Getting consistent pressure shift

[ZGriswold83]

I have my best ball striking days when I can consistently feel pressure shift from my right heel (right hand golfer) to my left heel. Once I can feel pressure in my left heel, the rest seems to fall into place without me even thinking about my downswing. My issue is that I lose that feeling day to day, I can't get back there consistently. I can't replicate getting pressure on my right heel then I get too squatty trying to ram my heel into the ground and it just doesn't work. The best I can describe it is that my feet don't feel connected to the ground, feels like I'm floating above the ground or trying to swing while standing on a patch of ice.

 

 

[getitdaily]

When do you feel that shift? At what part of the swing?

[ZGriswold83]

3 minutes ago, getitdaily said:

When do you feel that shift? At what part of the swing?

To me, it feels like club parallel to the ground in the backswing. P2-P3 ish.

[getitdaily]

Over exaggerate it getting there even earlier. Also exaggerate it into the balls of the lead foot rather than the heel. 

[ZGriswold83]

4 minutes ago, getitdaily said:

Over exaggerate it getting there even earlier. Also exaggerate it into the balls of the lead foot rather than the heel. 

This might be a really dumb question, should I be actively pushing off my right heel or should my pivot naturally transfer pressure into my left foot?

[getitdaily]

I personally don't feel any push off. I feel a bracing of my right side into the inside of my right foot...more like I'm pushing down into the ground but not pushing off. I actively push I to my lead side and then push up and away from the target from that loaded lead side. I don't do a lot with the right...

 

I think you want to get to a point where the pressure shift is natural but it doesn't seem like it's close yet.

 

A really good way to get this feel.right is to get a 15-20lb medicine ball and swing it 9-3...

[getitdaily]

Watch YouTube videos from zen golf mechanics. I think they're grf golf or something like that now. 

[ZGriswold83]

15 minutes ago, getitdaily said:

Watch YouTube videos from zen golf mechanics. I think they're grf golf or something like that now. 

I've watched a lot of their stuff before along with Dr. Kwon and I just have a hard time translating it into practice. I think that is something that's held me back and frustrated me for a long time.

[getitdaily]

8 minutes ago, ZGriswold83 said:

I've watched a lot of their stuff before along with Dr. Kwon and I just have a hard time translating it into practice. I think that is something that's held me back and frustrated me for a long time.

I wasn't a big fan of kwon's stuff simply because he promoted or heavily insinuated a much more lateral shifting pressure. I saw that he recently got rid of the step drill saying "it lead to confusion" or something like that. I wonder if his pupils had too much lateral action from what he was trying to do. 

 

Zen golf resonated a lot more for me. My feel is to get left as soon as the backswing starts. That keeps me "centered" while still allowing an initial right side shift...that comes via momentum of the arms swinging back.

 

I press hard into my lead foot almost immediately. Remember that feel isn't real. My downshift is more upper body than lower. Once the upper body shifts down in transition I just push up and back while staying in side tilt. 

[Anthony Stevens]

50 minutes ago, getitdaily said:

I personally don't feel any push off. I feel a bracing of my right side into the inside of my right foot...more like I'm pushing down into the ground but not pushing off. I actively push I to my lead side and then push up and away from the target from that loaded lead side. I don't do a lot with the right...

 

I think you want to get to a point where the pressure shift is natural but it doesn't seem like it's close yet.

 

A really good way to get this feel.right is to get a 15-20lb medicine ball and swing it 9-3...

This description reminds me of a recent AMG video where they said (or rather, I interpreted what they said as): "The pressure shift from trail to lead side is done by UNWEIGHTING the trail side".

 

This seemed counterintuitive to me because how can you get to the lead side without pressuring the trail side? And look at Scheffler, his trail foot is obviously working hard as an example. But then I realized what I think is the truth: it's about EARLIER pressure, so by P3 at the latest you should already starting the process of getting back over to the lead side and can pressure the lead foot correctly.

 

Does that seem right to you?

[getitdaily]

2 minutes ago, Anthony Stevens said:

This description reminds me of a recent AMG video where they said (or rather, I interpreted what they said as): "The pressure shift from trail to lead side is done by UNWEIGHTING the trail side".

 

This seemed counterintuitive to me because how can you get to the lead side without pressuring the trail side? And look at Scheffler, his trail foot is obviously working hard as an example. But then I realized what I think is the truth: it's about EARLIER pressure, so by P3 at the latest you should already starting the process of getting back over to the lead side and can pressure the lead foot correctly.

 

Does that seem right to you?

