Tip Tuesday: The Importance of a Fixed Axis of Rotation

In this video, Sean “The Beast” Fister of the Dustin Johnson Golf School at TPC Myrtle Beach in Murrells Inlet, S.C. discusses how a fixed axis of rotation is critical to generating distance in both your driver, and your iron play. That axis, though, as Sean demonstrates, will vary depending upon the type of shot you’re trying to hit.

Sean Fister:
Hi, I’m Sean Fister at the Dustin Johnson Golf School. Today, I want to talk to you about a very important thing for hitting the ball far and straight: fixed axis of rotation. When you’re hitting a golf ball with a driver or an iron or anything, you need to establish a fixed axis of rotation. Your fixed axis of rotation should be right below your neck and your head, mainly. I mean, if your head moves too much, your fixed axis goes with it. But with a driver, your fixed axis, this is where the bottom of your swing is going to happen is going to be right under that fixed axis. So with the driver, obviously we want to hit the ball on the upswing. So we want to have this fixed axis back here so the club will bottom out and then hit the ball on the rise because you want to hit up with a driver. Okay?

Now, when you want to hit an iron, you want that fixed axis. You were here with a driver. With an iron, you’re also going to change your ball position back towards the middle. You get set up, set your fixed axis right over the ball. You’ve got a little bit more weight on your front side. When you take the club back, you want to maintain that fixed axis of rotation. If you watch any tour player on any tournament, you will see they stay perfectly still when they swing the golf club. Doesn’t matter what club is in their hand. They’re not doing all this stuff like a lot of amateurs do, they stay perfectly centered.

So think about this. Swing around your left foot with your irons, swing around your right foot with your driver. And I’ll tell you, it all matters on the downswing. So that’s where it’s most important, that fixed axis. So it gets set up with your irons up here over the ball, the ball’s on the ground. You get set here up in front, take the club back, make sure that your fixed axis stays here, and you hit through and your hands are leading. Boom, you hit it. You’ll have solid striking every time if you keep that fixed axis of rotation still. You’re rotating around it.

With a driver, we go back here. We go back to having that fixed axis of rotation behind the ball. It’s easy to set it up in the takeaway there, but where you really need it is on the down swing. So how do you do that? You get that left shoulder over the right knee. Then you simply start turning the belt buckle towards the target. And you’re maintaining your fixed axis back here. And that’s how you’ll bottom the club out right where your fixed axis rotation is. And if you stay there, it’ll go up, you’ll hit the ball on the upswing. You’ll had some great drives. This will help you square the face also. Good luck!