[Lessons with Pak Se-ri] Perfect downswings create power

Proper downswing and finish

Once you get your club up to the top, it is now time to bring the club back down to make a strong impact. The motion in which you bring the club back down is called a “downswing.”

Many amateurs tend to sway too much during the downswing. This might create a tendency to push your shots due to poor contact. If you swing only with your arms, it’ll also be hard to make proper contact since your weight on the right leg does not fully transfer to your left.

My tip for the downswing is to have a feeling of starting your downswing with inner left thigh.

You should have some strength in your inner left thigh before you bring your club down. That same strength in your inner left thigh must be kept the same until you hit the ball. This must be done to make strong impact.

When you swing, all of your weight should be centered on the inner parts of your feet.

However, during the downswing, it is better to keep your weight more on the inner left thigh to support and prevent yourself from swaying.

I don’t care much about the impact because once you have the correct downswing motion, your impact will come along.

Since the downswing to impact is such a quick movement in your swing, it’s unnatural to separate the two.

As I said during my backswing lesson, your swing gets harder if you think more about it. When I swing, I focus on my target and visualize the trajectory of the ball.

After impact, the follow through and finish are the next connecting motions.

If you are a right-handed golfer, all your weight should be transferred to your left leg at the finish. This is very easy to check as even beginners know where their weight is when they finish.

Weight must be transferred to the left leg for strong impact. Poor weight transfer may lead to back injury. [JOONGANG ILBO]

If you don’t currently transfer your weight from your right to your left leg, it’s very important to do so by practicing your swings as improper weight transfer may lead to back injury.

At finish, if you feel like your weight is more on the right side, then it’ll cause too much bending in your back which causes pressure and may lead to a serious injury down the line.

I’ve seen many amateur golfers with wrong finish posture at the practice range so I want to point out the importance of weight transfer to amateur golfers.

It is hard to fix your swing from one point lesson. It is important to practice what you’ve learned from the lesson.

It takes a lot of courage and practice time for me, a professional golfer, to make swing changes. The two most important things to keep in mind during range sessions are weight transfer and balance.

[kang.yoorim@joongang.co.kr]