Not moving pressure and finishing over your lead foot during a golf swing will lead to mistakes like interceptions in football, throwing errors in baseball, even hitting the ball out of the court in tennis.
Many athletic movements where you use your arms to propel something forward with power and accuracy, such as throwing a ball, a javelin or even a punch, have your feet and body moving toward the intended target first before the toss. A quarterback who moves away from his target and throws the ball off his back foot will likely turn the ball over to the other team. Try throwing a ball while moving backward yourself, and you will find it darn near impossible to throw with power and accuracy.
Golfers who hang back on their trail foot are typically trying to lift the ball in the air. This player will swing up to hit the ball and experience both fat and thins shots and rarely a solid strike.
On the downswing, a slight lateral shift, weight transfer and rotation over your lead side allows the golf club to descend to impact from an inside path, hit the ball first and enter the turf before exiting to the follow-through.
A lot of baseball players-turned-golfers have difficulty getting off their back foot during a golf swing. Hanging back and swinging up with a baseball bat is either a home run or a strikeout, while shifting forward will lead to a solid golf shot.
Here’s a drill to train the motion for finishing on the lead foot.
Stand with both feet together, lift the golf club and rotate your body to the top of the backswing. Once set at the top of your backswing with your feet together, take a step forward first, then swing the club to finish.
A few keys to this drill are to step first, then swing on the downswing, and step the length of your stance width.
When you complete this motion, you will learn the sequence of shifting forward and finishing over your lead foot. After a few reps without a ball, hit some balls off a tee with a 9 iron at medium speed. Once you’re comfortable, move to the turf with your new motion and see the results.
When you’re playing golf, make sure you’re finishing in balance, fully rotated and with your weight over your lead foot. Let’s throw touchdowns, not interceptions.
Peter Harris is the director of Golf at the Fore-U Golf Center in West Lebanon. His column appears in the weekly Recreation page during the golf season.