Like to Launch Your Golf Ball into Orbit? Here’s How.
Want to hit the ball further? Sure. And there are plenty of cyber coaches out there to help you.
A common piece of advice given to get that extra distance is to ‘transfer your weight to your left foot as you hit the ball’.
Now all this makes good sense. Transferring your weight on the downswing has the effect of speeding up hip and shoulder rotation.
But is this really good advice?
An Experiment
As it turns out, this advice has already been tested.[1] Researchers recruited some low skilled golfers.[2]
To establish a baseline against which any improvement could be calculated, the researchers measured the average distance the golfers hit ten 7-irons when asked to hit as far as possible.
Before the golfers hit a further 100 balls they were divided into two groups.
- A transfer group who was told to ‘transfer your weight to your left foot as you hit the ball.
- A push group who was told to ‘push against the left side of the ground as you hit the ball’.
The first thing that strikes you here is the instruction given to both groups is strikingly similar. Is it possible such a subtle difference could result in a difference in performance?
And the Result?
At baseline, there was no difference between the two groups – both averaged around 75 metres. At the end of the additional 100 shots, both groups were now hitting further.
The transfer group now hit an average of 82 metres – an 18 metre increase. In stark contrast, the push group now hit 113 metres – an astonishing 38 metre increase.
Now this extra carry distance of 20 metres by the push group doesn’t come out of thin air. Essentially it must come out of increased club head acceleration when making contact with the ball. And how might this happen?
Questions to Answer
Why should such a subtle difference in instruction produce such a dramatic difference in outcome?
What’s the fundamental difference between the two sets of instructions?
How does the swing of the push golfers differ from that of their transfer counterparts?
Is it possible the hip and shoulder rotation of the push golfers differs between the two groups?
And what’s going in the mind that might cause and difference in swing.
The answer to these questions …
… and much more are to be found in my ebook, Golf – A Fiendish and Unnatural Enterprise. How to Hit the Ball out of Sight. And be More Accurate.
Until next time.
Roger Wheller
‘I read the research so you don’t have to’
[1] An J. Wulf G. & Kim S. Increased carry distance and X-factor stretch in golf through an external focus of attention. Journal of Motor Learning and Development, 1, 2-11, 2013.
[2] The low skilled golfers were university students who had recently completed a 15 week golf program of 2 hours a week.
