How / Why does the right foot move backwards and not forwards?

[jaffabell]

So got a question regarding pressure and the movement of the trail foot / side. So we know that on a good swing, and we could use Scheffler as a visible example, the right foot sort of moves / slides backwards away from the ball in transition and on the way down.

 

My question is, thinking of forces and how we are getting on to balls of lead foot in transition, to push back and rotate lead side (in an ideal world), what makes the right foot move backwards like that? Rather than it move forwards and around?

 

For example, if I stand just on my lead foot and push back to sort of turn, my trail foot doesnt move back but obviously forwards as I havent put any other forces in to it, and it is just following the movement of my body. So when we get into the trail heel in the backswing, are we continuing to push backwards with the right foot as we transition to lead side, which makes the right foot move back as it loses pressure and keeps that right hip / side from spinning outwards?

 

Curious on thoughts or even some data examples of why this happens, so I can better understand what pressures should be going through my feet and when to apply them as I often find my right side still just kicks out and around when I move pressure to lead foot, so i'm not doing something right with pressures on my trail side.

[iacas]

Because it's pushing that way (away from the ball, to move the right hip toward the ball), and when it loses friction, it slides that way.

 

Edited June 17 by iacas

[getitdaily]

The trail hip moves a touch toward the ball and a lot more forward (toward the target).  The hip and foot cannot both move in the same direction. The foot is pushing the hip. 

 

For the hip to move forward, the foot has to move back (if ground connection were lost).

[jaffabell]

8 minutes ago, iacas said:

Because it's pushing that way (away from the ball, to move the right hip toward the ball), and when it loses friction, it slides that way.

 

Hi Erik, so if I'm reading that graph right are we saying that as pressure moves over to lead side, we are also pushing forwards with the trail foot (forwards as in towards the ball) and that effectively causes the trail foot to then move backwards (away from the ball) and the trail hip will then turn in to trail side, rather than kick outwards to the ball?

 

I'm trying to simplify it in my mind 🙂 

[iacas]

Think about standing in the starting blocks of a race. The runner is going to push against the block to move himself forward.

 

If the block was removed and the track became ice the instant he pushed, his foot would go backward.

 

The precise timing of when it slips determines what direction the foot moves in all three dimensions, of course. Force is in the opposite direction of motion given that you're (ideally) pushing against something that doesn't move. So if the foot end doesn't move (via friction), it causes the hip or knee or whatever to move in the opposite direction of the pushing.

 

Pushing behind you, hip moves forward (front of you). It's called "AP forces", or anterior/posterior forces.

[jaffabell]

30 minutes ago, iacas said:

Think about standing in the starting blocks of a race. The runner is going to push against the block to move himself forward.

 

If the block was removed and the track became ice the instant he pushed, his foot would go backward.

 

The precise timing of when it slips determines what direction the foot moves in all three dimensions, of course. Force is in the opposite direction of motion given that you're (ideally) pushing against something that doesn't move. So if the foot end doesn't move (via friction), it causes the hip or knee or whatever to move in the opposite direction of the pushing.

 

Pushing behind you, hip moves forward (front of you). It's called "AP forces", or anterior/posterior forces.

Got you. So I was always made to believe, and it was possibly my misinterpretation, that when we start to transition pressure to lead side that there shouldn't be any pushing with the trail side / foot - and that it should purely be the lead foot doing the pushing to clear that left side. 

 

So correct me if I'm wrong, as I might be, after we get pressure in trail heel on backswing and then transition pressure to lead side - part of that pressure switch is a force down and forwards (towards ball direction) in the trail foot which would A. Cause the trail foot to move backwards as it loses pressure to lead side, B. Would cause the trail hip to stay back and not kick out to the ball and C also aid in getting pressure to the lead side in the 1st place? 

 

In simple terms I always thought that we didn't have any pressure towards front of trail foot until we are forwards and finishing follow through but I might be wrong? As if i just allow pressure to move to trail heel and leave it there, it feels like I have nothing to help kick-start that lead side movement 

Edited June 17 by jaffabell

[KMeloney]

Sit in a swivel chair. Push pressure forward into the floor with your right foot and see which way the chair rotates. Now pull your right foot back toward you and see which way the chair rotates.

[swh0507]

51 minutes ago, iacas said:

Think about standing in the starting blocks of a race. The runner is going to push against the block to move himself forward.

 

If the block was removed and the track became ice the instant he pushed, his foot would go backward.

 

The precise timing of when it slips determines what direction the foot moves in all three dimensions, of course. Force is in the opposite direction of motion given that you're (ideally) pushing against something that doesn't move. So if the foot end doesn't move (via friction), it causes the hip or knee or whatever to move in the opposite direction of the pushing.

