Weight Transfer & Rotation

 

How turn and transfer your weight

Spiral Pivot 
I believe there is a misunderstanding about the correct pivot and weight movement in the swing, and all the information that is available these days is not helping to make the concept simple. I think everyone knows that to create an efficient golf swing there should be a good pivot (rotation).  Also, most will  know that there needs to be some weight transfer.  However, what most players do not realize is that these two elements, pivot and weight transfer, are not separate.  They are one element of the swing, and when you understand how they are connected, the whole concept of pivot and weight shift will become a lot simpler to understand and achieve.

Wrong
The misunderstanding about pivot and weight shift comes from the angle we generally look at the swing from.  When you look in a mirror, or are using your cell phone, you will probably film your swing from an angle that faces the front of your body to analyze your pivot and weight transfer.  In the analysis of your pivot from this angle, you will probably think that for your weight to be moving to your right foot in the backswing, and left foot in the downswing, you should see a bump or movement to the right and left, a lateral movement.   I have shown this in the picture with an arrow and a circle around my head.  Being a 2d image, it will look like the body moves in a straight line to the right and to the left.  This is why most players think about weight transfer and pivot as two separate elements, thinking that the swing is a combination of lateral movement (straight to the right and left) and rotational movement.

Wrong
Correct
Here I am showing you the swing from a different angle, giving you a different perspective. Weight movement comes from the spiral effect of the pivot which is much more easily seen from an angle above the player.

Main

Moveaway
Even if we look at the moveaway, you can see clearly that every part of the golf swing is a spiral.  There are no straight lines in a swing. Weight movement is not moving laterally to the right foot.  It is rotating toward the right heel because of the spiral effect.

Top of backswing
As the club, arms, and body all continue to move in a spiral direction, this creates a full weight movement into the right heel at the top of the backswing.  Notice that my head has remained still and not moved to the right.

Impact
Again, in the downswing, looking at your swing from the front creates a few misunderstandings.  It might look like you move laterally to the left, but, as I have said before in articles, it is more of a push down into the ground (ground force), combined with a reverse spiral rotation that creates the weight movement back to the left foot and towards the left heel.

Following Through
From impact to follow-through there can be a lateral movement as the head moves forward so that your back can straighten up into the finish position.