Problems with Timing
What is timing? In my opinion, timing is being able to match up the swinging movement of your arms with your body rotation and weight transfer. If you have lost your timing, you might feel any of the folowing:
- Do you feel like you have lost the natural tempo in your swing that you once had?
- Do you feel like you cannot transfer your weight at the right time?
- You have lost the smooth weight transfer between left and right foot?
- Do you feel complicated in your swing, and as a results, you are having swing thought positions during your swing?
- Have you lost trust in your swing and are hitting nervous, guided shots?
Well, if you have any of these problems, I would put you in the category of a timing problem. One of my favorite drills, and normally the first drill I would use with a timing issue, is called 3 in a Row, and it should get you back on track in no time.
Fix it: 3 in a row
- First place 3 balls on the mat in a line. There should be about 1 clubhead between each ball.
- Hit the first ball as normal, but instead of stopping in your finished position, swing the club back to the top of the backswing while stepping into hit the next ball.
- Repeat this process until you have hit all 3 balls.
Benefits
The first few times you do this drill you might find it difficult to hit good shots, but after some practice, you will start to appreciate the benefits.
- With the continuous flow of swinging your arms to the right and the left, and the stepping movement to hit the next ball, you will start to feel a very natural weight transfer.
- Again, as you swing continuously from backswing to follow through, and again int0 backswing, this motion will iron out bad tempo. You will feel a smooth swing throughout.
- You will start to gain a sense of commitment in your swing, gaining the trust in your swing that you had lost.
- If you had started to become too complicated in your thought, you will find that in completing this drill, you will lose all the unwanted and unnecessary swing thoughts you had. It can be a great way to have a clean start, a clean sheet of paper to start again.
But mostly this drill will remind you of what you are trying to do when hitting a golf ball. You are trying to make a SWING, not create a sequence of positions.