 

Pushing behind you, hip moves forward (front of you). It's called "AP forces", or anterior/posterior forces.

This idiot actually shows this off really well.

 

 

Edited June 17 by swh0507

[TheDeanAbides]

27 minutes ago, jaffabell said:

Got you. So I was always made to believe, and it was possibly my misinterpretation, that when we start to transition pressure to lead side that there shouldn't be any pushing with the trail side / foot - and that it should purely be the lead foot doing the pushing to clear that left side. 

 

So correct me if I'm wrong, as I might be, after we get pressure in trail heel on backswing and then transition pressure to lead side - part of that pressure switch is a force down and forwards (towards ball direction) in the trail foot which would A. Cause the trail foot to move backwards as it loses pressure to lead side, B. Would cause the trail hip to stay back and not kick out to the ball and C also aid in getting pressure to the lead side in the 1st place? 

 

In simple terms I always thought that we didn't have any pressure towards front of trail foot until we are forwards and finishing follow through but I might be wrong? As if i just allow pressure to move to trail heel and leave it there, it feels like I have nothing to help kick-start that lead side movement 

When you think of things in absolutes in the golf swing you run into trouble. It's a complex closed system - nothing is really doing nothing, but how much it's doing is also constantly changing.

Edited June 17 by TheDeanAbides

[vandyfan]

14 minutes ago, swh0507 said:

This idiot actually shows this off really well.

 

An all time video. I probably have seen it 40 times. Never not funny. 

[jaffabell]

18 minutes ago, KMeloney said:

Sit in a swivel chair. Push pressure forward into the floor with your right foot and see which way the chair rotates. Now pull your right foot back toward you and see which way the chair rotates.

Oh yeah! Doing that now at my desk at work.

 

I see what you mean, I rotate correctly. So, follow on question then - Can we essentially push with our trail foot and lead foot at the same time to double up that rotation pressure during the downswing? obviously the pressure will be far greater with lead foot push as most of weight should be over there, but say we have 20% of weight still on trail side can / should we push with that too? Or, is that 'push' with the trail foot happening before the lead foot push?

[TheDeanAbides]

7 minutes ago, vandyfan said:

 

An all time video. I probably have seen it 40 times. Never not funny. 

I mean, it'd be better if it had some cats in it, but, yeah, it's funny as. :)

[KMeloney]

1 hour ago, jaffabell said:

Oh yeah! Doing that now at my desk at work.

 

I see what you mean, I rotate correctly. So, follow on question then - Can we essentially push with our trail foot and lead foot at the same time to double up that rotation pressure during the downswing? obviously the pressure will be far greater with lead foot push as most of weight should be over there, but say we have 20% of weight still on trail side can / should we push with that too? Or, is that 'push' with the trail foot happening before the lead foot push?

 

I suppose so, if it helps to clear your left hip out of the way... But if you don't get over your front leg, then I'd guess that you can introduce (or worsen) a reverse-pivot.

[wagolfer7]

1 hour ago, jaffabell said:

Oh yeah! Doing that now at my desk at work.

 

I see what you mean, I rotate correctly. So, follow on question then - Can we essentially push with our trail foot and lead foot at the same time to double up that rotation pressure during the downswing? obviously the pressure will be far greater with lead foot push as most of weight should be over there, but say we have 20% of weight still on trail side can / should we push with that too? Or, is that 'push' with the trail foot happening before the lead foot push?

 

There is pressure going on in both feet and also total pressure into the ground is increasing throughout backswing and transition.  It seems like a simple concept, but in my opinion a little more complex than what is on the surface and certainly hard to implement.  @getitdaily has some good threads on it.  

 

Here is Cantlay and you can see how quick pressure shifts from trail to lead side.  As well as from heel to ball of foot.  

 

And in a nutshell, I think understanding that this what the overall goal is, kind of helps you understand what direction of pressure your ultimately looking for.  

 

 

[Valtiel]

On 6/17/2025 at 8:29 AM, jaffabell said:

...what makes the right foot move backwards like that? Rather than it move forwards and around?

 

...So when we get into the trail heel in the backswing, are we continuing to push backwards with the right foot as we transition to lead side, which makes the right foot move back as it loses pressure and keeps that right hip / side from spinning outwards?

 

Curious on thoughts or even some data examples of why this happens....

