As golfers get older, the body tends to change, which causes several golf swing problems that we see over and over again. Most golfers older than 50 experience the same problems and it is likely that you may be struggling with these issues as well (although you may not realize it).

No. 1 Mistake: Lack of Weight Transfer into Impact

The No. 1 mistake that we find in golfers as they get older is a failure to transfer their weight forward enough through the impact zone of the golf swing.

Failure to transfer weight forward at impact leads to:

1. Releasing the club too early.
2. Ascending impact: loss of distance, spin and consistency.

The reason this is such a problem is that when your body and weight hang back, your swing will bottom out behind the ball. This will increase the odds that you will hit the ground before the ball, or blade the golf ball as your club face ascends through the impact position.

However, we see many golfers who have poor weight shift and still hit the ball flush. This is difficult to accomplish consistently, but even if you do consistently hit the ball with poor weight shift, you will be hitting the ball on the upswing. The effect this will have on your shots is that you will hit the ball higher, but with less distance and less spin. If you rarely take a divot with your irons, you may be striking the ball this way. Analyzing your weight shift is a good place to start looking.

How to Analyze Your Weight Shift

In our practice, we have our golfers stand on two separate scales or a force plate to determine weight shift. However, you can test yourself at home fairly easily by using either an impact bag or a duffle bag filled with towels.

To perform this drill, make your NORMAL golf swing at HALF SPEED (half speed is still pretty fast). Give the bag a good “pop,” and hold the position. In this position, you should feel 70 to 75 percent of your weight on your lead foot and you should be able to just barely lift your trail foot off of the ground for a split second.

How to Fix Your Weight Shift

I like to use the following drills/exercises to effectively train your body to aggressively shift your weight into the golf swing.

Drill No. 1: The Walkthrough Drill

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The key to performing this drill correctly, is to allow your trail leg to be pulled forward by your forward momentum instead of using your muscles to lift the leg forward. This is a sign of a good weight shift.

Exercise No. 1: Resisted Follow Through

The best way to train the body to learn the movement you want it to make is to resist that movement. Using this method, your body is forced to use the correct muscles and patterns to ingrain the movement into your golf swing.

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Purpose: Train the body to explosively transfer weight.

Setup: Begin by attaching your exercise band and anchor to a doorway at around belly button height. Wrap the band around you to the left around your belt line.

Golf Action: As if you were hitting a golf ball, take your normal backswing and follow through. Your follow through will be against resistance so turn strong, quickly and under control to a full finish.

Parameters: Perform one to three sets of eight repetitions.

No. 2 Mistake: Wrist Release is Much Too Early

The second mistake that we commonly see in golfers older than 50 is releasing the club too early in their downswing. This may be connected to poor weight shift but that is not always the case.

The biggest problems that you will face if you release the club too early in your downswing will be:

1. You will reach peak acceleration well behind the ball and will be decelerating into the ball which results in poor contact and loss of distance.
2. As in mistake No. 1, your swing will bottom out behind the ball.

How to Analyze Your Release

I like to use two different tests to measure your release.

1. Using the Impact Bag to Test Release

To perform this test, you will follow the same exact directions as the above test with the impact bag. However, when you hold the impact position, instead of analyzing your weight shift you are simply going to look and see if your lead wrist is flat or if it is bent.

The correct position is that your lead wrist is flat and your hands should be in front of the club face (your shaft should be leaning toward the target). If the shaft of your club is not tilted forward, this would indicate that you released the club too early.

2. The Swoosh Drill
This is one of my favorite drills for golfers older than 50 and senior golfers. To perform this drill you are going to use a mid-iron, turn it upside down, and use your normal golf grip on the bottom of the shaft of the club as shown below.

When you swing the club aggressively, you will hear a “swoosh” sound, but the key to this drill is WHERE you hear the swoosh sound. The swoosh sound will be the loudest at the point of maximum acceleration (usually where you release, or unhinge, your wrists).

The key to moving your “swoosh” sound forward is to keep your wrists hinged longer and releasing your wrist hinge as the hands pass the ball at the impact position. Performing this correctly will maximize your distance because you will reach your maximum acceleration as you hit through the ball.

If you are a golfer older than 50, take a quick moment and run through these tests. In my experience, golfers do not know that they are making these mistakes until they test for them. If you struggle with distance and/or consistency, these small changes will make a substantial difference in your golf game, help you hit shorter irons into greens, and score much better this summer.