Instruction
How to change your ball flight just by moving your feet
As you’ve probably been told before, footwork is key in the golf swing. But did you know that your foot position at address can have a drastic affect on your swing plane, your swing speed, and your overall body motion?
Golfers use countless foot positions, but I’ve listed five common foot positions below for golfers to experiment with. Not only are they fun to play around with while you’re at the range, but they can be effective on the course when you need to eliminate one side or help reduce a bad miss when things are going poorly.
Obviously, if any of these foot positions gives you pain at all, stop! And as always, happy experimenting.
1) Feet Square
This is by far the most accepted and popular foot position for your standard golf shot. It will provide the same type of free action back and through the ball. The more perpendicular your left foot is to your target line (mine is slightly flared in the photo above), the more hip slide you will tend to have on the backswing.
2) Flared Lead Foot
The more flared your left foot, the more restricted your hip turn will be on the backswing, so if you’re trying to limit rotation on the way back this will be helpful. With this position, however, you will find that the hips release through the ball much easier than usual. If you’re staying “back” too much through impact and hitting a hook, this could also help you get through it better and hit a fade.
3) Rear Foot Back
Pulling the rear foot back will help you free up your backswing and create a bigger hip turn to the top. Those with concerns about too short of a backswing may find this to be helpful. This position also encourages a deeper and more inside downswing position, which may assist in producing a draw.
4) Lead Foot Back
If we do the opposite — pulling the lead foot back, but not flaring it — you will find that your backswing will be greatly restricted, but you’ll fire through the ball with ease. This is a great position for people who tend to get “hung up” through impact with their lower body. Since it restricts the backswing, this lead-foot-back position could be beneficial when hitting knockdown shots, too.
5) Lead Foot Flared and Back
The final position is for the most extreme cases of golfers lacking speed through the ball. This foot position will surely help them clear their hips through the ball and fire, but beware, it will drastically shorten the backswing. You can also do the opposite, with your rear foot dropping it back and flaring it, but I’d only suggest that in extreme circumstances because of how limited your through motion will become. But give it a try at half speed and see if you like it. It may help in hitting a low and controlled super hook, too.
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Instruction
Clement: Stop ripping off your swing with this drill!
Not the dreaded headcover under the armpit drill! As if your body is defective and can’t function by itself! Have you seen how incredible the human machine is with all the incredible feats of agility all kinds of athletes are accomplishing? You think your body is so defective (the good Lord is laughing his head off at you) that it needs a headcover tucked under the armpit so you can swing like T-Rex?
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Instruction
How a towel can fix your golf swing
This is a classic drill that has been used for decades. However, the world of marketed training aids has grown so much during that time that this simple practice has been virtually forgotten. Because why teach people how to play golf using everyday items when you can create and sell a product that reinforces the same thing? Nevertheless, I am here to give you helpful advice without running to the nearest Edwin Watts or adding something to your Amazon cart.
For the “scoring clubs,” having a solid connection between the arms and body during the swing, especially through impact, is paramount to creating long-lasting consistency. And keeping that connection throughout the swing helps rotate the shoulders more to generate more power to help you hit it farther. So, how does this drill work, and what will your game benefit from it? Well, let’s get into it.
Setup
You can use this for basic chip shots up to complete swings. I use this with every club in my bag, up to a 9 or 8-iron. It’s natural to create incrementally more separation between the arms and body as you progress up the set. So doing this with a high iron or a wood is not recommended.
While you set up to hit a ball, simply tuck the towel underneath both armpits. The length of the towel will determine how tight it will be across your chest but don’t make it so loose that it gets in the way of your vision. After both sides are tucked, make some focused swings, keeping both arms firmly connected to the body during the backswing and follow through. (Note: It’s normal to lose connection on your lead arm during your finishing pose.) When you’re ready, put a ball in the way of those swings and get to work.
Get a Better Shoulder Turn
Many of us struggle to have proper shoulder rotation in our golf swing, especially during long layoffs. Making a swing that is all arms and no shoulders is a surefire way to have less control with wedges and less distance with full swings. Notice how I can get in a similar-looking position in both 60° wedge photos. However, one is weak and uncontrollable, while the other is strong and connected. One allows me to use my larger muscles to create my swing, and one doesn’t. The follow-through is another critical point where having a good connection, as well as solid shoulder rotation, is a must. This drill is great for those who tend to have a “chicken wing” form in their lead arm, which happens when it becomes separated from the body through impact.
In full swings, getting your shoulders to rotate in your golf swing is a great way to reinforce proper weight distribution. If your swing is all arms, it’s much harder to get your weight to naturally shift to the inside part of your trail foot in the backswing. Sure, you could make the mistake of “sliding” to get weight on your back foot, but that doesn’t fix the issue. You must turn into your trial leg to generate power. Additionally, look at the difference in separation between my hands and my head in the 8-iron examples. The green picture has more separation and has my hands lower. This will help me lessen my angle of attack and make it easier to hit the inside part of the golf ball, rather than the over-the-top move that the other picture produces.
Stay Better Connected in the Backswing
When you don’t keep everything in your upper body working as one, getting to a good spot at the top of your swing is very hard to do. It would take impeccable timing along with great hand-eye coordination to hit quality shots with any sort of regularity if the arms are working separately from the body.
Notice in the red pictures of both my 60-degree wedge and 8-iron how high my hands are and the fact you can clearly see my shoulder through the gap in my arms. That has happened because the right arm, just above my elbow, has become totally disconnected from my body. That separation causes me to lift my hands as well as lose some of the extension in my left arm. This has been corrected in the green pictures by using this drill to reinforce that connection. It will also make you focus on keeping the lead arm close to your body as well. Because the moment either one loses that relationship, the towel falls.
Conclusion
I have been diligent this year in finding a few drills that target some of the issues that plague my golf game; either by simply forgetting fundamental things or by coming to terms with the faults that have bitten me my whole career. I have found that having a few drills to fall back on to reinforce certain feelings helps me find my game a little easier, and the “towel drill” is most definitely one of them.
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Instruction
Clement: Why your practice swing never sucks
You hear that one all the time; I wish I could put my practice swing on the ball! We explain the huge importance of what to focus on to allow the ball to be perfectly in the way of your practice swing. Enjoy!
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Paul
May 9, 2017 at 8:47 am
I found I couldn’t really load into my rear foot, in the back swing, if I didn’t flare it a bit. So I guess I flare both. Helps me rotate faster I think.