Fancy Footwork

At our most recent Coach Camp, I had the opportunity to learn from Kevin Duffy. Kevin is trainer to a number of the world’s best golfers and shared a few of his insightful ideas pertaining to the golf swing. Watch…

Kevin advocates so much more than I’m capable of sharing with you here today, but a few of my take aways were:

1. We should pressure the ground in the golf swing in a similar fashion to when we walk

2. When walking we start with heel contact and pressure then transitions to the mid-foot, the pinkie and finally the big toe

3. In the backswing the trail foot works as if we were walking backwards - big toe, pinkie, mid-foot and then heel

4. The downswing is the opposite of the backswing with the trail foot moving from heel, to mid-foot, to pinkie and finally big toe

This may sound complex, but stand up and give this a try right now! It always amazes me when I do this how my hips rotate beautifully coming into the “strike”.

Here is a before and after image of a student I worked with recently where all we focused on was the sequence of pressure movement under each foot. You’ll not only notice how much more his hips have rotated through impact, but also how much better the arms and club face are positioned.

Give this a try the next time you head for the practice ground and let me know how things worked out.

Thanks for your readership and support in 2018! I can promise more of the same quality of information for 2019. Have a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and may you be blessed in the New Year. Cheers!

A Push for Power

The more I use the SwingCatalyst pressure plate system the better I have begun to understand how a player generates power effectively. There seems to be a clear difference between "power" swings and "control" swings. Quite similar to the difference between a player hitting a controlled short iron and a player smashing a driver. The difference is all in how the player uses the ground. What does that mean or look like?

Jamie Sadlowski (Golf Digest)

In the above swing sequence notice how much lower long drive champion, Jamie Sadlowski's belt is in frame 4 than it is in frame 3. This is due to the fact that he is lowering  his body - essentially lightening himself - in order to jump/explode off the ground coming into impact. Think about if you were to jump - the first thing you do is to go down towards the ground in order to push upward. With faster clubhead speeds I often see a more pronounced jump. Sometimes to the point of the player leaving the ground through impact.

Below you will see the pressure trace from two proven Tour power hitters at impact while smashing the driver. This SwingCatalyst technology tracks where the golfer's center of pressure is located throughout the swing.

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These are classic power traces! You will notice that both of these power hitters have more pressure (not necessarily weight) on their back foot at impact. I would expect to see this due to the player pushing so aggressively off the front foot that they have not only pushed their bodies up and just about off the ground, but slightly backwards as well. The interesting thing is that when each of these golfers hits a controlled 8 iron shot their pressure traces don't work onto the back foot at impact - a clear difference.

Bubba Watson

The golf swing is made up of three primary elements: movement, the forces that lead to the movement and the timing of those forces. Clubhead speed can be greatly enhanced by increasing the magnitude of the force and improving the timing of the force. Note: This article is not so much to encourage you to get off the ground through impact with a driver as it is to put your mind at ease should you be doing so. It's okay! I always encourage junior golfers to smash it first and then work towards finding it later. As they learn to smash it I see them:

• lowering down into the front foot early in the downswing 
• exploding/jumping/pushing off the ground as they approach, but prior to, impact
• release the wrists freely through the hit

There is a direct correlation between how far or high a person can jump and how far they can hit a golf ball. No wonder Dustin Johnson can dunk a basketball....

A bigger push means bigger power!