Save Body Sway for the Dance Floor, Not Your Golf Swing

by: Sean Cochran
Body motion in the swing is necessary, but too much of a good thing can wreak all kinds of havoc with your golf swing.I received a question over the weekend from a BioForce Golf subscriber about “body motion” in the swing. The question from our subscriber asked how not to fall into the trap of too much movement backwards during the golf swing.What we are really talking about is weight transfer during the golf swing. Too much weight transfer onto the back foot during the take-away and backswing causes difficulty in getting back to your front foot on the downswing.This creates some difficulties in your timing during the golf swing.Oftentimes, this type of swing fault is termed “body sway.”So how do we fix this golf swing fault?Let’s take a brief look at golf swing mechanics.Optimal golf swing mechanics are both a rotational (rotating around a fixed spine angle) and linear (weight transfer backwards and forwards) movement.It is the sequencing (proper order) and combination of these two biomechanical movements that develop the great foundation of your golf swing.Amateurs often have difficulty performing these two biomechanical movements simultaneously and in the correct sequence.Discussing “Body Sway” in Relation to Linear Weight Transfer of the Golf SwingAmateurs often shift their weight too far onto their back foot. Once this occurs, they are never able to get their weight forward, causing them to “spin out” and leave the clubface open at impact.A conversation I had with top teaching pro Rick Smith on body sway enlightened me on one of his teaching points: the weight transfer in the backswing cannot go past the inside arch of the back foot.In order to limit your weight transfer in the swing to this position, you must “feel” it in your swing. You must be able to feel your weight on the inside of the back foot and not allow it to move any farther back.If your weight transfer exceeds this position, your timing will be off, your golf swing mechanics will be flawed, and compensation of the downswing will occur.Now knowing what we need to know about golf swing mechanics and the problems resulting from “body sway,” how do we go about fixing it?The golf swing is one of the most intricate athletic movements performed in sports today.It requires precision in every biomechanical movement involved in the swing, the correction sequencing of each movement, and the correct timing.As a whole, the golf swing is a very difficult movement to perform.Attempting to “fix” a swing fault when swinging the golf club at full tilt is almost impossible.So what are you to do?Simply, it is much easier to break down the golf swing into parts. Working on pieces of the golf swing and then re-building the swing is the way to go. This is a much easier task to achieve.Once you have broken down the golf swing into pieces, then you can focus upon the area of the golf swing that is giving you difficulty.Fixing the area of the golf swing that is giving you problems can be addressed by implementing swing drills.Swing drills introduce and re-enforce the proper swing mechanics into your body and allow you to eventually cure your swing fault.This will eventually return you to a position where you can “feel” every position in the golf swing.So, if you are struggling from “body sway” in the golf swing, break down the swing into parts and address the area of the golf swing that needs help through swing drills.