Transitioning into 2025

We’re well into the New Year and almost to the point where I remember that it’s 2025 and no longer 2024.

Here at Finding the Tips, we are concentrating on getting ready for the 2025 golf season whenever spring arrives. For me, that means dropping a few pounds as I have wintered too well. It also means taking some time to loosen up my hips, shoulders and wrists, and trying to strengthen my core, as well as my upper body and legs.

I wanted to work on box jumps to improve my application of vertical force in the swing. You just jump up and onto the top of a box, without any kind of runup. The young guys on YouTube are easily jumping two to three feet and some are getting to five feet.

To be honest, mine are more like magazine jumps. But I am getting in the air. So, hope springs eternal.

Now let’s take a look at lessons from three YouTube golf pros on how to properly start the downswing. I know that when I do this right, I hit it farther, more solidly and more on target. When I rush the start of the downswing, though, I might as well be swinging an ax.

All of us are different and there are some tips that resonate more with each of us. That’s why I’m giving you three channels that are offering great advice on how to transition from the backswing to the downswing. Try them all and use the one(s) that work for you and your game!

I’ve also added a bonus video that I think will help those of us who might be swaying or turning too much in the backswing.

In this issue

• Start the downswing correctly

• Magic downswing move

• Shift weight down to lead heel

• Bonus: Building tilt into your swing

Start the downswing correctly

Jonathan Chown is a UK-based golf professional who wants to show us the optimum way to start the downswing.

He points out in this video that we all need more time to transition from the backswing to the downswing. Rushing the downswing leads to over-the-top swings that create a slice. It can also cause a hard pull. Either way, we’re not hitting the ball at the target.

Jonathan advises that we take time at the top. Feel the completion of the backswing before you start the downswing. There’s no rush.

Start the downswing with a shift of weight to your lead side. Feel the big muscles in your lead leg flex. Your hands and arms may drop as a result of this move, but you don’t need to pull them down.

Most importantly, this leisurely approach to the transition gives your hips time to move. As you move your weight forward, your pelvis will re-center, your hips will unwind and your chest and shoulders will rotate beautifully.  

The result will be a rhythmic swing that delivers maximum speed and power just after impact.

The drill he wants us to use is the same one that Butch Harmon had the young Tiger Woods practice for hours and hours at the start of his professional career.

Try it. Swing to the top of the backswing and pause. Wait a second or two – there’s no rush – then swing down and through the ball.

Jonathan also wants us to feel the speed that’s available to us by swinging an alignment stick after pausing at the top.

If you don’t have an alignment stick, get a mid-iron and hold it upside down, just below the club head. Pause at the top of the backswing, then let it rip.

If you let yourself feel the top of the backswing before you start the downswing, you’re going to hit better shots. Guaranteed.

Magic downswing move

The pros at Athletic Motion Golf, Mike Granato and Shaun Webb, have reviewed video tape of all the top tour players and they all have the same move at the top of their backswing.

This move reconnects the trail arm with the rib cage at the start of the downswing when the body starts to unwind. It’s not a pull but rather a natural lowering of the arm to the torso as weight is transferred to the lead side.

Some of us may have been advised to pull the elbow of the trail arm in front of the hips in the downswing. However, this move can cause inconsistency.

They offer a drill where you swing to the top of your backswing, then remove the lead hand from the club and lay your fist just over your trail side hip. Start the downswing slowly and feel your trail arm come down and reconnect over your fist.

Get used to that feeling using the drill. Then go ahead and take full swings. Feel your backswing end, forcefully shift your weight to your lead side, and then reconnect your upper arm and elbow to your rib cage as you swing the club through the ball.

Do this properly and you will hit shots that are more powerful and more accurate.

Shift weight down to left heel

Three-time major champion Padraig Harrington uses a motorized golf cart to demonstrate how he starts his downswing.

He grabs the metal bar that holds up the roof of the cart in both hands, at shoulder height, as if he’s at the top of his backswing. The he moves his weight down and forward, toward his lead heel.

You will see that he is pressing hard into the ground with his lead leg. He does this several times, emulating the feeling he wants you to have as your lead heel and leg put pressure into the ground.

Planting on the lead heel at the start of the downswing creates stretch in your upper body, from your trail shoulder right down to your lead hip.

That stretch or pull also creates the so-called shallowing of your golf club without trying to move it. Shallowing is a simple reaction to the stretch.

Bonus: Building tilt into your swing

Zach Allen shows us how our hips move away from the ball on the backswing, with the lead shoulder moving slightly down. That’s tilt.

On the downswing, the first move is the shift of pressure or weight to the lead side, and this sends the hips forward until the spine is over the lead leg. The arms and lead shoulder drop, as well. The movement of the hips and chest whip the arms and clubhead through the ball.

I hope these videos lead you to an “AHA” moment that allows you to properly sequence not only the transition from backswing to downswing, but also all the way through the ball.