Now Comes RU Late?
This training aid was conceived by an amateur who has been through extensive golf training courses and who has taken almost a dozen lessons from PGA Pros. For weeks and months I religiously and rigorously did the above drills and more, yet still found myself unable to make the transition weight shift move during course play.
I still hit too many balls "on my back foot" and sliced or pull-hooked, suffered fat contact, topped shots, and other common results we are all familiar with. During one lesson my teaching pro said, "we can't go further until you learn the proper footwork."
He explained that even though I had ingrained a fundamentally correct grip, setup, and takeaway turn, I remained unable to consistently strike the ball crisply and propel it straight because I failed to shift my weight and turn my hips before impact, because I failed to make the transition weight shift.
He admitted that I, like most of his students, still "lagged back" and struck the ball with weight on my back foot, clubhead decelerating and imparting slice spin to the ball. He suggested the standard drills. Before I left that lesson I asked him, "does anyone ever learn this?" He sadly shook his head.
So I thought about it and returned to ask him whether a golfer will have made the transition weight shift move IF their back foot heel is standing on its toe at impact. He confirmed that the back foot heel position is a very consistent indicator of a good golf swing. When the heel finishes in the correct position, the weight MUST be on the front leg, the back knee will be beside the front knee, and the hips will be facing the target. The heel position indicates that many good things happened.
So the RU Late? training aid detects the position of the back foot heel AND the impact of the golf club on the ball (or the grass or range mat). When the golfer strikes the ball with his weight retained on his back foot heel, the device emits a short "buzz" sound.
When the golfer correctly shifts his weight to his front foot, correctly turns his hips toward the target and lifts his back foot heel before striking the ball, there is no sound. His reward for shifting his weight forward early is no "buzz," crisp contact, a good divot if on grass, and either straight or draw ball flight. That is addictive! |
