Load and Fire!

Mark Oswald
General Manager
The Highlands at Dove Mountain in Marana, AZ.
Marana, AZ
oswaldpga@gmail.com

More Information

This is the formula for power in your golf swing. The backswing is for loading up your body thus allowing you to fire into the ball on the downswing. This power load is made by the turning and resisting of the body during the swing, 

Loading begins at the very start of the swing. Your backswing should begin with your entire left side, (for the right handed golfer), taking the club away from the ball. Your shoulders and hips begin turning, and your weight is beginning to shift towards your right foot. This continues as you are taking the club back towards the top of your backswing. As you complete the backswing you will find your shoulders will have turned more than your hips. This is what creates the resistance or many refer to this in the golf swing as the coil. As your upper body turns on past the lower body you are creating resistance against the lower body. This coil is creating a large source of power. The greater the difference between your upper and lower body, the more coil or resistance you create.

At the completion of the backswing you should find pressure on the right hip, knee and foot. This is where the fire will begin from to maximize your acceleration and increase the club head speed into the ball. As you begin the downswing you will start driving out of this coiled position. Fire off your foot, knee, and hip propelling your lower body into the ball. This will begin the acceleration and also drop the club down into the correct position for the downswing and into impact.

This load and fire are similar to the motion with winding a top. As you wind it up you are loading, and when you let go it fires out.

Try this with your golf swing. Load up your backswing with a big shoulder turn, 90 degrees if possible, hip turn of 45 degrees, and knee turn of 23 degrees. The shoulder turn is greater than the hip creating the resistance from where you fire out with the lower body into the ball.

Increase your load and fire and you will increase the distance of the shot.

For more help with your golf game, contact Mark Oswald at oswaldpga@gmail.com.