Replanting that left foot triggered my downswing – and I found it to be a natural way to transition into the downswing.  All my coaches asked me to transfer my weight to the right to initiate the downswing – and replanting my  left foot accomplished exactly that.

These were all GOOD habits – and resulted in consistent ball striking. At some point though, every coach I worked with, tried to lead me away from this ‘left heel leaving the ground’ habit.

They instructed me to keep my left foot planted – no matter what!

Fortunately, there was one coach (an ex-India open champion back in India) who was slightly old school. He was perfectly okay with my left foot (heel) coming off the ground – provided my KNEE also rolled inwards (and provided I kept my balance).

This post describes the effectiveness of lifting your left heel on your backswing – and how it might address two common problems for the golfing amateur.

Some famous ‘lifters of the left foot’

Before we discuss all the benefits of lifting the left foot, let us review some historical greats who lifted their left foot on the completion of their backswing. These include the likes of Nicklaus and Bobby Jones :

Jack Nicklaus	Bobby Jones

The RAISING and REPLANTING the left heel – the minutiae

As with everything in golf, the devil is in the details. How much should one lift the left foot, what happens to the left knee etc….?

1. The HEEL – never the TOE – Firstly, it is the HEEL and the heel only that comes off the ground. At not point should your toe leave the ground.
2. Stay Balanced – Secondly, as long as you keep your balance going back, there is no limit to how high your left heel can rise. Let us review the two fundamental goals of a golf swing – Balance (staying balanced) and shoulder turn (turning your shoulder behind the ball).  As long as you are staying balanced, a rising left heel can only assist in the shoulder turn. To read about another revolutionary concept to get a better shoulder turn, read this post on the right foot.
3. Re-Planting the left foot – The beauty of the left foot rising is that  (along with providing a better shoulder turn), it acts as a key to ingrain timing into the golf swing. In fact, the timing is so mechanical, that you do not need to think about it. Simply REPLANTING the foot causes the hips to shift to the left – pulling your upper body along.  Each of these things is actually very difficult to accomplish INTENTIONALLY (if you try to intentionally keep your upper body fixed while the hips initiate the downswing, you will find that it takes a lot of practice). However, the replanting of the left foot starts off the correct chain of events – without requiring any intentional focus on a particular step.

The Left KNEE’s action

While we are at the left foot, it may be a good time to discuss the correct motion of the left knee.

1. The left knee has to roll INWARDS. Most amateurs find their left knee kicking OUTWARDS (towards the ball). This is incorrect – as it restricts the upper body wind up.
2. The roll (rolling in) is a CONSEQUENCE (of the upward body pulling the hips along – pulling the lower body along). It is not something you try to intentionally accomplish.
3. The more your left heel comes off the ground, the more the left knee will roll inwards. This results in a greater upper body coil – which is an important key to generating power.

Summary

Contrary to popular golf instruction, the left heel does not need to stay planted during your backswing. In fact, a key to generating more power is to let the heel lift, while allowing the left knee to kick in – resulting in a larger shoulder turn. 

In addition to providing power, the rising left heel addresses one of the toughest problems in golf – that of timing. Unlike tennis or baseball, where the key to timing is provided by the movement of the ball, in golf, there is no such simplistic key. Everyone uses their own technique to time their shots – and every poor shot is a result of poor timing.

Imagine being able to address the timing problem once and for all ! Replanting the left foot does exactly that.

If you are new to golf and find your left heel coming off the ground, fear not – you are in good (even GREAT) company. Legends such as Nicklaus used this to generate more power-  and legends like Jones used it as a secret move to developing extraordinary timing.

Questions? Comments ?

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A lot of people stumble upon this discovery on their own – and are surprised at the solid contact they suddenly start making (on just about every shot). At some point though, in spite of their success, they start doubting themselves. To their knowledge, no other player (especially among the pros) seems to address the ball this way.

Rest assured – this technique has a great legacy  – and a star cast of believers.  Some GREAT (and I mean Ben Hogan great) players used this technique to achieve their spectacular iron play.  See the visual below showing Ben Hogan with a slightly pulled back right foot.

Here’s another Pro’s take on it

Don’t take my word for it. Here is Jason Dufner (2013 PGA Tour Champ and multiple winner on the PGA Tour), describing this very technique in this video.  He clearly explains some of the consequences of pulling your right foot back

1. A better shoulder turn – thereby improving your backswing.
2. A shallower angle of attack – thereby improving your downswing.

