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Weight distribution at Address

Where should you put your weight at address?

There are 2 ways to distribute your weight on your feet.

1) Weight on the balls of your feet
2) Weight is distributed evenly from heel to toe

However, you will never want to put your weight on your heels or toes except for a special situation.
Let me explain each one.

 

1) Weight on the balls of your feet

I've seen lots of tour pros who put their weight on the balls of your feet. Butch Harmon said your weight should be on the balls of your feet.

Annika Sorenstam also prefers this method.

 

2) Weight is distributed evenly from heel to toe

This method is more common. Tiger Woods uses this method.

I think both methods are fine as long as it suits your golf swing.

Personally, I prefer to use second method.
I think it gives me more balance during the swing.

How to Find Your Balance

Here is the easy drill that will let you find your balance.

1) Take your address position
2) Put your weight on your toe by lifting your heels off the ground a bit
3) Next, put your weight on your heel by lifting your toes off the ground
4) Rock back and forth to find your balance

For Driver

When setting up to hit a driver, some teachers might tell you to put more weight on your back foot at address.

Some teachers prefer to put 60% of the weight on the back foot at address.

By putting more weight on your back foot, your spines will tilt away from the target a bit more than normal allowing you to hit the ball from inside the target line.

This will help you cure your outside-in swing path.

So you might want to experiment with it.

But in general, most players prefer to distribute their weight evenly on both feet. This is just fine as well.

For Middle Iron

There was the research on how pros (more the 50 pros on the PGA Tour) put their weight at address using middle iron (6-iron).

According to the research, most of the pros had 55% of their weight on the front foot and 45% of their weight on the back leg.

And during the swing,

At the top ---- 80% on the back leg
At impact ---- 80% on the front leg
At finish ---- 95% on the front leg

I don't always recommend putting a bit more weight on your front foot at address to all the players, but adding a little more weight on your front foot at address might help you strike the ball with a descending blow with your irons.



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