Swing to balance

Golf Tip, By Shawn Kelly, Journal ColumnistThis week, in our series of golf tips I would like to review another basic fundamental, The Swing. The golf swing is the same athletic move as any other sport that you have played where you were trying to propel an object towards a target. Tossing a ball underhanded, a forehand in tennis or just skipping a rock on a pond are all great athletic moves that mimic a golf swing. It?s not a golf hit or chop at the ball it?s a golf swing. By definition a swing is a constant motion back and forth with equal rhythm. It?s also important to understand balance during the golf swing. To understand balance, you need to know that the balance point of your body is your sternum, the center of your chest. All of your body weight radiates from this point, therefore I call it the ?balance point of the body?. As you swing the golf club your balance point moves over your back leg as you coil your trunk into the back swing and finishes over your target leg as you uncoil through the end of the swing. This is how you create weight transfer in athletics. The finished balanced position is the key to consistency. If you can maintain balance when you are finished with a swing then you have made the best athletic golf swing you could have made. I refer to this end balance point as the ?swing to balance?.I like to remind my students that balance in life is the key a happy and productive life and balance in the golf swing is the key to a successful round of golf. Every athletic movement of which I am aware, and I certainly include golf, requires the body to be in balance to perform at the highest and most consistent level. There are 3 balance points to be concerned with during the swing: start of the swing, top of the back swing and the full finished position.Drills for improvement: The ?cross your heart drill? is the best for feeling how your sternum works during the swing. Take a long iron from your bag and lay it across your chest and shoulders bisecting your sternum. Spread you legs shoulder width apart and bend slightly at the hips to feel balance as if you were preparing to swing the club. Now turn your torso so that the club is over your back leg, the weight should now be in your back foot. Then uncoil your body all the way until the club is now over your target foot with your hips chest and eyes facing your target. This rotational movement is similar to how the body works in the swing. Try this drill a few hundred times and I promise that you?ll create better balance in your swing.Shawn Kelly, PGA professional, can be reached at The Ridge G.C (530) 888-7888