What can go wrong? The Devil’s in the details

This should sound simple enough – and for the most part, it is. Just pull your right foot back – how difficult can that be? However, like everything in golf, there are a few details to watch out for:

1. How much should you pull it back? 2 inches? 6 inches? The answer is – as much as you need to create turning room for your left shoulder. Some people may need 2 inches – some may need more. Hogan (above) seems to only pull it back 2 inches. Jason Dufner pulls it back a good 6 inches or so.
2. Another thing to watch out for – is ‘how much weight should you have on your right foot?.  If you pull your right hip too far back, you will have no leg (right leg) to stand on (no weight on your right side).  This is not what is desired. You should still feel weight on your right foot – it is just that the right side is pulled further back (compared to the left side).   In other words, try and plant your right heel on the ground – instead of standing on the toes of your right foot.
3. Stability –  As you separate your feet in this manner, you may end up not feeling as strongly balanced – or firmly gripping the earth.  If so, simply turn your knees inwards (towards each other). That should provide you with the stability you need. Dufner (in the video above) refers to this as ‘criss crossing’ the legs.

Summary

A good shoulder turn is sometimes difficult for amateurs. Their own body (their  right side) is what typically gets in the way – and restricts a good shoulder turn. If you were to somehow suppress (or eliminate) the right side completely, you would be left with an unobstructed shoulder turn.

This is easily accomplished by pulling your right foot back. This simple modification can produce a dramatic change in your swing – and in your ability to strike the ball powerfully.  Try it on the range (or the course) and see if it helps you make better contact.

The post Right foot back at address–a revolutionary concept in golf appeared first on Anuj Varma, Hands-On Technology Architect, Clean Air Activist.

For golfers who require a fuller understanding of the various intricacies in golf, these books are indispensable.

These authors (all professional golfing legends in their own right) – have also been ‘hackers’ in the truest sense of the word. They ‘hacked’ their way to a thorough understanding of the minutiae of the game – and went on to dominate the sport in their own right.

1. Confused about which part of the body starts moving first on the backswing ? (The feet push off the ground (Bobby Jones on Golf) – even though no golf instructor today will enlighten you on this fine point.
2. Unsure about how much tension your arms should possess – both at setup and at the top of the swing? (Start off with a lighter tension and let the arms get ‘taut’ on the backswing. Taut is a different feeling from firm or stiff.
3. Ever thought about why you hit it so well on the range – but not on the course? ‘On Learning Golf’ will answer this question definitively (basically, on the range, your FOCUS is away from hitting a target or making par – you simply focus on making a good swing. Try taking THAT to the golf course!)
4. Why must the golf club travel on an inside out path ? (Percy Boomer explains – you must throw your arms/club out towards right field – for the clubface to square up. Throwing it right-field means coming in from the inside out). And J Douglas Edgar (The Gate to Golf) provides you with the simplest device to work on this ‘inside out’ path.  You can use TWO Tees instead of the metal gate that he proposes.

These golfers have dissected, analyzed, re-analyzed the golf swing – from the ground up. Having devoted their entire lives to the study of the golf swing, they have summarized their key discoveries in these little gems.

More importantly, the soundness of their techniques – cannot be contested. They belong to that elite club of major tournament winners  (Bobby Jones is still the ONLY player in the history of golf  –  to win the calendar year grand slam in golf).

Golf Magazine – Private Lessons	This book is like having all the best PGA instructors in the world, giving you one-on-one training. The tips listed here are hard to find (online or anywhere), because, as the title suggests, they are PRIVATE lessons. You are bound to have tons of fun experimenting with the simple-to-execute tips in this book.
	Having trouble with your backswing? Andrew Mullin tells you how to play without one. Wedge shots your nemesis? Check out Dave Pelz’s 3×4 System. Three-footers driving you crazy? Try Paul Trevillion’s perfect putting method. Every aspect of the game is covered—there’s even a chapter on hypnosis.
Bobby Jones on Golf	“A golf swing is graceful, not because it is made so, but because it is correct.”. By the best amateur golfer ever to play the game, this is essential instructional reading for the millions who have taken up golf during the 20 years this marvelous, timeless book has been out of print and unavailable.
	This book will allow you to get the right conceptions for producing a good golf swing. And as Percy says, it is the swing rather than hitting the ball that is the thing. It is not a technical book but he does make technical points in it. Its key virtue is that it gets rid of several common misconceptions about how to swing a golf club.
The Gate to Golf The Gate to Golf – J. Douglas Edgar	We all take for granted that the clubhead has to travel from the inside out. However, until Douglas Edgar explained this theory, there wasn’t any real consensus on it. He went a step further and invented a simple device for accomplishing this feat. You do not need to purchase the device – simply using two tees on the golf range will replicate his ‘gate’. The book is fascinating – and if you can indeed train your mind to swing through the gate – you will have no other swing thoughts to worry about. Works well for the short game as well as the long game.
	How to Perfect Your Golf Swing: Using Connection and the Seven Common Denominators

The Gate to Golf

• The Gate to Golf – J. Douglas Edgar

We all take for granted that the clubhead has to travel from the inside out. However, until Douglas Edgar explained this theory, there wasn’t any real consensus on it. He went a step further and invented a simple device for accomplishing this feat. You do not need to purchase the device – simply using two tees on the golf range will replicate his ‘gate’. The book is fascinating – and if you can indeed train your mind to swing through the gate – you will have no other swing thoughts to worry about. Works well for the short game as well as the long game.

