Baseball and Golf Motions are Similar!

2004Golf Tips

Jun 1

Written By

Hi, I’m Mel Sole, Director of Instruction at the Mel Sole Golf School, headquartered at Pawleys Plantation Golf and Country Club in Pawleys Island, SC. We conduct 1, 2 and 3-day golf schools, hourly golf lessons, and senior golf schools—any golf instruction program your heart desires. Give us a call at 800-624-4653 or 843-237-4993. We will be happy to book a commuter school or a package that contains accommodations, golf, and golf school.

Monthly Golf Tips by the Mel Sole Golf School.

Getting into the correct position at the top of the swing seems difficult to achieve for some golfers. Therefore, I use the analogy of a baseball pitcher (who also must develop velocity) to get my students to understand the position more clearly.

Top of the Backswing.

The top of the backswing in golf is very similar to the wind-up of a baseball pitcher. He has to transfer all of his weight onto his back foot but keep his balance. He accomplishes this by keeping his weight on the inside of his back foot while allowing his weight to settle into his back hip.

Please pick up a ball and go into a baseball pitcher's wind-up to see what I mean.

Baseball and Golf Motions are Similar!

Weight Shift.

The pitcher then moves forward to the home plate while still keeping his body "square" to his intended line. Do the same thing with your golf swing: move your weight laterally toward your target, keeping your hips and shoulders square to your intended line of flight.

Baseball and Golf Motions are Similar!

Follow-Through.

The next move of the pitcher is to unwind his hips and shoulders while keeping the arm back as far as he can. This produces the "torque" needed to create the resulting power. Do the same thing: let your body unwind before you get to the ball to feel that same "torque." Another way to feel this is to put your clubface against a door-jam and push as hard as possible with your body and arms. You will exert much more pressure with the club against the door-jam if you also rotate your body rather than just doing it with your arms.

The pitcher's final move is to transfer all of his weight onto his front foot with no weight on the back foot whatsoever. At the end of a good swing, the golfer should have all of his weight on the front foot. The hips turned fully towards the target. So you see Baseball and Golf are closer than you think!

(Apologies to my student and former Major League pitcher Bill Landrum for my weak effort at emulating a baseball pitcher. Growing up in South Africa, I know a lot more about cricket than baseball!

Source: Mel Sole Golf School.

Thanks for reading - Baseball and Golf Motions are Similar! Who knew?

Baseball and Golf Motions are Similar!