Golf Swing Error – Illustrated Guide

There are many different golf swings out there, some quicker than others and some quirkier than others. Even professional golfers don’t all have the same swing between themselves. But despite their differences all of the great swings have at least one thing in common (in addition to making contact with the ball), and that is that they are executed while the golfer is perfectly balanced. Indeed, while the proper golf swing taught on this website won’t guarantee a better score, executing it while off-balance can almost guarantee a bad outcome.

Follow the tips below in order to make sure you swing while maintaining your balance throughout and don’t suffer from an off-balance golf swing.

What is an Off-Balance Swing?

Unable to Maintain Follow Through Position

You can usually tell when a golfer performed an off-balance swing not through his backswing or downswing but by his position during the follow through.

Indeed, seeing a golfer losing his footing after hitting the ball is probably indicative of balance issues that started even before making contact with the ball. The fact that the downswing (and sometimes backswing) can happen so quickly simply hid the unbalance issues from plain view.

If you are unable to remain standing tall on your left foot without shuffling around until the ball falls back down you probably swung while off balance. And that is surely impacting the quality and consistency of your golf shots.

How to Fix and Off-Balance Swing

In order to fix this swing error you simply need to make sure that you are swinging at the ball in perfect balance as you go through the different golf swing sequences.

Let’s go over how your weight should move around you feet to make sure you are proceeding correctly.

Setup Position

At the address position your weight should be split 50/50 between your left and right foot. Moreover, your weight should also be split 50/50 between your toes and heels. That means that you should be perfectly balanced during the setup position, before beginning to swing at the ball.

(Note that this applies to full golf swings in general and not necessarily to all golf shots, such as chipping, etc.)

To make sure you are not off-balance without realizing it, ask someone to gently push you around while you are in your address position. Ask them to push against you on your right shoulder, on your left hip, on your chest, and so forth.

If you are standing too much towards your toes while getting pressed on your backside you will likely lose your footing and fall forward, and conversely if your weight is too much towards your heels.

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Backswing and Top of the Swing Position

During the takeaway and backswing and as you head into the top of the swing position your weight will gradually move towards your right foot. But this happens in a gradual motion and not all at once.

And even then, when you reach the top of your backswing your weight is not all on your right foot. You should still be able to raise your right toes, despite the fact that a good portion of your weight now resides over your right heel.

Impact Position

During the downswing and as you move towards impact with the ball your weight should shift back towards the center but keep going until it ends up mostly on your left foot when your club makes contact with the ball. At this point, it should be difficult to raise your left toes or heel.

Finally, your right heel should have started lifting from the ground at this point, indicating further that your weight now resides mostly on your front foot.

Follow Through Position

Eventually, your weight will find itself almost entirely on your front foot and that happens at the follow through position, when you end your golf swing.

Only the toes from your right foot are now touching the ground at this point and you should be able to hold that position for a while if you wanted to, even after hitting a powerful shot with your driver.

Practice Slow Motion Swings

In order to rid an off balance swing from your golf game practice making slow motion practice swings. As you do, notice how your weight moves around from foot to foot but make sure that it does so gradually and while keeping a perfect balance. Gradually increase your swing speed this way until it closely matches your real swing speed.

Finally, when you are ready to test out your perfectly balance swing, drop a ball in front of you and proceed with hitting real golf shots.