Think of your body in quadrants
- Left side
- Right side
- Upper Body – Torso
- Lower Body – Legs, Hips and feet
Now ask yourself which part do you focus on the most in your practice?
My best guess is that very few would say the lower quadrant. That is not surprising.
The bulk of the messaging is directed to the swings moving parts. The arms, shoulders, torso in the backswing, downswing, follow through and finish.
It’s about takeaway, hand position, impact, face, plane, and path. All these are important and you need to learn them. We talk about extension back and extension through the ball.
The latest is about a shallower swing plane.
Again, all these are important topics. What we seldom hear mentioned is the foundation of the golf swing. Our FEET.
OUR ONLY CONNECTION TO THE GROUND IS THROUGH OUR FEET.
- Our feet are the only support for our body to stand in balance or swing in balance.
- The feet are the only source of direct feedback to and from the ground for slope, balance, texture.
- The legs and hips are the extensions to the feet and comprise the lower body segments.
The FOUNDATION for the body and the golf swing is from our FEET.
- Our feet are on the ground.
- The ball is on the ground.
- Our swing pulls down to the ground.
Why then, are we always pulling out to the ball in the golf swing. Or pushing our body to the target through our hips and shoulders?
ENERGY wants to follow a straight line for best results!
Not a crooked or wavy line. The lower body provides structure, balance, stability, and strength.
Without this solid lower body foundation. The upper body can’t complete all its comprehensive movements with control. Or the power and accuracy of the shot result. It’s the lower body that gives the upper body the ability to generate power. The ability to deliver that power with maximum efficiency.
Think of golf as a game of opposites. Most of us want to push laterally because that’s where we want our ball to go.
Reality Check!
We need to push down through our feet to return the golf club from the top of the backswing to the ball.
If you don’t you get POWER SHORTAGES!
Think of your lower torso as pistons in a car. As one cylinder (trail leg/foot) pushes down another cylinder (target leg/foot) pushes up.
Why is this important?
Because to compress the ball in the downswing. The trail leg/foot needs to provide the drive and stability into the ground. In order for the swing from the top to pull with power down and into the ball. If you are pushing to the target you become weaker in the downswing. Because the power is moving away from the intended target– the BALL.
As you are pushing off the trail (back) foot and the swing is pulling down. The trail leg to compress the ball the target foot is pushing the target leg up to provide stability and a continued power source to swing against in the full downswing.