Tip Tuesday: Doing Away with the Sway

Do you sway in your golf swing? If you do, this tip is for you! Steve Dresser from the Steve Dresser Golf Academy in Pawleys Island, S.C. tells you how to counter this exact problem.

Steve Dresser:

One of the things we see a lot in our golf schools and private lessons is the lateral or swaying movement of the lower body on the back swing. The irony is as you shift your lower body to the right, your upper body actually goes to the left. It creates reverse spine tilt. So from here, I’m either just going to be able to stand here and wait for the club. In all likelihood, I’m going to come over the top, get wave steep and on the outside. I might even move farther ahead of the ball.

So one of the things I do to help people keep from sliding or swaying the lower body, first, I’m going to look at the setup. If they’re kind of open, the right side’s basically in their own way. So they’re going to have to shift rather than turn to get there. So we’ll make sure they’re squared up. They may even feel a little closed, almost as if their chest and belt buckle are pointed over to their right, even though hopefully they’re not. It’s just, again, it’s what it feels like versus what’s really happening. So this opens up a little more room over here.

And notice my spine. It’s tilted slightly to the right. So all I have to do is maintain a little bit of that right-ward spine tilt. And I’m not going to sway my hips. Because see, as soon as I sway, there goes the spine the other way. So just a little bit of right-ward spine tilt for the right-handed player. And if I maintain that, see, I’m turning my upper body over my right side. If I try to let the lower body shift over there, the upper body can’t ever catch up to it. So a little bit of right-ward spine tilt. Just maintain it and it should help you feel a good turn over your right leg.

Simple little drill I like to do. Get in your golf posture. Take your left thumb, if you’re right-handed, and put it right in your sternum and stay in posture. And just turn until your elbow points out in front of you or at least at about a 60 degree angle in here. So the upper body … There’s a guy named Jackie Burke. A wonderful, well-known instructor down at The Champions in Houston, I believe. And he used to say, “You don’t shift your weight in the golf swing. You turn your weight in the golf swing.” I like that.