I am a girls' high school golf coach and have a player with a habit of going up onto her tip toes at contact with every club. She can't seem to break the habit and I'm out of ideas as to how to help her. Suggestions and drills PLEASE.
Todd
Hi Todd, thanks for the question. I’ve got some insights and suggestions to help you on your way. First things first, I want to understand the severity of your students habit of standing on her tip toes at impact. On tour, and as the image below shows, you’ll find many professionals have their trailing heel off the ground at impact. This isn’t a bad thing. It shows that your weight and power is transferring through to your front foot.
Now, likely as a golf coach you would already know this. So I will assume, and your e-mail suggests that you mean your student is going up on her tip toes of both of her feet at impact? If this is so, it makes me wonder what would cause this motion...as it’s not natural; it’s likely something in her swing caused this to happen. I can only think of one cause – and that would be a ball that is too close to her body at address. To compensate for this, she would have to lift up at impact to even make contact with the ball. Likely her body position fundamentals are out of whack. Double check that her clubs are properly fit to start and then her address fundamentals.
Likely this won’t fix the problem right off the bat, as the move is now engrained into her swing. You’ll have to try some drills that limit her lower body movement – and make the “up-on-the-toes” move awkward. I got two drills for you to try, and hopefully you see some success. The first one to try is a modified version of another drill used to discourage a reverse C on the follow-through . As the image to right shows, place two golf balls under her heels at address. She’ll easily be able to feel them there – and that’s the point. Ask her to hit balls while keeping her heels in contact with the balls at all times. This should begin to engrain the proper feeling at impact.
Second up – get her to hit balls while squeezing a range bucket between her legs. As the image shows, the bucket will limit the amount of lower body movement she can create. If she does go up on her toes, she will likely drop the bucket. With some practice she should be able to swing, while keeping the bucket between her legs.
I have one last suggestion, but I wouldn’t recommend it - you can literally sit behind her and hold her heel s down as she swings. I’ve tried this before with juniors – but the often lose their balance and can occasionally fall on you. Furthermore, if your student wears a skirt – this position wouldn’t be good for obvious reasons.
I hope that helps you and your student out Todd.
Regards,
The Golf Drill Guru
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