@wagolfer7 posted something i've referenced a lot above which is the pressure trace videos on that YouTube channel. Cantlay is a fun one because he's like the anti-Scheffler in terms of what you see physically despite all the same basic things happening. I'm going to reference that a couple times here so follow me here as this will hopefully give another form of answers beyond the good stuff that @iacas has already posted. I recommend putting the Cantlay video on 0.25x speed. 
 

1. Initially we see a typical driver setup with pressure slightly favoring the back foot (55/45-ish) and similarly slightly favoring the ball of the foot. 
2. Initial takeaway to P2 sees that shifting predictably to favor the back foot (75/25-ish) and favoring the ball of the right foot slightly more (60/40). 
3. Next is the most critical stage IMO that you rarely see the average golfer doing correctly at all. From P2 (shaft parallel) to P3 (left arm parallel) we see two big things; an increase to 85/15 favoring the back foot, which is as high as you'll see pressure getting back there, and a shift from the ball of the foot (60/40) to the heel (30/70). There are several critical things happening here that add up to a "beginning to turn the corner" type of move that is crucial for a proper pivot. He isn't simply adding pressure to the back foot, he is setting up to use it to start tilting his pelvis back towards the front leg. 
4. From P3 to the top of the backswing we see the first part of that "turning the corner" as pressure on the back foot *decreases* as it moves towards the heel, from 85/15 back down to 75/25. That pressure that is starting to increase in that front foot at this stage is favoring the ball of the foot, just like the trail foot did initially in the backswing. ALL of this very critically occurring *well* before the backswing is done. And while the trail foot pressure is nearly favoring the heel 100%, it is in the process of decreasing (more on this below). This is the critical stage during which momentum is being created to get back forward. 
5. At the top of the backswing things start changing very rapidly. 75/25 continued falling to around 65/35 as the backswing was finishing and at the moment it stops we're back to nearly 50/50 with almost ALL of that weight being on the heel of the back foot and toe of the front foot. Also remembering that dynamically everything is rapidly shifting forward here. 
6. In the first few frames of the downswing we see a very rapid shift towards the front side that sees everything flipping to 15/85 as the front foot is heavily pressured and begins working from the toe back towards the middle of the foot. The pressure being added here is driving the front hip backwards. 

I could go on about everything that happens in the downswing from here, but really it's just a reaction to everything above so it doesn't really need to be dissected because if you've done everything above, more or less, what happens next is pretty automatic. 

So to answer your questions above then, look at step 6. That rapid shift unweights the back foot and essentially turns it into a passive participant in what is happening in the downswing. As such it is liable to drag backwards/inwards diagonally depending on how much/how violently the front foot is used to create the forces it's capable of (vertical and torque/twisting ground forces mainly). Cantlay doesn't do this excessively obviously as his feet are fairly quiet. His back leg catches some of the force being applied by the front leg in a ping/pong kind of fashion, something you see pretty commonly, and this keeps his feet pretty grounded. The more important thing to understand is this...

The back leg is not being used for any kind of ground or rotational force.  **EDIT to this in my later post**

If it were we'd see what you were asking about "...Rather than it move forwards and around?"

In order for the back leg to do that (which is what most early extenders do) it would need pressure on it driving the right hip forward. Steps 2-4 above have the effect of eliminating that potential by getting the pressure progressively off that leg, because we do NOT want it there in really any capacity by the time the downswing starts. That rapid switch to 15/85 in the very first moments of the downswing facilitated by the progressive shifting in this direction in Step 4 above effectively removes the potential for that back leg to be influencing downswing rotation, thus making it a passive receiver of whatever forces the front leg is producing. If we look again at those 6 steps and what happens with the average player we see:
 

1. Setup if often a little wonky with pressure commonly favoring the front side too much. And even if it isn't...
2. Pressure shift from address to P2 is very often lagging behind getting to 75/25. Many pros will actually be higher than this at this stage, and most Ams are less.
3. As a result of being late to Step 2, we usually see pressure here only reaching what it should have been previously, and since this is the beginning of the "corner turn" I mentioned, the Am is late to this too, and usually isn't even aware that is what they should be doing at this stage. 
4. As a result of THAT, pressure just linearly continues to increase on the back leg up to the top of the backswing. No attempt has been made to "turn the corner" and....
5. At the top of the backswing we see pressure peaking at whatever it's highest point is going to be, where the Pro was a whole two steps prior. 
6. The downswing initiates with full pressure on the back leg which severely inhibits the front leg from doing what it needs to and encourages the back leg to take the lead, driving the right hip forward causing a loss in hip depth, spine angle, and forcing early extension to make impact. 

