Seems like every year something different happens with my golf swing. Last year was one of my best and so far this year has been one of my worst. I say so far because my game is finally starting to turn around. I suspected that the arthritis in my left hip was causing the problem by limiting my ability to bring my right side around into the follow-through. Ironically, I have no problem with shots within say 120 yards. So, one day I went to the range with the sole purpose to find out why the shorter shots were good and the longer shots were in question.
First, I hit my wedges and shorter irons. Observing where my body was finishing showed nothing significant. My chest and pelvis were facing the target and I was up on my right toe. But, as I got into the longer irons, hybrids and woods, I noticed that my right hip was finishing more and more open. This resulted in lack of distance and consistency. Because my left hip is weak and sometimes painful when trying to crank the longer clubs, it prevented me from completing my turn forward. Ok, I found the problem. Now, what to do?
Then I remembered a move that Gary Player used when he got older. I am going to assume he used the move because he was finding it more and more difficult to fire his right side. What he did was simply to walk-thru or take a step forward with his right leg at the end of his follow-through. That move solved the problem for him and it seems to be working for me also as it gets my right hip around and takes the weight off the left leg/hip at the same time. Here is a good video showing Gary in his early days and later on when he started to use the walk-thru move:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-o_cMVg4uEg
In conclusion,
If you are having trouble with distance, consistency or find yourself hitting the ball fat, check the position of your pelvis and the end of your follow-through. If it is not facing the target or even a bit further, then you might want to try the Gary Player walk-thru move.
Ron Celano's Blog 