FOR THE GOLFER
Two feet away from better golf
So you’ve bought yourself a golf bag and buggy, clubs, plenty of balls for the water hazards, correct golf shoes and even had a lesson or two to prevent that horrible slice into the trees, but your game is still not right. You know there is something else going on but you can’t quite put your finger on it.
It may come as no surprise, but you may have a positioning problem with your feet. Your friends have already told you this though…your standing to close to the ball or too far away, your feet aren’t positioned right, etc, but this is not what I mean by foot position.
Everybody knows that your foot positioning will determine your upper body swing, which in turn will affect how the club contacts the ball. This will decide whether your ball sails straight down the fairway, commanding cheers from your golf buddies, or more commonly into the scrub to your left or right, followed by a few questionable comments.
So what am I on about? There are 3 basic foot-types. Normal, Excessively Pronated (rolls-inwards) and Excessively Supinated (rolls-outwards). As you swing to hit the ball your body weight moves, or is transferred from the rear foot to the front foot. If your feet have a tendency to roll inwards or outwards too much, this is going to affect your swing and is a common cause of hooking or slicing the ball, (sound familiar).
Podiatrist can evaluate your lower limb biomechanics and determine if a problem exists. Treatment may involve simple stretching and strengthening programs, or if a foot problem exists, you may require supports to be made for your feet, to control abnormal movement, while allowing normal movement to occur.
If biomechanical problems are present with your feet, and invariably affecting your swing, this may cause upper body symptoms when walking the links as well. Addressing biomechanical problems in walking may therefore result in the secondary benefit of an improved swing through proper foot function.
If a round of golf is painful on the feet, first assess the quality of your shoes. Any time pain is not adequately resolved with good golf shoes and is present for more than two or three consecutive rounds, it’s time to visit a podiatrist.
So lets make your feet an asset, not a liability to you golf game, because lets face it, you probably have enough liabilities when you play as it is, so one less liability has to be an improvement.