One of the first things you'll see in folks trying to fix this is attempting to rush steps 5 and 6 to make up for the deficiencies in steps 2-4. This manifests as an aggressive lateral throwing of the lower body towards the front side which is usually extremely difficult to sequence correctly and gets people late with various elements of the upper body (usually the hands/arms). @italianstallion this is all 1:1 relevant to what we discussed in your thread. 

So all in all the back leg stuff you're asking about @jaffabell is a product of proper sequencing and pressure shifting which I know you've seen me harp on many times, hah. 

Edited June 18 by Valtiel

[KD1]

I got you @jaffabell

 

https://youtube.com/shorts/zBN41w08Atw?si=70rjBBydvSWJqeKj

[sundaypins]

It moves both ways but mostly backward as a counter balance to an outward pull.   

[iacas]

8 hours ago, jaffabell said:

Got you. So I was always made to believe, and it was possibly my misinterpretation, that when we start to transition pressure to lead side that there shouldn't be any pushing with the trail side / foot

 

Pushing in which direction, though? Laterally? There's generally not much. In the A/P direction? It still happens. Even vertically there's still some (because your foot still weighs something, and you're pushing your trail hip toward the ball a bit).

 

8 hours ago, jaffabell said:

So correct me if I'm wrong, as I might be, after we get pressure in trail heel on backswing and then transition pressure to lead side - part of that pressure switch is a force down and forwards (towards ball direction) in the trail foot which would A. Cause the trail foot to move backwards as it loses pressure to lead side

 

The trail foot only moves backward if it loses too much friction.

 

8 hours ago, jaffabell said:

B. Would cause the trail hip to stay back and not kick out to the ball and C also aid in getting pressure to the lead side in the 1st place? 

 

B, yes, not so much C.

 

7 hours ago, jaffabell said:

I see what you mean, I rotate correctly. So, follow on question then - Can we essentially push with our trail foot and lead foot at the same time to double up that rotation pressure during the downswing?

 

Did you see the picture earlier in the thread?

 

Blue is left foot, red is right. You can see the arrows — they're pushing up as well as toward and away from the golf ball.

 

The graphs show force in three directions.

 

 

 

So, yes, you push with both feet (rotationally, in opposite directions - the left and right bars in the lower-left graphic).

 

7 hours ago, jaffabell said:

obviously the pressure will be far greater with lead foot push as most of weight should be over there

 

The location of the weight often but doesn't always determine the amount of force. You could stand on your right foot and kick hard with your left foot and spike the pressure (force) there, for example.

 

4 hours ago, Valtiel said:

The back leg is not being used for any kind of ground or rotational force.

 

I think BodiTrak is measuring just the verticals there.

[Valtiel]

7 hours ago, Valtiel said:

The back leg is not being used for any kind of ground or rotational force. 

@iacas and I were talking about this offline, so for the folks that reacted ( @italianstallion, @jaffabell, @RayPlan, @Shilgy, @OChief) I wanted to post a bit of a correction. 

The above quote is IMO something that people that over/incorrectly use the trail side in transition can benefit from, but strictly speaking isn't true in terms of what is measured. The trail leg *does* do stuff, it's just that people need to shift at the correct times and with the correct forces to keep it from doing the *wrong* stuff. You see someone like Justin Thomas for example that uses his trail leg for a lot of vertical in his overall action. But for the purposes of someone completely outside the "correct" pattern like I detailed in my post, I still believe that learning to consciously STOP using your back leg is a good start because it sets you up to start learning how to use your front leg correctly once you have the timing/sequence of your shifts down correctly. Erik may or may not agree with that bit, but I mostly wanted to clear up a statement that was a bit too declarative regarding reality and measurements. 
 

[CoreyW1369]

8 hours ago, Valtiel said:

I recommend putting the Cantlay video on 0.25x speed. 

Eye opening. 
 

This in particular:

 

This is the pressure trace in the middle approaching impact?

 

 

Edited June 18 by CoreyW1369

[Valtiel]

14 minutes ago, CoreyW1369 said:

Eye opening. 
 

This in particular:

 

This is the pressure trace in the middle approaching impact?

 

 

I'd prefer to get @iacas to weigh in on this one as it's a point i'm curious about but underqualified to speak on directly. How would you best describe an increase in trail foot pressure in the downswing from a general movement pattern standpoint? Obviously there isn't much happening consciously at this stage and i've always intuitively felt this was simply an action/reaction to pushing off of the front foot and the tilt that creates sending some weight back. You don't see this with all players, but a fair few. 

