Before driving ranges, most pros shagged their own
balls. They would hit balls from one end of a field,
walk to the other end, and hit them back.
Pros needed endurance and accuracy. An unintended
benefit was that they’d focus on most of their shots so they
didn’t have to go all over hell’s half-acre picking up balls.
From the ages of 14 to 19, Moe Norman shagged
more than one million golf balls, most of them in a 225-
yard field at Rockway Golf Club in Kitchener, Ontario.
The field at Rockway helped forged one of the most
powerful and accurate golf swings in the history of
the game.
Forty years later, Moe didn’t talk about working hard
at Rockway. He talked about effortlessness, ease, and
simplicity; about learning to move his body in perfect
sequence – in perfect balance.
“My swing balances me,” he would say.
All great ballstrikers swing in balance. Whether we
look at a figure skater, quarterback, skateboarder or golfer,
all high-performance athletes make complex movements
look easy because they move in perfect balance.
Golfers who cannot swing in balance significantly
reduce their chances to hit the ball solidly, accurately and
consistently. The overwhelming majority of golfers swing
the club from outside to inside the target line, while better
players tend to swing excessively from the inside.
In both scenarios, the club is out of position and
the body moves to counteract the forces at work in the
swing, making it difficult to stay in balance. This verifies
Moe’s explanation that his swing balanced him.
Moe talked about making the body stable. With
stability, the student has a much better chance of moving
in balance. Drills that encourage stabilizing the body
and proper spine movement will promote proper club
movement.
Ball Position
Anything that affects the movement of the spine
affects the balance of the body. This includes distance
from ball and the position of the ball relative to the lead
shoulder, which is a function of stance width. To create
an optimum position of the body for balance, the ball
must be positioned correctly in order to simplify the
body’s ability to balance during the strike.
Since balance is related to how the feet work and
balance the body throughout the swing, the best drills
for working on balance help you learn connection to the
ground.
Great ballstrikers synchronize their upper and
lower bodies in a way that allows the hips to turn into
the backswing as the shoulders turn. Then, during the
transition, the lower body starts the downswing move as
the club “drops” on plane. The lower upper body/lower
body relationship establishes the stability of the lower
body as the upper body produces speed.
Feet on the Ground Drill
Striking golf balls with both feet on the ground from
the backswing through release helps train students to
stabilize their lower bodies. Ensure that students turn
their hips while keeping their feet on the ground, and
that the right hip turns inward in the downswing as the
lead knee remains flexed. This drill keeps the spine in
position throughout the golf swing.
Leverage Bag Drills
A leverage bag is a great training aid to help students
move into impact with the upper and lower body moving
correctly in sequence. The leverage bag helps teach
stability throughout the swing. Note: at impact, the hips
are open and feet are flat on the ground.
Todd Graves is the founder of the Graves Golf Academy, with
teaching locations in Orlando, Florida, and Edmond, Oklahoma.
Visit www.moenormangolf.com for more information.
Tim O’Connor is president of O’Connor Golf Communications in
Guelph, Ontario. For more information, visit
www.oconnorgolf.ca
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