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The Correct Weight Shift and Drills
The correct weight shift will give you distance and power. But lots of golfers fail to shift or transfer their weight to the right side on the backswing.
They leave most of their weight on the front foot going back causing them to lose distance.
On the backswing, you need to transfer your weight to the right foot for right handed player to restore power for the downswing.
Here is a simple drill to check if you are doing it correctly.
At the top of your swing, raise your front foot off the ground. If you can do this easily, you are shifting your weight correctly. But if you can't do this well, then you are failing to transfer your weight.
If you are not doing it correctly, that means you have lots of potential to add more distance to your game. So that's a good news.
One more tip to check your weight transfer.
Swing to the top of your swing and stop.
Now, turn your head to the right without moving your body.
What do you see?
If you can see the golfer hitting balls behind you over your shoulder. You are doing fine.
Keeping Your Head Still
I'm only 5' 7" (170 cm), but I can hit it much further than the golfers who are much bigger and stronger than I am.
That's because I can shift my weight correctly for more power.
So how can you shift your weight fully to your right side?
One thing you should avoid is to keep your head still during the golf swing.
When I started playing golf, lots of teachers were telling golfers to keep their head still. You still hear this advice nowadays.
During the swing, your body moves a little bit to the right as you shift your weight to the right. Because your head is connected to your neck and the body, it's natural for your head to move a little bit to the right as well.
If you keep your head still, you will fail to transfer your weight to the right.
Spine Tilt
It seems simple to transfer your weight from the front foot to the back foot. But many golfers can't do it.
Many golfers have a move called reverse pivot. The reverse pivot occurs when you leave most of your weight on your front foot during the backswing and shifting your weight to the back foot during the downswing.
This is just the opposite of what should happen during the swing.
The reverse pivot is one of the biggest reasons for losing distance.
To avoid your reverse pivot, you should pay attention to your spine angle at address.
In golf, your right hand will be place below your left. So your right shoulder will be lower than your left. The spine should also be tilted to the right because your right hand is lower than left.
So make sure to tilt your spine a little to the right at address.
Tilting your spine to the right will make it much easier to transfer your weight to the right.
At the top of your backswing, your spine should be tilted to the right as it was at address. So try to keep the spine tilt during the backswing. It should help you shift your weight to the back foot correctly.