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.
- LIKE307
- LEGIT38
- WOW3
- LOL4
- IDHT7
- FLOP5
- OB2
- SHANK25
Instruction
Clement: Laid-off or perfect fade? Across-the-line or perfect draw?
Some call the image on the left laid off, but if you are hitting a fade, this could be a perfect backswing for it! Same for across the line for a draw! Stop racking your brain with perceived mistakes and simply match backswing to shot shape!
- LIKE0
- LEGIT0
- WOW0
- LOL0
- IDHT0
- FLOP0
- OB0
- SHANK1
Instruction
The Wedge Guy: The easiest-to-learn golf basic
My golf learning began with this simple fact – if you don’t have a fundamentally sound hold on the golf club, it is practically impossible for your body to execute a fundamentally sound golf swing. I’m still a big believer that the golf swing is much easier to execute if you begin with the proper hold on the club.
As you might imagine, I come into contact with hundreds of golfers of all skill levels. And it is very rare to see a good player with a bad hold on the golf club. There are some exceptions, for sure, but they are very few and very far between, and they typically have beat so many balls with their poor grip that they’ve found a way to work around it.
The reality of biophysics is that the body moves only in certain ways – and the particulars of the way you hold the golf club can totally prevent a sound swing motion that allows the club to release properly through the impact zone. The wonderful thing is that anyone can learn how to put a fundamentally sound hold on the golf club, and you can practice it anywhere your hands are not otherwise engaged, like watching TV or just sitting and relaxing.
Whether you prefer an overlap, interlock or full-finger (not baseball!) grip on the club, the same fundamentals apply. Here are the major grip faults I see most often, in the order of the frequency:
Mis-aligned hands
By this I mean that the palms of the two hands are not parallel to each other. Too many golfers have a weak left hand and strong right, or vice versa. The easiest way to learn how to hold the club with your palms aligned properly is to grip a plain wooden ruler or yardstick. It forces the hands to align properly and shows you how that feels. If you grip and re-grip a yardstick several times, then grip a club, you’ll see that the learning curve is almost immediate.
The position of the grip in the upper/left hand
I also observe many golfers who have the butt of the grip too far into the heel pad of the upper hand (the left hand for right-handed players). It’s amazing how much easier it is to release the club through the ball if even 1/4-1/2″ of the butt is beyond the left heel pad. Try this yourself to see what I mean. Swing the club freely with just your left hand and notice the difference in its release from when you hold it at the end of the grip, versus gripping down even a half inch.
To help you really understand how this works, go to the range and hit shots with your five-iron gripped down a full inch to make the club the same length as your seven-iron. You will probably see an amazing shot shape difference, and likely not see as much distance loss as you would expect.
Too much lower (right) hand on the club
It seems like almost all golfers of 8-10 handicap or higher have the club too far into the palm of the lower hand, because that feels “good” if you are trying to control the path of the clubhead to the ball. But the golf swing is not an effort to hit at the ball – it is a swing of the club. The proper hold on the club has the grip underneath the pad at the base of the fingers. This will likely feel “weak” to you — like you cannot control the club like that. EXACTLY. You should not be trying to control the club with your lower/master hand.
Gripping too tightly
Nearly all golfers hold the club too tightly, which tenses up the forearms and prevents a proper release of the club through impact. In order for the club to move back and through properly, you must feel that the club is controlled by the last three fingers of the upper hand, and the middle two fingers of the lower hand. If you engage your thumbs and forefingers in “holding” the club, the result will almost always be a grip that is too tight. Try this for yourself. Hold the club in your upper hand only, and squeeze firmly with just the last three fingers, with the forefinger and thumb off the club entirely. You have good control, but your forearms are not tense. Then begin to squeeze down with your thumb and forefinger and observe the tensing of the entire forearm. This is the way we are made, so the key to preventing tenseness in the arms is to hold the club very lightly with the “pinchers” — the thumbs and forefingers.
So, those are what I believe are the four fundamentals of a good grip. Anyone can learn them in their home or office very quickly. There is no easier way to improve your ball striking consistency and add distance than giving more attention to the way you hold the golf club.
More from the Wedge Guy
- The Wedge Guy: Golf mastery begins with your wedge game
- The Wedge Guy: Why golf is 20 times harder than brain surgery
- The Wedge Guy: Musings on the golf ball rollback
- LIKE88
- LEGIT14
- WOW6
- LOL1
- IDHT0
- FLOP4
- OB1
- SHANK8
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?
- LIKE0
- LEGIT3
- WOW2
- LOL0
- IDHT0
- FLOP0
- OB0
- SHANK2
-
19th Hole2 weeks ago
Justin Thomas on the equipment choice of Scottie Scheffler that he thinks is ‘weird’
-
19th Hole2 weeks ago
‘Absolutely crazy’ – Major champ lays into Patrick Cantlay over his decision on final hole of RBC Heritage
-
19th Hole3 weeks ago
Two star names reportedly blanked Jon Rahm all week at the Masters
-
19th Hole2 weeks ago
Report: LIV Golf identifies latest star name they hope to sign to breakaway tour
-
19th Hole3 weeks ago
Neal Shipley presser ends in awkward fashion after reporter claims Tiger handed him note on 8th fairway
-
19th Hole2 weeks ago
Brandel Chamblee has ‘no doubt’ who started the McIlroy/LIV rumor and why
-
19th Hole1 week ago
LET pro gives detailed financial breakdown of first week on tour…and the net result may shock you
-
Equipment2 weeks ago
Jason Day on his recent switch into Srixon ZX5 and ZX7 Mk II irons
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.