By Josh Zander
"Balance Daniel son, must learn the balance!" For those of you old enough to remember the movie "The Karate Kid" you remember those infamous words of Mr. Miagi teaching his student the importance of balance. I feel like Mr. Miagi on the lesson tee sometimes as I stress balance to all my students. Balance is a fundamental you will find in all great golf swings. The swings make look different, but they all seem to finish like they are posing for the camera.
Your vestibular system and your nervous system equip you with tools for balance. Solid swing fundamentals also lead to better balance. Try this next time you go to the driving range. Don't make a backswing and simply swing from your set up into a perfect, balanced finish position. Hold it there for ten seconds to allow your brain to understand the feeling of a balanced finish. Now set up and try to swing into that finish. It's amazing how your swing plane and body motion starts to come around. Often times, as players, we get caught up in the minutia of the different parts of the swing. There is not enough time during the swing to think about all those details! Make it your goal to finish in balance and a lot of the swing faults will start to melt away.
As I mentioned in the video, slowing down your swing is not the solution to your balance problem. Slowing down may help your balance but now you are hitting it shorter. I have taught golf for 16 years and I have never had a student who wants to hit it shorter. Lets fix your golf swing and then speed it up! The average PGA Tour Player swings his driver at 112 mph. Have you noticed, they all pose at the finish while in perfect balance. Mr. Miagi would be proud!