Tour winner shares great drill for learning correct weight shift

Golf instruction is ever-evolving, but the best advice stands the test of time. In GOLF.com’s new series, Timeless Tips, we’re highlighting some of the greatest advice teachers and players have dispensed in the pages of GOLF Magazine. Today we look back at our July 1988 issue where Peter Jacobsen shared a great drill for properly shifting your weight on tee shots. For unlimited access to the full GOLF Magazine digital archive, join InsideGOLF today; you’ll enjoy $140 of value for only $39.99/year.

Getting the most out of your drives requires that you use your body efficiently. Part of that equation comes in the form of weight shift.

If you watch the pros hit their tee balls, you’ll notice they always finish on their lead side. If you want to hit the ball like them, you’d be wise to copy this move — and it all starts with a proper weight shift.

Back in 1988, GOLF Magazine highlighted this move as Peter Jacobsen showed us a drill for proper weight shift. Over 30 years later and the drill can still do wonders for your game. Check it out below.

Peter Jacobsen’s weight-shift drill

If you are hitting weak “popcorn” drives, the problem could be your weight. I’m not suggesting that you go on a diet but that you aren’t making the proper shift to move the full weight of your body — and, therefore, your power — into the shot.

To appreciate the importance and the role my of the weight shift, think about how you throw a ball. You move your weight in the same direction as your arm — to the back foot as you swing your arm back, to the front foot as you swing the arm forward and release the ball, pushing off the back foot for power. The same weight shift should happen in golf.

Players who don’t use their weight properly make one of two mistakes. One, they make a reverse shift, moving the weight to the front foot (the left foot for right-handers) as they swing the club back, then to the back foot during the downswing. Or two, they shift the weight properly on the backswing but never shift it forward coming down. In either case, by the time they reach the follow-through, they’re falling backward, away from the target. And that’s the direction their power is moving — away from the target — resulting in a weak, arms-only swing.

If these are your symptoms, there is help. Tee up a ball on the practice range and swing at it with your driver. As you move into the follow-through, step forward with the right foot, bringing it over the left as if you were starting to walk down the fairway. Working this step into your swing will make you shift your weight properly, and has been suggested by such knowledgeable people as Gary Player and teaching professional Peter Beames.

Taking a big step

At address, distribute your weight evenly between your feet and the balls and heels of your feet. Spread them about shoulder-width and flex your knees slightly until you feel balanced.

On the backswing, your weight should flow to the right side so that at the top about 90 percent of it is resting on the inside of the right foot. If it doesn’t, and you feel yourself falling forward on the backswing, redistribute your weight more to the right side at address, and be sure your knees are flexed.

Swing down from the top without thinking about a weight shift, then step forward with the right foot in the follow-through. The step actually has little to do with the shot; the ball is gone by the time you take it. But thinking about the step to come will encourage the correct weight shift: You won’t be able to move the right leg without moving your weight to the left side on the downswing.

Keep making practice swings with the right foot stepping over the left until you become accustomed to the feeling. Then try a swing without taking the step. The shift may still be there, maybe not. If not, there’s nothing wrong with incorporating the step into your regular swing.

Zephyr Melton

Golf.com Editor

Zephyr Melton is an assistant editor for GOLF.com where he spends his days blogging, producing and editing. Prior to joining the team at GOLF, he attended the University of Texas followed by stops with the Texas Golf Association, Team USA, the Green Bay Packers and the PGA Tour. He assists on all things instruction and covers amateur and women’s golf. He can be reached at zephyr_melton@golf.com.