Footwork for driver and irons

[wildcatden]

What are your best tips for leveraging the ground and your footwork with the driver off the tee? What different tips would you have for iron swings? My 8YO drives it pretty well, but I want to spend time over the next 6-12 months having him better learn the ground up part of the swing.

[yellowlover519]

Are you talking about the JT/Lexi Thompson move for drivers (the snapping and jumping on toes)? I just assumed most kids did this to some extent intuitively to try to generate more power. I never tried to rehearse this move with my son and he always did it since he was 6 or so... I know coaches have differing views regarding this move, especially with irons.

[BertGA]

I think you can use footwork and ground leverage to add distance without looking like a ballerina. JT is just an extreme example. He must do that to pound the ball out that far, while others can get power with their footwork without looking like it.

[wildcatden]

Yeah not the JT level of footwork although I appreciate that JT gets every yard that he can out of that driver swing. What I want him to work on most is his right foot. Has a tendency to get the weight to the outside of the foot on the backswing. He's either swaying a bit or his backswing is a little too quick/fast with the momentum pulling him laterally backwards. On the downswing, he gets up on the right toe far too early which I believe just about every junior on the planet does.

 

Curious what others have done for fixing this type of footwork stuff? I'm guessing the right foot getting up on the toe early vs. staying down and "rolling" the right foot on the downswing is a hard one to adjust.

[propredicr]

Yes! Same here. Power leak transitioning up to right toe, too early. We constantly check his head to make sure it’s not leading his body to the left ,past midline, because once head goes left, the toe comes up

 

Kid was tiny at 6-11 years old, so, there were a lot of compensatory movements to gain distance.

 

We are working to rid the swing of those movements. Now, 12 he is average at 5’ and 96#. Working on squats, side tosses-throwing 6# ball, focusing on getting weight into right quad. Something that I’ve found works for over rotation outside right hip...turn right toe inward at address. It is hard to turn outside this hip position, in backswing...better post to torque against.

Yeah not the JT level of footwork although I appreciate that JT gets every yard that he can out of that driver swing. What I want him to work on most is his right foot. Has a tendency to get the weight to the outside of the foot on the backswing. He's either swaying a bit or his backswing is a little too quick/fast with the momentum pulling him laterally backwards. On the downswing, he gets up on the right toe far too early which I believe just about every junior on the planet does.

 

Curious what others have done for fixing this type of footwork stuff? I'm guessing the right foot getting up on the toe early vs. staying down and "rolling" the right foot on the downswing is a hard one to adjust.

[BertGA]

Yeah not the JT level of footwork although I appreciate that JT gets every yard that he can out of that driver swing. What I want him to work on most is his right foot. Has a tendency to get the weight to the outside of the foot on the backswing. He's either swaying a bit or his backswing is a little too quick/fast with the momentum pulling him laterally backwards. On the downswing, he gets up on the right toe far too early which I believe just about every junior on the planet does.

 

Curious what others have done for fixing this type of footwork stuff? I'm guessing the right foot getting up on the toe early vs. staying down and "rolling" the right foot on the downswing is a hard one to adjust.

 

Yeah, my daughter is the same way with her right foot, gets up on the toes basically right after the transition. I’m not sure yet if that is the cause or the symptom. I actually think her steep backswing and cast throws her weight outside the line, and the right foot is just a symptom of all that.

 

As for keeping the right foot grounded and preventing the sway to the outside of the foot, I did find this to be helpful: Callaway golf power platform. It’s basically a small wedge with turf on top, place under your right foot. It cambers the foot towards the target and prevents roll. Heads up, it’s a cheap POS. Broke on me within a month. So I just cut up a piece from a hitting mat I had, shaved off the base to produce the same little wedge.

 

Another trick is to cut a tennis ball in half, place one half under the heel of the right foot. Have them stomp on that ball in the backswing, That keeps the weight central instead of lateral. Also saw a good little clip from Michael Breed recently. He said imagine your feet are drilling a screw into the ground. That gets you rotation instead of sway.

 

 

[wildcatden]

Yeah not the JT level of footwork although I appreciate that JT gets every yard that he can out of that driver swing. What I want him to work on most is his right foot. Has a tendency to get the weight to the outside of the foot on the backswing. He's either swaying a bit or his backswing is a little too quick/fast with the momentum pulling him laterally backwards. On the downswing, he gets up on the right toe far too early which I believe just about every junior on the planet does.

 

Curious what others have done for fixing this type of footwork stuff? I'm guessing the right foot getting up on the toe early vs. staying down and "rolling" the right foot on the downswing is a hard one to adjust.

 

Yeah, my daughter is the same way with her right foot, gets up on the toes basically right after the transition. I’m not sure yet if that is the cause or the symptom. I actually think her steep backswing and cast throws her weight outside the line, and the right foot is just a symptom of all that.

 

As for keeping the right foot grounded and preventing the sway to the outside of the foot, I did find this to be helpful: Callaway golf power platform. It’s basically a small wedge with turf on top, place under your right foot. It cambers the foot towards the target and prevents roll. Heads up, it’s a cheap POS. Broke on me within a month. So I just cut up a piece from a hitting mat I had, shaved off the base to produce the same little wedge.

 

Another trick is to cut a tennis ball in half, place one half under the heel of the right foot. Have them stomp on that ball in the backswing, That keeps the weight central instead of lateral. Also saw a good little clip from Michael Breed recently. He said imagine your feet are drilling a screw into the ground. That gets you rotation instead of sway.

 

Thanks for the info as that is very helpful. I think can could make the Callaway power platform out of some thick-ish yoga mat if I looked up the product dimensions. Tennis ball seems like a great idea, but curious of that might give him a tendency to fall backwards once removed. Did you find it successful?

[BertGA]

Use the tennis balls more for me. Haven’t gotten my daughter to buy-in yet.

[iteachgolf]

What you’re describing aren’t footwork issues. They are responses to the way the pelvis and lower spine move, and to a lesser extent the knees, and begin occurring way before you see it in the feet. You have to address why the feet move the way they do, not the feet directly

[wildcatden]

What you're describing aren't footwork issues. They are responses to the way the pelvis and lower spine move, and to a lesser extent the knees, and begin occurring way before you see it in the feet. You have to address why the feet move the way they do, not the feet directly

 

Thanks for the help and your advice is very much appreciated. I'll take a look tomorrow at the range and see what he is doing in that area.