How to use your footwork to add serious power to your swing

Rotating and “loading” up during your backswing is, well, the point of your backswing. Problem is, some golfers tend to overdo it and sway off the ball to the point where their weight shifts over the far side of their back foot. That’s a recipe for too many problems to describe here.

Great ball strikers indeed rotate and load, but they do so by keeping their back foot grounded and in as much contact with the turf as possible as they swing to the top (above, left).  As you can see above, I’m using a training aid called the Rock Shot to help me do things correctly. It’s a pad with a cambered sole that 1) exaggerates the error of swaying off the ball and 2) trains you to load into your back side with out swaying. Your goal: Copy that picture.

Now, the question begs: What to do with that loaded weight on the way back down to the ball? The Rock Shot can help here, too.

As you start down, use the cambered sole to roll your back foot in and toward the target while posting up with your front leg (above, right). You can practice this on your own without the aid, but the device certainly helps.

In the end, the more you can avoid backswing sway while loading your back side, then shifting that weight by rolling forward, the farther you’ll hit it.

Mike Dickson is a GOLF Top 100 Teacher who teaches out of Clarksburg, Md.