43. The best deal in golf; put less in and get more out!

Balance is a quality we all admire about a good player; in fact it is an important reason why the player is good. It is a lack of balance however that that we all too often see in the struggling golfer. Many of these players are actually blissfully unaware of this lack as they are too occupied with the ball and result to notice they are on the back foot or stranded in a flat footed follow through position.

To find out if you are in balance with your swing, I suggest you try the following drill the next time you are on the range. Try hitting a few shots with your feet together using no more than a 6 or 7 iron, be sure to swing a bit softer, especially if you have a back, hip or knee problem. If you find yourself falling over swinging from this narrow base it could well be that you are over applying the body action. Be sure to persevere because self preservation will come to your aid as you instinctively quieten down the over working body. (Further reading in lesson 11 on this subject.)

When this happens you may well experience a magical thing because the hands and arms will now come into play which the dominant body did not allow before. When you swing the hands and arms, you also swing the club and more often than not, you will find you hit the ball just as far and in some cases further as well as gaining more consistency with half the effort you previously applied. It can be the best deal in golf; put less in and get more out!

The aim now is to take this emphasized hand and arm swing and apply it to a conventional stance. Do not allow the body and its big muscles fool you into thinking they are required for long shots. If you can achieve this you will have a follow through position that would grace the front cover of any national golf magazine and a more effective golf game as well.