How to Perfect Your Golf Swing: Using Connection and the Seven Common Denominators

Some Great Golf Fiction Reads

Summary

If you spend an inordinate amount of time contemplating the golf swing, fear not – you belong to an elite group of golfers. If you know of a book or two that belongs in this list, please comment on this post.

The post Books every golf hacker must possess appeared first on Anuj Varma, Hands-On Technology Architect, Clean Air Activist.

She was quick to grasp the setup position – and even the backswing. Within a week, she was making decent contact with the ball. However, she felt she was not hitting it far enough (not getting enough distance). She was a bit perplexed – since she was executing the swing fairly well – had a powerful coil – and a powerful swing through the ball.  Good  contact – yet, poor distance.

What most people miss is that distance is a function of the wrists (or hands if you prefer) releasing through the ball. It is NOT the big muscles that provide distance – they simply help move the clubhead at a faster speed. However, no matter how fast the clubhead is moving – it is the release of the wrists through the ball – that truly ‘hits’ the ball. Don’t believe me? Look at the swing speeds of Fred Couples , Vijay Singh, Retief Goosen, Ernie Els….they look like their big muscles are hardly moving. In truth, they ARE HARDLY moving. However, watch Fred’s hands go through the ball. That’s where he gets all his distance from.

So – how do we attain the ‘release of hands through the ball’ ?

Do read up on a couple of related posts on this topic:

1. lateral wrist break
2.  Feel the Punch

The basic idea is – to try and attain a full wrist cock – which is what will be ‘released’ on contact. So the real question is ‘How does one attain a full wrist hinge (cock) ?’

The SETUP position that leads to a wrist hinge

If I told you that a certain way to setup to the ball, would allow you to simply turn your chest – and this would in turn cock your wrists, would you believe me? It is as simple as that. If you set up correctly, a very gentle turn is all it takes to get the wrists hinging.

1. LEFT CHEST inside LEFT Foot. RIGHT CHEST INSIDE RIGHT – What this accomplishes is the correct weight distribution between LEFT and RIGHT sides of the body. This is an important pre-requisite before starting the backswing.
2. Start Backswing as if about to CHIP (Chipping TEMPO) – Most of us are guilty of moving TOO FAST during  the initiation of our backswing. To avoid this, I often tell myself that I am about to CHIP (not execute a full swing). This way, my muscles are geared for a GENTLE backswing – not an aggressive one. Once you start it back with this ‘chipping tempo’, you are free to continue the backswing to completion (for a FULL backswing).

Summary

If you setup with the correct weight distribution (LEFT chest inside LEFT foot, RIGHT CHEST inside RIGHT foot) and start with a gentle backswing, there is no way your wrists will not automatically hinge. Once they hinge, you will feel your grip tighten a little. This is natural (and a GOOD thing). Once your wrists are hinged, you are ready to WHIP through the ball.

The post It is the wrist hinge that generates power – experimenting with the golf wrist hinge appeared first on Anuj Varma, Hands-On Technology Architect, Clean Air Activist.

Diet

Too often have I rushed over to the first tee, fully caffeinated  – and ready to swing out of my shoes. Or having eaten a large meal – to sustain myself through the upcoming 18 holes. Here is what I have discovered regarding what to eat and how much to eat prior to a golf round.

Eat as much as you want – as long as it is a RAW diet. RAW foods have an unbelievable way of sustaining energy levels –better than all the caffeine and sweets that you can pour down your throat. My suggestion:

Hit the salad bar before your golf round.

Eat LOTS of the raw veggies – as much as you like. A sweet here and there (like a small muffin or a small chocolate bar) will not hurt – as long as the main meal is the RAW salad.  If you are unable to find a salad bar, raw fruits and nuts will work  – although not as well as raw veggies.

Clothing

T-Shirts and Shorts – two simple clothing items – that golfers seem to overcomplicate.

T-Shirts: Part of the problem arises  from the insistence of golf clubs on collared T-Shirts. Purely by accident, I played in a plain cotton T shirt one day – one that fit snugly over my body frame. And I swung better than ever before. Part of it had to do with my T-Shirt collar (or sleeves) not interfering with my swing. I know it may sound like a trivial thing, but if you have the opportunity, try it. Just a plain, soft cotton TShirt – one that fits you snugly – not too loose. And see how different your swing feels.

