediate to advanced player who has somewhat of a functioning swing.  These articles will assume you know some swing vocabulary.  Please also check out my earlier posts.

Today we will be discussing an uncommon swing fix to help you get a sense of the proper impact in your swing.  Most people do realize the importance in the lower body when trying to have a consistent point of impact.  

How it's different:  When most people try to solve the problem of hitting it heavy, they do a lot of funny things to try to correct it.  One of them being the tendency to lift up some part in the body whether it be their arms/hands or body through impact.  Although this may help for a short period of time, you are just trying to fix a mistake with another.

I want to start of with an illustration with another sport that requires precision and power at impact:  Billiards!  Imagine that you're playing a game of billiards, say 8 Ball.  To start the game you have to break a rack of balls racked toward the other end of the table.  Now, image you're about getting ready to strike the cue ball with all right in the center with a great amount of force.  What is your body position like?  You're not standing tall and loose, you're getting down, lowering your center of gravity.  Imagine what your legs feel like?  They're grabbing the ground, flexed and ready to support the strike that will be done by your arms and shoulders. Then you let everything go and strike. Now, if you imagine that with your legs being wobbly or moving around to much, you will probably not have a good chance of hitting the cue ball in the middle.  

Now, apply that same concept to your golf swing.  Make sure that those legs are really strong and sturdy in the backswing.  Especially that trail leg.  Feel as though your getting ready to plant that trail foot, knee and thigh as you would in a billiard shot on the backswing.  If you've never shot pool you can also try to feel as though you're getting ready to throw a ball into the ground.  Make sure you maintain that stability in your legs as you swing back.  It's almost going to feel as if you're wearing very tight pants and trying to rip it on you backswing because you're loading your legs so much.  Try this and you'll immediately stop hitting it chunky!  

​Cheers!