Yes, 100%. 

 

I also think that during a swing, people think they're shifting starting at p3 but they're still late.

 

Look at mcilroy (late shifter) and Matt Fitzpatrick from face on...

Edited July 5, 2023 by getitdaily

[Sean124]

5 minutes ago, Anthony Stevens said:

This description reminds me of a recent AMG video where they said (or rather, I interpreted what they said as): "The pressure shift from trail to lead side is done by UNWEIGHTING the trail side".

 

This seemed counterintuitive to me because how can you get to the lead side without pressuring the trail side? And look at Scheffler, his trail foot is obviously working hard as an example. But then I realized what I think is the truth: it's about EARLIER pressure, so by P3 at the latest you should already starting the process of getting back over to the lead side and can pressure the lead foot correctly.

 

Does that seem right to you?

I think the Scheffler thing is a big misconception. Everyone assumes he’s pushing crazy hard with his right foot. 
 

What you’re really seeing is he gets pressure to his lead side so early, his pelvis just kind of drags his unweighted right foot along for the ride. 

[PracticeSwinger]

6 minutes ago, Anthony Stevens said:

But then I realized what I think is the truth: it's about EARLIER pressure, so by P3 at the latest you should already starting the process of getting back over to the lead side and can pressure the lead foot correctly.

 

Does that seem right to you?

My backswing thought is even earlier than that, it's : pressure back, club head going back / pressure forward, club head going forward... so by P2ish (when the club head starts going towards the target) I'm already pressing/anchoring the lead side... you have to feel it before it happens

[ZGriswold83]

45 minutes ago, getitdaily said:

I wasn't a big fan of kwon's stuff simply because he promoted or heavily insinuated a much more lateral shifting pressure. I saw that he recently got rid of the step drill saying "it lead to confusion" or something like that. I wonder if his pupils had too much lateral action from what he was trying to do. 

 

Zen golf resonated a lot more for me. My feel is to get left as soon as the backswing starts. That keeps me "centered" while still allowing an initial right side shift...that comes via momentum of the arms swinging back.

 

I press hard into my lead foot almost immediately. Remember that feel isn't real. My downshift is more upper body than lower. Once the upper body shifts down in transition I just push up and back while staying in side tilt. 

I'll give Zen golf another look. Monte has been my main source of info on this subject, I just can't get a good consistent feel.

[getitdaily]

3 minutes ago, ZGriswold83 said:

I'll give Zen golf another look. Monte has been my main source of info on this subject, I just can't get a good consistent feel.

If you're doing lessons with monte then continue that route. He knows what's up.

[Anthony Stevens]

39 minutes ago, Sean124 said:

I think the Scheffler thing is a big misconception. Everyone assumes he’s pushing crazy hard with his right foot. 
 

What you’re really seeing is he gets pressure to his lead side so early, his pelvis just kind of drags his unweighted right foot along for the ride. 

Hm, interesting. I would love to see a pressure trace of Scheffler side-by-side with a synced up face-on video. Maybe YouTube has something, I will look around.

[hanginnwangin]

My coach recommended I buy this product and I did. I like it a lot and it is helping me right now. It takes away the guessing and lets you know if you are properly weightshifting.

 

https://downshiftgolf.com/

[JDIL]

1 hour ago, Anthony Stevens said:

This description reminds me of a recent AMG video where they said (or rather, I interpreted what they said as): "The pressure shift from trail to lead side is done by UNWEIGHTING the trail side".

 

This seemed counterintuitive to me because how can you get to the lead side without pressuring the trail side? And look at Scheffler, his trail foot is obviously working hard as an example. But then I realized what I think is the truth: it's about EARLIER pressure, so by P3 at the latest you should already starting the process of getting back over to the lead side and can pressure the lead foot correctly.

 

Does that seem right to you?

You can un-weight your trail side without pushing off. Think about how we can rotate our bodies in microgravity (space or in free fall). But it is possible in Kwon‘s example that he just doesn’t want you actively pushing on the right foot. The momentum of your backswing may naturally be bringing you towards your lead side due to rotation.

[ZGriswold83]

1 hour ago, getitdaily said:

If you're doing lessons with monte then continue that route. He knows what's up.

Unfortunately I have only purchased several of his series. I wish I could afford his coaching, but even at that, I have tried online coaching and it just doesn't translate well for me. It's one of the reasons why I'm very close to giving up on golf after playing for 20 something years. I've thrown time and money at my game and I'm not improving at all.

[1Ante]

I hope you did not give up?

