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First, your weight is placed lightly on the balls of your feet, balanced between your front and rear foot; then a slight shift occurs to the back foot, followed by another shift back to the front.
These intricate movements describe the skeletal action below the knees during an ordinary golf swing.

Good foot-action is the mark of an accomplished golfer. "All timing, distance, and direction comes out of the lower body with the feet leading the way", says golf legend, Jack Nicklaus.

All golfers recognise that foot related problems (even a painful corn or callus) can impede timing and balance to the point where it's reflected on the scorecard at the end of the day. What perhaps is slightly less well known is the role proper foot support (i.e. good shoes and customised footbeds) can play in creating good bio-mechanics and, ultimately, in perfecting one’s game.

The right shoes
Gone are the days when all golf shoes were simply wing-tip oxfords decked out with spikes. These days, many golf shoes are constructed using the same basic principles employed in the design of athletic footwear. Some even incorporate advanced technological innovations such as graphite shank reinforcements, which keep them light and add strength.

Improper shoes can bring on blisters, neuromas (inflamed nerve endings), and other pains in the feet. The following tips will help you select the most appropriate shoes:

• Shop for golf shoes in the afternoon when the feet are slightly swollen
• Try them on with the same socks that you would wear on the course
• Tie both left and right shoes tightly and walk around the store for a few minutes before making a decision

Biomechanics and the perfect swing
Biomechanics, the application of the skeleton’s movement focused in the lower limb such as the feet, play a crucial part in developing the perfect golf swing. The lateral motion and the pivoting intrinsic to the golf swing can be functionally impeded by certain biomechanical foot conditions.

A bio-mechanically sound swing should have the following qualities:

• During set-up, your weight should be evenly distributed on both feet with slightly more weight on the forefoot as you lean over, and slightly more weight on the insides of both feet.
• Maintaining stable foot alignment on the backswing is critical for control of the downswing and contact position.
• During the backswing, weight should be shifted to the back foot. It should be evenly distributed on the back foot or maintained slightly on the inside. Shifting weight to the outside leaves you susceptible to the dreaded "sway," a common error in swing. Without an exact reversal of the sway in the downswing, swaying will result in improper contact with the ball.
• The front heel occasionally comes off the ground to promote a full shoulder turn. Completion of the backswing places the weight on the back foot, evenly distributed between forefoot and rearfoot, with the weight left on the front foot rolling to the inside.
• · The downswing involves a rapid shift of weight from back to front foot; momentum brings the heel of the front foot down, and follow-though naturally causes a rolling of the back foot to the inside and the front foot to the outside. Golf should always be played from the insides of the feet.

Having healthy, bio-mechanically stable feet is the first prerequisite for achieving the type of performance that all golfers strive for.

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©April 2005 Feet First (Europe) Limited - Webmaster