The main problem in my golf swing is the same one in lots of amateur golf swings: I tend to hang out too much on my trail side (right side for right-handed golfers) on my downswing—aka, I don't transfer my weight and pressure enough as I swing.
This is an annoying problem because this basically doubles as the single most important move in the entire golf swing.
The problem
Hanging back on your trail side is a flaw because it causes a variety of bad things to happen.
- Hanging back on your trail side means less side-to-side movement means less momentum, and therefore less power.
- Hanging back on your trail side keeps the lowest point of your swing behind the ball, which means it's easy to hit the ground before the ball (AKA, fat shots).
- Hanging back on your trail side means your body is too far away from the ball. You've got to make up space somehow, which means you end up flipping and rolling your hands, which is a recipe for sending the ball sideways.
Miller's 'karate move' fix
Fixing stuff in your golf swing, sadly, is never quite that simple. You can't just slide everything over to your left leg. That would be better than hanging back, yes, but would cause a host of different problems.
As Golf Digest No. 1-ranked coach Mark Blackburn explains here, you want to shift, push and then jump off the front part of your front foot. The toes of your left foot, for right-handed golfers:
The key from the top of the swing is to push your lead foot toward the ball. Drive the toes of your lead foot into the tip of your shoe. The foot won't actually move, but since force creates motion, that friction will push your butt back. Your chest will move down, and you'll create a clear path to swing into the ball.
This helps you not just shift everything but rotate, too. It gives you the best of everything. Johnny Miller was one of the all-time best at this, and as he describes here, he called it his "karate move". The feeling of moving slowly forward, then jumping back.
It's why, if you draw a line from the ball to the inside of his left heel, Miller's foot doesn't necessarily move further away from the line, but back away from the ball—but always along that line.
I've been working on this karate move in a couple ways. First, by following Padraig Harrington's advice of hitting balls doing lots of step drills.
- Key Feel: Step towards the ball on the backswing, then step away from the ball on the downswing.
I'm also doing a lot of reps with a training aid called a Force Pedal—a squishy thing that you place under your lead foot. It's a little reminder that gives you a clear sense of where to push. This produced my best-ever swing score on the Mustard app.
- Key Feel: Feel light on the force pedal, then squish it hard into the ground, like you're squashing a bug with your lead foot.
Anyway, that's what I'll be working on this offseason. If you want to dive even deeper into this, head over to our Golf IQ podcast below (or right here!)