Free The Natural Golf Swing by George Knudson, Lorne Rubenstein

to be in one place physically and in another mentally.
    Assessment is part of being balanced. You can’t always be one hundred per cent involved, but at least by assessing the situation you won’t take the results too seriously. You’ll know where they’re coming from. You can only rectify a problem if you are aware of what it is.
BALANCE IN THE SWING
    You now know that the golf swing at its most basic is a means of connecting a proper starting position to a proper finishing position through weight transfer and rotation. Now we will develop a form governed by balance. For example, I want to find a way to avoid
forcing
myself to do anything in the swing. I don’t want to
make
my left arm stay straight. I don’t want to lock my head in a rigid position. I don’t want to grip the club tightly or stoop to the ball. These positions ruin balance. The golfer who is in balance is one who is doing things naturally. He’s not trying so hard. The observer sees freedom rather than tightness, smoothness rather than effort.
    There
are
positions that we achieve during the swing, that
are
very much a part of the efficient swing motion. But I don’t want to
make
these happen; I want to
let
them happen. I want to find a form that will connect the starting position to the finishing position in such a way that all the good things occur naturally. I want to find a form in which I can just start the swing in motion and let it go on its own. I want to find a form thatwill generate a path for the clubhead that will repeat every time, and in which I don’t have to interfere. And I want to do so in balance.
    Two forms of balance are important in the conception of the natural swing motion itself: they are static and dynamic balance.
STATIC BALANCE
    We are in static balance when we are centered and still and when we have assumed a coordinated, natural position. The golfer who is well-balanced in his starting position and at his finishing position is in static balance. If the golf swing is indeed a matter of connecting a starting position to a finishing position, then it is clear that we want to begin in balance and end in balance.
    The golfer who develops an awareness of static balance will be able to find his centre. He will sense when his weight is evenly distributed between his feet during the starting position and will not begin the motion if he senses otherwise. He will know when he has assumed a proper posture and grip, and when he is properly aligned to his target. He will
feel
whether or not he is in balance because he will have learned to become sensitive to what it means.
    The same holds true for his finishing position, where one hundred per cent of his weight will be concentrated on his forward foot. If it is not, well, he will be out of balance at the end of his swing. He will not have swung through to his target. You will learn to evaluate these positions, and thereby become sensitized to the degree of balance during your starting and finishing positions. Your self-awareness will increase and along with it your ability to remain in balance will grow.
    Static balance, then, is achieved by: (a) proper posture; (b) proper weight distribution; (c) proper grip; and (d) correct alignment to target.
DYNAMIC BALANCE
    By dynamic balance I mean the quality of stability that is noticeable in first-class golfers while they are moving. They are centered while in motion. They glide through the sequence of movements that comprise theswing motion. They appear effortless, but only because they are working so efficiently. One aspect of the motion flows smoothly into the next.
    You achieve dynamic balance by first putting yourself in static balance. You then allow inertia and centrifugal force to take over while transferring weight and rotating. By doing nothing to interfere with the motion, you ensure that you will be balanced while moving.
    Contrast the dynamically balanced golfer with the one who scatters his energy all over the place with