Why You Need This: In this video, you'll learn a trick to stop rushing the downswing.

Rushing the downswing is, after all, one of them most common pitfalls in all of golf.

At the top of the swing, it's tempting to swing out of your shoes and try to crush the ball.

But will that help you smoke your drives?

Well, what often happens when you try to swing at light speed is that your fundamentals break down causing worse contact and a loss of distance.

In this video, you'll discover how to smooth out your transition... yet still get tons of distance.

You'll get tips for a smooth and powerful swing.

Tip #1: Load up

This is referred to as a "Power Turn" in the Top Speed Golf System.

In the backswing, your hips need to turn about 45 degrees...

And get your shoulders to turn at least 90 degrees.

This position allows plenty of space for you to make a smooth downswing through impact.

Tip #2: Shallow out your club in the downswing

A common problem with golfers is rushing into the downswing.

This makes it difficult to get your club on the correct path, causing you to come over the top.

To shallow out your club in the downswing, allow your left wrist to bow.

This will put your club on plane so you can whip your club through impact.

Summary...

Avoid falling into the distance trap of hurrying up your downswing.

Instead, focus on getting a full turn in the backswing...

And shallow out your club at the start of the downswing to get on a more powerful swing plane.

Watch this video now to stop rushing the downswing and still produce plenty of distance!

Golf Pros Featured:

Instructors Featured: Clay Ballard    

Video Duration: 5:40

Video Transcription:

One of the most common problems in golf is rushing the downswing. You get to the top of the swing, you feel you’ve got to go at it 100 miles an hour, how can we smooth out the transition? How can we have a nice, smooth swing and still get that distance?

If you feel like you’re slowing down your swing but you’re losing 20 or 30 yards off the tee, it makes no difference. I’m going to show you how to have a smooth but powerful golf swing, and I’ve got three tips for you.

Let’s go and get started.

All right, so tip number one, we’ve got to make sure that we really load up. This is something we call the Power Turn in the Top Speed Golf System. Basically what this means is as we go to the top of the swing, my hips need to turn about 45°, and that’s going to allow my shoulders to turn at least 90°.

Now I’ve got a great test for you to see if you’re doing this correctly. I want you to go ahead and I want you to turn your shoulders as much as possible. Don’t move your hips at all, turn your shoulders as much as possible, you’ll feel really tight through your midsection here. Feel all that complete stretch.

That’s your full range of motion. You’re going to feel really tight like that. Now go ahead and relax a little bit, just a few degrees from that. Now I’m relaxed. I’m still stretched out through here, but I’ve got another 5° or 10° as I’m going back to the top.

Now in the golf swing, in the backswing, I really want to make sure that I do both of those things. So number one, I’m going to turn to the top here. Let’s actually put a club across your shoulders.

I’m going to turn all the way to the top here, and I’m going to get my shoulders to turn at least 90°, so the butt end of my club is now pointing to the right of the golf ball, a little bit down to the ground like this. Right?

Now I’ve got a good, full turn, but I’m not all the way full, at my full range of motion. I’m going to go ahead and let the hips turn enough to where I’m about 90 percent, so I could go a little bit extra if I wanted to.

I’m getting at least to 90°, but the hips have rotated enough to where now I don’t feel like I’m completely locked up. If my hips don’t rotate, let’s imagine I keep my hips more toward the ball.

Now I’m full range of motion, and I’m not all the way to the top of the swing. I’ve got to let those hips rotate a little bit more, so that not only I’m getting at least to 90°, and I’m also fairly relaxed as I get to the top.

The reason for this is, as you start your downswing, we’re actually going to get the hips to start to lead the way a little bit. They’re going to start the transition, they’re going to get things going.

If I’m fully locked up as I get to the top, I’m not going to have that extra forgiveness to build even more power in the downswing. So when we do that, when we get that good hip and shoulder rotation, what that does is it allows you to get a good, full swing in the backswing.

Imagine I’m getting a very long arc, a big path going in the backswing, and now I have a lot of room to accelerate as I’m starting the downswing. Probably the best visual for this is imagine you have a drag car, or you’ve got two drag cars. They’re both going to go, let’s say, 1,000 yards.

Now imagine I pull this drag car back to where it got a 100-yard head start. It’s going to beat the other drag car every time. It’s already got some momentum going. If you’re making a short backswing, not completely your shoulder turn, my hands are low, and I’m going to feel like I really have to rush from the top.

I’m going to get quick every single time. If I load up my hips and shoulders, now I’ve got a lot of space to accelerate in the downswing, and I’m going to feel like I have more time. I’m going to be smoother applying that power.

So check two things for me. Number one, are my hips and shoulders turning 45° with the hips, at least 90° with the shoulders, a little bit more is extra? And have I turned the hips enough to where I still feel like I have a little bit of play between the upper and lower body?

That’s going to allow me to get this good, full turn, but still feel nice and relaxed as I’m doing that. You’ll feel a little tight, but you don’t want to be 100 percent locked.

Now the second part of this, is I don’t want to have my body firing from the top right away. I want to make sure that the very first move as I start my downswing, I’m allowing this club to shallow a little bit, and I’m kind of moving into the ground.

So here it’s at the top, here’s my backswing plane, as I start down, I’m going t have a little bit of a shallowing of this club, and my left wrist is going to be starting to bow out like that. So I’m starting to close the club face also. When I do this, looks something like this.

There’s that shallowing and bowing of the club. Now I’ve got a position where I’ve got a lot of lag. I’m kind of feeling like I’m bending it down into the ground. Then I’m going to whip that on through contact, release all that into what I call my straight line release in the Top Speed Golf System.

We want to make sure that we’re nice and soft as we start down and allow that club t shallow a bit. That’s going to get us in the position to where we can really whip that club on through and it’s going to be on the plane that we’re going to have coming into the downswing.

A good way to visualize this, video tape yourself from down the line and your club should be tracing down your right forearm if you’re looking from the down the line perspective. I’m not making a swing here, so I can’t get exactly correct, but that’s about where I want to be coming down my forearm.

That’s going to allow me to really get that club in a position where I can whip it through contact.

Focus on those two keys. Do about 100 repetitions practicing that good, full shoulder turn, getting those hips to rotate in the backswing.

Number two, I’m going to let that club shallow out, my left wrist is going to be starting to bow at this point. Right wrist is cupping back, and now I’m in a position to where now I can really turn on the power in the second half of the swing. I can still have power but be smooth at the same time.

Let’s go ahead and try that out. Good full shoulder turn, as I shallow this club out you’re going to see it looks like it’s got quite a bit of lag in there too, which is an added bonus. Let’s give it a whirl.

There we go. I got good power with that one, didn’t feel like I had to rush the swing at all, nice and smooth. You’re going to get some good distance. Try out those keys, you guys are going to be feeling better over top of the ball.