Shorts: I prefer the lightest of light – maybe pure polyester or silk – but some fabric that is moisture resistant as well.

Summary

Instead of fine tuning your swing, sometimes simple things affect your golf swing more than you realize. These are simple preparatory steps you can take to enable yourself to swing freely (wear the right clothing) and stay energized (eat a RAW diet) throughout your next round of golf.

The post Some Intangibles That Affect Your Golf Swing appeared first on Anuj Varma, Hands-On Technology Architect, Clean Air Activist.

Instead of thinking of the 3 wood as a ‘mini-driver’, think of it as a ‘glorified’ 3 iron! This automatically makes your stance width smaller (than the original driver width) – and also adjusts the right side’s position to freely go through the ball (as with all irons). The narrowed stance width provides upper body connectedness on the way back – leading to optimal weight shift (and coil). 

Stance width for 3 iron (narrower than a 3 wood or a driver width)

The post Success with the 3 wood appeared first on Anuj Varma, Hands-On Technology Architect, Clean Air Activist.

• Imagine hitting against a “wall” on the left side.
• Imagine hitting a rubber tire hard.
• Karate – Focusing your entire chi into one instant

J. Douglas Edgar (who might be considered the inventor of the modern inside-out swing) spoke about mastering “the movement”. What is “the movement”? Edgar not only explains what he means by his “movement” – he details it in a 1920 book titled “The Gate to Golf”.

The “gate” of which he speaks is a simple device consisting of two brackets through which the clubhead was intended to pass (see figure below).

The trick was that – in order to get it to pass through the gate – one had to come in from the inside out.

The “Gate” through which the clubhead must pass

Do not let the simplicity of the device fool you (in fact, on the range, you can simply set up two tees in the positions shown to replicate the “gate”).  The brilliance of the device lies in the fact that if one thinks about moving the clubhead through this gate, one forgets everything about “hitting” the ball. As every high handicapper knows, curing the “hit” instinct is one of the hardest things to accomplish in golf – and something that any pro would highlight as the first thing that needs to be fixed in a faulty swing.

Having constructed my own gate (using two tees planted into the ground), I experimented with just swinging the clubhead through the gate (without a ball in the middle). After a few attempts, I was getting my entire body weight through the gate – and moving through it powerfully. Next, I placed a ball and tried the same thing. I do not recall thinking about anything except replicating the same “swing through the gate” feeling. It was the longest 4 iron of my life (it gets better – I pulled it off on the course on 3 occasions – using long irons).

Continuing with my self-devised gate, I tried different clubs, slowly moving up to the driver. I was armed with just a single swing thought – swing ‘through’ the gate. This thought actually consists of a second thought – which is – ‘forget the ball altogether’. Forget that there is a ball that needs to be hit. The instant you start thinking about the ball, chances are you will forget about swinging through the gate. Wonder of wonders – it worked just as well for the driver – as it did for the irons.

The “Movement”

While Edgar doesn’t go into details about what exactly constitutes ‘the’ movement, he does detail every step leading up to the movement. From these steps, one can infer that the movement refers to the split second when one swings throughthe gate. This is also when one is supposed to ‘feel the punch’. The ‘punch’ is the movement! If everything leading up to the movement is done right, one will be able to deliver all the body weight THROUGH the ball. As the hands catch up with the body weight, they will have no option but to PUNCH the ball.

In Edgar’s own words – “This has all the exhilarating effects of champagne without any of the after effects…”.

If you can replicate the ‘punch’ in every golf shot, I believe that you will find nothing more exhilarating.

The “Punch”

The “punch” is delivered by the entire body – most noticeably the core (the torso). While the hands eventually deliver all the energy, that part is just an effect – and not something that is consciously controlled. The part that can be consciously controlled – and controlled well – is the torso moving through the gate.  In effect, the “punch” delivered by the torso through the gate – IS the movement! The movement is the punch ! (the split seconds when the hands go through the ball).

What about the short game? What about putting?

The “movement” can be applied equally well to chipping and putting. The essence of the movement is ‘visualizing the punch’. In every golf stroke, there has to come a time when the hands move through the ball. This is as true of putting as it is of the long drive. That particular motion (the ‘punch’) needs to be visualized for every putt. you may think that the punch is a forceful striking of the ball. For full iron/wood shots, that would be a correct statement. However, the ‘punch’ is more about the hands going through the ball after the body has already finished transferring its weight to the left side. It is as true a statement that a putt has to be ‘hit’ in the end. Too many golfers start decelerating the putter head through the ball. This is possibly the biggest short-game flaw – and applies equally to chipping as to putting.

Appendix – Reading List

Read this article for  a list of recommended instructional golf books (including the Gate to Golf) .

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