Today I’m going to discuss weight shirt or weight transfer in the backswing. In a blog the other day, John OB asked this of me. “Hi, Don. Regarding loading or weight transfer. First, at what point should it happen in the backswing? And second, there is another element of this segment of the swing that puzzles me a bit. Should one feel that the body weight is downward or upward or neutral during the backswing, or could either have any bearing on clubhead speed?”

Well, John, the weight shift or weight transfer should happen immediately as the backswing starts. We know that in the Peak Performance Golf Swing setup, we like the preloaded heavy right position. What that means is we should have our weight already over, onto the back leg. That means we’re behind the ball to begin with. This way, what little turn we do make, because the Peak Performance Golf Swing is a limited, is we’re already there. Any turn is immediately over and on to a flexed back leg.

The term “loading” implies that, first and foremost, when you load something onto it, you are placing it on there and it receives the weight. For example, if you were out playing golf and you sit down onto a golf cart, you have “loaded” yourself onto the golf cart. When all of the weight reaches the seat you’ll notice the cart’s springs compress downward a little bit because it has received the weight. So loading implies receiving. Because it’s received the weight, that means, just like the springs on the cart or a car compress , so must the muscles in your rear leg compress.

That means that as you start your backswing, and I believe we start it with the right, if you’re right handed, hip and shoulder, would start the turn and immediately, the turning of the hips and, since you are already on the right side, the weight goes downward. You should feel flexing in the leg and you should be able to see that the knee cap or knee joint is actually bending more. It is receiving the weight. This isn’t a whole lot, it just has to go down an inch or so. Because we’re already behind the ball to start with, this turning and loading onto the leg is moving downward.

I might also add that another way we can look at this transfer of the weight or weight shift, because we’re loading and the back leg is compressing, that you feel like you are sitting or sinking into your back leg. I like those two terms because it implies a downward compression of the leg. Yopu feel the muscles in the back of the leg, from the back of the hip all the way down to the back of your knee should be stretching, and if stretching, that means they’re getting longer.

That means they are in a position now to be able to do what? Spring up when you transition and shift to the forward finish. So think about and feel that a good backswing turn means you will set ot sink onto your back leg.

Since we know that a Peak Performance Golf Swing says that we should swing up in the forward upswing to the T-Finish, when you load onto your rear leg in the backswing and it compresses downward, that actually sets you up for a perfect swing to the finish. Conversely, the key is that people get hurt in a golf swing when you turn your shoulders and hips too much. As long as your back leg is connected to your back hip, it will actually pull the back leg straight.

I’ve seen professional golfers have their teachers stand behind them with their club pushed into the back of their knee to help keep it flexed. That can do it when you’re turning. But the simple key to your back leg not straightening in the backswing is: Don’t turn too much! Make the limited, Peak Performance Golf Swing 70 degree turn to your forearm over your toe line and the leg will not straighten. But at the same time you really need to make sure that you allow the weight to, when it shifts, load onto the leg, compress the leg a little bit so that it flexes downward, and now we’re perfectly set up to swing forward.

Again, if you turn too much and your back leg straightens, well if it goes up, the equal and opposite of up is down. That’s what happens to most golfers. The leg straightens and when they start their downswing the back leg breaks down. As the forward side turns out, it pulls the hips in and the leg breaks downward.

So we have a backwards swing. You’re going up in the backswing, down in the forward swing. What we want is down in the backswing so we can swing up in the forward swing. That’s what allows up to swing up and hit the ball and have more acceleration in the swing because we are swinging up.

You ask if weight shift had any bearing on clubhead speed. Absolutely. If you’re swing up and your arms are swinging up and your body’s standing up, everything is standing up to that T-Finish. Everything going up is going to allow more acceleration of the arms and the club and, as we know, more clubhead speed hits the ball farther.

So, yes, John, the swing should go downward in the backswing as you load onto your back leg and therefore up in the forward swing. You do these two things, you will see increased clubhead speed because it’s easier to swing up when you are actually standing up.

The Surge!

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