Dear Golf Nut, I have a strange situation with my golf swing. I think that it was probably caused by a shoulder injury that I had several years ago and how I compensated for it over the last few years. But anyway, in my downswing I almost come to a complete stop. I have always been a decent golfer and I am afraid that this is going to eventually ruin my golf game. I know that this is probably mental, but can you help?

That is definitely a different one than I have heard before but let’s give it a try. I am going to assume that you have probably tried to work a little with the golf pro at your club and that you have tried a dozen or more different swing thoughts. If that is not the case, do those immediately.

But here is a little trick that someone showed me one time to work on my tempo. And while I don’t know if it will correct this it might help. And I am going to change it a little for your particular golf swing problem.

Spend some time without hitting golf balls when you start this. If you have a weighted golf club like a Momentus swing trainer, use it in the first part of this process. The added weight will help build muscle memory. If you don’t have anything like this, use three long irons. Set up in your normal stance and start with your normal takeway from the address position. When you get to the top of your back swing, don’t start your swing forward. Just let the golf clubs fall to the ground by just letting gravity take effect. It’s almost like letting loose of the golf clubs, but don’t let go. Just let them hit the ground directly below the spot where they stopped at the top of the back swing. If you are in fact using the Momentus, it’s not long enough to hit ground, so just let it drop all the way down. But don’t complete your swing!

Do this drill repeatedly until you don’t have to think about letting it drop. Now in your case it may be a little hard to get started because of your problem, but just remember you are not going to swing the club. Not having any golf balls in front of you may help with this, so that is why I said to start without any balls.

Now switch to just one golf club or switch from the Momentus to a single golf club. I recommend a mid iron like a 7 or 8. Do this same drill repeatedly until again it feels like you don’t have to think about it to let it drop.

You are almost there. Now put a golf ball on a tee and tee it up fairly close to the ground but not all the way down. Do the drill again and once the club hits the ground then swing through the golf ball. Don’t worry about the direction or distance, just let the golf club drop to the ground, then take control of it again and slowly swing through the golf ball.

After you do this for a while, try to address the ball and take a normal golf swing, but start your forward swing by just letting gravity start the downswing. Let the golf club drop but swing with a smooth tempo through the ball instead of letting it hit the ground.

I know it probably sounds really weird and I have no proof on this one. But it might just be the strange drill that fixes your strange golf swing problem. Let me know if it works!