 

Many of us lurking around here know that feeling, surelly I myself do…

 

I had a lot but short lived help by Montes videos. Just could not take it to the course, kept topping och duffing the ball. Sometimes I had the illusion that if I in the downswing pushed hard with my right foot it hit well, but that to was random at best. 
 

Had a good range session this week and proudly asked my wife to film me. Jiiisus what a chicken wing I had…right then and there I also felt that now I give the s*it up (again).

 

But you know how it goes, and back home I googled how to get rid of chicken wing-ing and landed on a Dr. Kwon thread here. It changed all for me! After 15 years of OTT, wings & co.
 

One needs to use upper body and arms also, but his research on feet/leg/hip-work and timing is a very very good base for a hacker IMHO. 

For me the revolution with Dr. Kwon was he made me realise I had the swing 100% backwards and used arms & co to compensate. 
 

For two days I have been chiping and pitching VERY well in the yard.
 

My change is: Now I feel the take away as straightening my RIGHT leg, and I feel like just before the top I start straighten my LEFT/lead leg. Upper body and arms fall down the slot and I rotate to a nice finish w/o any chicken wings.
 

Maybe this is not news to you and not what you need at all, but keep it up! Suddenly you find someone who says something you heard a hundred times allready but for some reason the dime decides to drop.
 

 

[Valtiel]

On 7/5/2023 at 10:31 AM, ZGriswold83 said:

...I just can't get a good consistent feel.

 

1 hour ago, 1Ante said:

Sometimes I had the illusion that if I in the downswing pushed hard with my right foot it hit well, but that to was random at best. 

It may or may not apply, but when i've felt this it was due a lack of correct intent, and because that sounds super vague and pretentious i'll try to explain. Warning, this is largely speculation about mental stuff but I believe it's important for reasons beyond the hollow "Golf is 90% mental" aphorisms that mostly serve to just make you feel dumb for sucking. 😅

If we work backwards from the intended goal of the left side in the downswing I feel it can come together much more clearly and intuitively vs. the opposite order which is how people tend to approach it. I don't think i've ever heard it described this way because the lower body has always been taught/talked about linearly from beginning to end; you take your address position, start your backswing with a shift away from the target, brace/load as you push your right hip back, begin shifting back towards the target as the clubs reaches the top, begin the downswing, shift into your front side and pivot/push it back into impact. Whatever the language used or whatever the individual philosophies/terminologies, that is the order it is usually presented in. I'm sure someone else has approached it this way but it has to be rare, and this poses a problem that I think trips a certain chunk of people up, myself included...

If you try to execute these movements in the order they are laid out you'll most likely run into some noticeable timing problems. A basic linear approach to these actions can be fine for the first half of the swing, but IMO you "lose the lead side" as Tommy Fleetwood has referred to it as if you aren't maintaining some level of awareness of what you want to do with it in the downswing throughout. I'm not 100% sure this is exactly what Tommy was referring to when discussing his swing mechanics, but it's what I took it to mean. If we focus too much on our trail side it the backswing (or simply shift too far) and aren't thinking what we want our lead side to do, we "lose our lead side" so to speak and are now forced to reacquire it somewhere in transition when we've linearly reached the "now it's time to use my lead side" part of the sequence. There just isn't time to do this consistently and this leads to only intermittently feeling like you "get it". Without the correct intent from the beginning we're relying on split second timing when attempting to both mentally AND physically shift back to our lead side, and the more things you have clanging around in your head the longer this shift takes.

Without realizing it I think this is why i've been such an advocate for the pelvic punch styles drills, because learning how to use your lead side correctly is a completely separate skill from the rest of the lower body movements in a "good" golf swing. Without knowing exactly how we want our lead side to move it doesn't matter how well we do all the other things, because at that point we're basically just surprising the other side of our body with a bunch of well timed momentum and pressure that it hasn't really been taught how to use correctly yet. But with a solid conscious understanding of what the lead side needs to do, something that max effort pelvic punch drills can help reveal to the individual based on how they move, we can now have that movement in mind as we're making our backswing which is an approach our brain has a WAY easier time intuitively ordering a set of movements in. I made the running kick soccer analogy the other day and it applies directly here; once we learn how and where to plant our left foot (for a right footed kick) in relation to the ball to make the kick, our approach to the ball will automatically contain a ton of little compensations to make sure that left foot can end up where it needs to be by the time you reach the ball, because your intent is to land on that foot. A version of this concept is ideally how the golf swing should be structured mentally and physically, IMO of course.