New golf players often fall in the habit of focusing on elements, that are not as important as others. They tend to emphasize the elements of their swing that go head of striking the ball. In this guide, you will learn everything you need to when it comes to the follow through, and why it matters so much.
The Follow Through Is Crucial to Your Golf Swing
Your golf swing follow through is just as an important part as the rest of your swing. Usually, golfers list things like address, takeaway, and downswing at the top of the checklist. Even though the follow through occurs after the ball is struck, it is arguably as important.
A follow through allows you to let the downswing, and impact run its full course effortlessly without any strong or unnecessary obstructions.
A Good Follow-Through
The downswing happens is the quickest part of the entire golf swing. This makes it hard to determine when exactly the clubface will connect with the ball. If you want to make sure that your follow-through has strength, check that your body moves easily along with the club even when striking the ball.
The Pillars of a Decent Follow-Through
- Focus on preventing your whole body from moving after you’ve made the strike.
- Do this while keeping your eyes on the ball travelling in the distance.
- Your weight has to move completely to your front foot, keep your back foot only resting on the toe.
- In a good follow-through, the club will make a total turnaround and end up behind you.
- Lastly, keep your pose until you see the ball land while the ball is in the air.
The Effects of a Bad Follow Through
So, as with many things in golf, things can go wrong. A flawed follow through has a few effects on your golf swing. There are many things that can happen when your follow through isn’t up to scratch.
- a bad pull hook
- chunk shots
- a push slice that doesn’t have much distance
But you should always look on the bright side of life. There are a few drills you can practice to improve your follow through.
Practice These Drills
The following drills are some of the most unique ways to improve your follow through.
Incomplete Follow Through Drill
In this drill the first thig you should do is hit a few iron shots. When you start hitting your shots, pay close attention to what the golf ball does. When you swing more to the left, then you are not completing the follow through correctly.
To get this right, you have to pay attention to turning your whole body during your golf shot.
A good way to practice this, would be to stick a tee a few inches ahead of your golf ball. When you are making your swing, try and hit that tee with your club. This weird exercise, helps to ensure that you finish the golf swing and following through. The main reason why this works so well is that it prevents you from stopping the swing too early and landing block shots.
Sweeping Hook Drill
if you are plagued by sweeping hooks, then it is possible that you are bringing your hands over the top throughout the follow through. That’s okay there is something that you can do to correct it. The trick is to focus on swinging inside to out.
To start off, do a couple of practice swings with the club moving back to the inside following through outside of the target line. This will obviously feel a bit weird in the beginning. Don’t worry as you get comfortable, you will be able to strike the ball straighter down the target line.
Weight Shift Drill
In the next drill let’s look at shifting your weight. This also plays a huge role in your follow through. If you are not shifting your weight correctly, you will have multiple problems with your follow through. The most occurring issue is usually the fall back after contact.
By not properly shifting your weight from the back to the front, you will lean back during the follow through, leaving you open to slices. There is a way you can get this fixed, and it was brought about by one of the world’s best players- Gary Player.
Throughout his career, Player had to battle with heaps of fall-back motion in his swing. To fix this he designed the “walk-through to par” drill. What he would do is plainly walk through his golf swing as he followed through. By doing this, he was able to complete the golf swing and correctly transfer his weight from the back to the front. This method is a great practice drill if you’re having trouble here.
This is an easy way to improve your weight transfer, and to make sure that your body turns properly before and after impact.
Here’s how you do it:
- Using any club, take your normal backswing.
- On the way down, swing your right foot out and around in the direction of the target, as you make contact.
- Take an extra step or two for a well-adjusted and flowing motion.
Using a Basketball Drill
In the last drill you will need a basketball and another person as a reference point. Hold the basketball in your hands and take up your usual golf stance. Ask the other person to stand directly behind you. Now it’s time to take your backswing by throwing the ball as hard as you can over your shoulder. Left shoulder for left-handed players and right for right-handed players. This action forces you to complete the follow-through.
You’ll be amazed at the level of speed you have left out in your golf swing. This drill helps you feel the totality of swinging through the shot. Pay attention to your weight as it moves through on the front foot with your belt buckle forward. Next you have to use one of your 6 or 7 irons. Now, using one of these irons, swing a few shots as you attempt to imitate the feeling you had when using the basketball.
The main idea here is to create the distance. Also, it would help to speed things up. To do this, you have to follow through all the way through. Practice this often to really get the hang of it. Now, ask your partner to start moving further away from you slowly. This will give you the power you need, to generate the necessary speed to get the ball all the way back.
Reasons for Limited Follow Through
Golfers who battle with a limited follow through may be experiencing a number of different swing problems. Let’s look at the most common problems and how they can be fixed.
Limits in The Hips
When you are in your down swing, you need your hips to move in the direction of the target. This is important when you want to deliver a powerful shot. If your hips are somehow blocked from moving a lot, the follow through will also be limited.
The secret to letting your hips turn freely lays in your feet. You have to make sure you’re your feet are in the right position when you are at address- especially your left foot. Your left foot needs to be widened outward by at least 45 degrees, in line with the ball to the target line. This guarantees that your left knee and hip are not hindered when spinning through the ball.
Inadequate Arm Extension
To make sure you have a full follow through your arms need to be extended. You need to extend your arms through impact until your arms and club point down at the target line. If your arms don’t straighten enough through impact, you may suffer with weak shots and an incomplete follow through. You don’t want this to happen, so try to check that your arms and club extend completely though impact. It really is that simple.
Poor Posture
To get the best out of your swing, multiple parts of your body have to work together. To be successful in doing that, your body posture needs to be strong and flexible. With that being said, there is one cardinal flaw that happens in a player’s posture- which gives rise to a limited follow through.
This mainly happens when your hips ‘tuck under’ your body. Tucking your hips refers to a way to hold your lower body while exercising, standing, or sitting.
When your hips are tucked under, it’s difficult for them to turn freely through. To ensure this doesn’t happen, make sure that your hips are pushed outward and not tucked underneath the body. This is just another simple way you can guarantee a successful follow through.
Conclusion
The follow through is a vital portion of the golf swing. It is part of the puzzle that decides the outcome of your entire game. If you are having problems with your follow through, pay close attention to the tips and tweaks provided in this guide. Like anything in life, perfecting your follow through can take some time. Be kind to yourself and take things at your own pace. Practice as many drills as you can until you are happy with your follow through. Happy swinging.