[iacas]

7 minutes ago, Valtiel said:

I'd prefer to get @iacas to weigh in on this one as it's a point i'm curious about but underqualified to speak on directly. How would you best describe an increase in trail foot pressure in the downswing from a general movement pattern standpoint? Obviously there isn't much happening consciously at this stage and i've always intuitively felt this was simply an action/reaction to pushing off of the front foot and the tilt that creates sending some weight back. You don't see this with all players, but a fair few. 

 

Watch his left foot — it gets airborne a little. That's all.

[CoreyW1369]

10 minutes ago, Valtiel said:

I'd prefer to get @iacas to weigh in on this one as it's a point i'm curious about but underqualified to speak on directly. How would you best describe an increase in trail foot pressure in the downswing from a general movement pattern standpoint? Obviously there isn't much happening consciously at this stage and i've always intuitively felt this was simply an action/reaction to pushing off of the front foot and the tilt that creates sending some weight back. You don't see this with all players, but a fair few. 

This is what makes that motion feel wrong - weight back, like a false push from lead leg. It can’t be otherwise I guess without unweighting both feet.

[golferdude54]

I feel footwork for maximum power vs. maximum power + accuracy need to be brought up here. I've noticed the players behind the records for strokes gained off the tee for a tournament like John Daly in 2005 WGC American Express Championship and Bryson DeChambeau in 2025 LIV Mexico have similar footwork in that their left foot don't actually jump off the ground and move to a different spot.

 

They stick their left heel in the ground in transition and pivot around it, letting the toe spin out. Jack Nicklaus is also a player who had this footwork and he holds the all-time total driving record for a season in 1980 (10th in distance, 13th in accuracy). Greg Norman is another one with statistical achievements in total driving, although he spun his left toe a lot more than Nicklaus did. 

 

The whole left foot in air footwork started to take off when plastic spikes replaced metal. You can't embed the heel inside the ground with plastic spikes like you could with metal. Bryson wears metal spikes still. Kyle Berkshire doesn't wear metal in long driving and world record club/ball speed attempts so he can jump off the ground for maximum power. That's the difference in footwork between Bryson and Berkshire.

[ParadiseGolf]

I had this exact same question recently. Been watching some swing videos that mentioned the trail foot pressuring back. I tried at the range and it felt so awkward.

[MonteScheinblum]

This is why loading the right side at the top and driving the right hip toward the ball and then target to get to the left side is so problematic.

 

I often see golfers drag the right toes toward the target to start the downswing. 
 

Hockey players tend to be good golfers and quickly because they understand this move instinctively 

 

IMO, the easiest way to understand this and much of how the pelvis and pressure shift in the swing is to do what I called they slap shot drill and now call the Scheffler drill.  If you make a full swing you’ll pull your groin.

 

Wear tennis shoes with no spikes and take out a PW and hit it about 40-60 yards and initiate the downswing by purposely sliding the right foot back 1-2” like Scheffler.

 

Most can’t do it initially because it’s so foreign.  Many can’t hit a PW under 130 yards…..lol….but I digress.

 

Pick a target 40-60 yards away and do this and it will shock you the difference between what it feels like and what it looks like.

 

It will feel like your a monkey humping a football and it will look better than your normal swing.

[getitdaily]

7 hours ago, Valtiel said:

I'd prefer to get @iacas to weigh in on this one as it's a point i'm curious about but underqualified to speak on directly. How would you best describe an increase in trail foot pressure in the downswing from a general movement pattern standpoint? Obviously there isn't much happening consciously at this stage and i've always intuitively felt this was simply an action/reaction to pushing off of the front foot and the tilt that creates sending some weight back. You don't see this with all players, but a fair few. 

Cantlay has a hip stall at impact. I bet the trace is just showing the move he and his coach found to get him hitting it well. 

 

Watch a face on of cantlay and you'll see it. Hips stall and there's a tiny dip, sort of subtle scooping motion. 

 

He doesn't appear to be a big grf guy. Seems to play very level his entire swing. Lots of rotational force but he appears to be a tad late with his arms. 

[RayPlan]

2 hours ago, MonteScheinblum said:

It will feel like your a monkey humping a football and it will look better than your normal swing.

Feels vs. reals, folks

[Valtiel]

6 hours ago, MonteScheinblum said:

Hockey players tend to be good golfers and quickly because they understand this move instinctively 

Living in Hockey country now I have a couple nephews that were deep into the middle school/high school competitive scene. I heard that one of them got a job at a golf course and has started showing interest in the game and I was like...

[CoreyW1369]

I play regularly with former hockey guys and one previous NHL'r; to a man (and me) they almost all EE. 

 

Thankfully, they aren't dropping the glove(s) 😀