Footwork in the golf swing has been brought up countless times as being "good" or "bad" by our comical "golf analysts" on TV, yet they rarely say what is good or bad about it. The reality is that in a good golf swing, the feet are, for the most part, simply responding to the movements of the body rather than moving on their own behalf.

So, in truth, good footwork is really "no footwork". The feet do move, but typically when someone has bad footwork, they're over using their feet as a compensation for other poor swing mechanics.

In this video I'm discussing the ever important movement, or lack thereof, of the right foot for right handed golfers in the downswing. As I mentioned earlier, the foot isn't really moving on it's own accord, but rather being moved by the body.

However, it is very easy to detect some common swing flaws by focusing on the right foot and training it what to do will often correct other swing flaws such as spinning hips and a lack of weight shift when a golfer learns what the movement of the right foot should look like throughout the downswing. Let's take a look at a swing of mine and look at the right foot closely.

In this first image we can see that from the top of the golf swing to the initial phases of the downswing, my right heel has barely moved. From a face on view, you would see that my weight has shifted to the left.

In the next sequence, it is clear to see that my right heel is still very low to the ground, but the entire foot has rolled up off the rope and in toward the left foot.

If you're a "hip spinner" as I discussed in the Hip Spinners video, doing this will create a sense of being "anchored" to the ground and provide a refreshing sense of stability at impact.

To more easily understand the problems associated with what happens when the right heel is high off the ground, let's take a look at the image above. As we will see in this case, the right heel being off the ground is actually being caused by other improper mechanics, not the golfer pushing off the right foot itself.

On the left is a student who exemplifies the classic hip spinner move and ends up with his arms stuck behind his body. Note how his right elbow is actually still behind his body and the arm is bent at the elbow at impact.

Contrast that with my elbow being in front of my body and the arm at near full extension delivering maximum speed at impact. Also, note how much more his hips have rotated open, which in this case is what is actually pulling his right heel well off the ground. This is where the right foot is not the cause of the problem, but simply a symptom.

This set of circumstances leads to many faults such as a path that is too in to out, especially with the longer clubs and often fat shots, but thin shots can be a common result as well. Apart from the ball flight issues, of supreme importance to the Rotary Swing Tour golf swing pattern is injury prevention.

In the photo below you can see how much more stress the golfer on the left is putting on his lumbar spine (low back) due to the significant side bend created by his thrusting the right hip toward the target and around. You can easily see this by the curvature of the lower spine and how high the right heel is off the ground.

Contrast that with my hips which appear much more stable with far less side bend, my spine is in a much more stable and supported position, significantly lowering the probability of injury. Having less hip rotation creates less side bend and makes the golf swing easier both on the lead hip as well as the low back - two of the most common injuries in all of golf and this is one of the most common causes! So, pay close attention to this video!

In this screen capture from the video below, we can see one of the simple checks I use when looking at a student's swing on video. I call this the Right Foot Plane or Right Foot Line.

In the video you will learn how to check that your body is moving correctly simply by using this simple check as well as a drill to help ingrain the proper movements of the right foot.

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