Why Do So Many Instructors/Announcers Insist Golfers Push Off Their Trail Leg?

[Golfer20]

After watching the Genesis this weekend and hearing it non-stop over 4 days from announcers and then seeing numerous tweets like this one:

I have to ask - why do they keep insisting this?  Isn't there enough data from pressure plates and the videos themselves that prove right-handed golfers do not push off their right foot in the downswing?  Even just looking a slow-motion video on Youtube you can see that pros do not push off their right foot in the downswing:

I guess as @iacas said in this tweet:

#FeelAintReal

[iacas]

Because… feel ain't real.

I sent a few more tweets this morning. Last night I was mulling sending one in reply to Travis, but this morning I did.

 

I regret the two "either" sentences. 😛

[Vinsk]

I may be way off here but it seems if they would just ask themselves what their lead leg must be doing if they’re pushing off their trail leg, they’d realize this pushing off is most likely not occurring. 

[Golfer20]

10 minutes ago, Vinsk said:

I may be way off here but it seems if they would just ask themselves what their lead leg must be doing if they’re pushing off their trail leg, they’d realize this pushing off is most likely not occurring. 

Right! If golfers pushed off their trail leg, the lead leg would not look the way that it does in the downswing.

[Elmer]

For the longest time I have pushed off my trail leg on the long shots. Some how subconsciously I though that is how you generated power when you had those  "go for it" shots.
I am not saying it was right (the shots usually were not good), but it is a bad habit I picked up along the way.
Last July when doing such a shot I ruptured my plantaris muscle in the trail left.
Now I have had to learn to not push off, as I absolutely cannot. 

So now I have to retrain my subconscious, while being mindful of the trail leg.

[iacas]

Could you answer a few questions @Elmer?

• How do you KNOW you pushed off?
• Was it a feel that may not have been real?
• Have you ever been on a pressure mat or a force plate?
• What could you see on video?
• When did you push off?
• In what direction did you feel you were pushing off?

[billchao]

I think it’s simply that a “push” has always been traditionally believed and taught. I feel like announcers have generally been averse to change.

I know in my own swing I’ve been working all winter on my pivot in the backswing and that involves a push with the trail leg. But again, that’s the backswing as @iacas mentioned. The downswing is really more of a fall to the front side.

[Elmer]

52 minutes ago, iacas said:

Could you answer a few questions @Elmer?

• How do you KNOW you pushed off?
  • I could feel it in my big toe that was being forced into the ground. 
• Was it a feel that may not have been real?
  • it was a feel and real.
• Have you ever been on a pressure mat or a force plate?
  • have not
• What could you see on video?
  • me pushing off my back foot as my body lifts and hand open up.
• When did you push off?
  • usually moment of impact or down swing
• In what direction did you feel you were pushing off?
  • up and lifting, which is not the 230 yards straight forward I was aiming for.

[iacas]

7 minutes ago, Elmer said:

• How do you KNOW you pushed off?
  • I could feel it in my big toe that was being forced into the ground.

It seems to me that could just be a result of leaving weight back (but bending your knee in toward the golf ball).

Am I "pushing off" the right side here in 2009, despite my right big toe getting crushed in the follow-through?

7 minutes ago, Elmer said:

• Was it a feel that may not have been real?
  • it was a feel and real.
• Have you ever been on a pressure mat or a force plate?
  • have not

How do you know?

7 minutes ago, Elmer said:

• What could you see on video?
  • me pushing off my back foot as my body lifts and hand open up.
• When did you push off?
  • usually moment of impact or down swing

What did you observe moving "up"? Your right hip?

Impact isn't the downswing, of course. But we'll shelve that for now.

I'm not saying what you were feeling was "wrong" or anything here @Elmer. There are some amateurs who do "push off" their right leg some. The hips go "up" quickly instead of "loading" and "falling" a little, or some other things… It's still not super common, as most will still increase flex and decrease pressure, but it can and does happen.

[Elmer]

2 hours ago, iacas said:

It seems to me that could just be a result of leaving weight back (but bending your knee in toward the golf ball).

Am I "pushing off" the right side here in 2009, despite my right big toe getting crushed in the follow-through?

 

How do you know?

What did you observe moving "up"? Your right hip?

Impact isn't the downswing, of course. But we'll shelve that for now.

I'm not saying what you were feeling was "wrong" or anything here @Elmer. There are some amateurs who do "push off" their right leg some. The hips go "up" quickly instead of "loading" and "falling" a little, or some other things… It's still not super common, as most will still increase flex and decrease pressure, but it can and does happen.

I am almost positive I was pushing off with my back leg. it all comes from when I first started, I thought brute strength equated to optimum distance.
Therefore I swung with 110% effort and was exhausted after 9 holes. 
As you said when you push other parts of the body go wrong. If I made contact I got good distance, which was way off target.
 

It took until recently (the aforementioned injury) and a less with a wonderful pro. She worked with me to dial it back from 11 and put some weight forward which helps take away the option of pushing off on the back leg.

Of course keeping the weight on the back leg is from my baseball days. It took me forever to turn my baseball swing to a golf swing, I never though to turn my baseball stance to a golf stance.

 

[iacas]

4 minutes ago, Elmer said:

She worked with me to dial it back from 11 and put some weight forward which helps take away the option of pushing off on the back leg.

Right.

So if you were "pushing off the right leg during the downswing" it was probably much more "up" than "forward" and probably pretty late in the downswing, too.

No offense intended by this, but… probably not the right mechanics, and thus, not what good golfers are generally doing.

I say no offense, because I think you'd completely agree with that… and I'm not trying to say it in a mean way.

[Elmer]

40 minutes ago, iacas said:

Right.

So if you were "pushing off the right leg during the downswing" it was probably much more "up" than "forward" and probably pretty late in the downswing, too.

No offense intended by this, but… probably not the right mechanics, and thus, not what good golfers are generally doing.

I say no offense, because I think you'd completely agree with that… and I'm not trying to say it in a mean way.

No offense taken.
I only speak for myself, but when you are largely self taught bad habits show up quickly, and are difficult to shed.
Once I learned a better way it became about doing the right thing and burying the bad habits. But they still creep out every so often.
I can hit the best golf shot you have ever seen, only to follow it up with the worst!

[Carl3]

23 hours ago, Golfer20 said:

After watching the Genesis this weekend and hearing it non-stop over 4 days from announcers and then seeing numerous tweets like this one:

 

I keep hearing an announcer say "oh, he turned that one over" any time a golfer hooks one off the tee. Any time I get one that hooks or draws too much my father-in-law will remark how I "turned that one over".  I then correct him and say, "no, I think my hips stalled".

[ChetlovesMer]

48 minutes ago, Carl3 said:

I keep hearing an announcer say "oh, he turned that one over" any time a golfer hooks one off the tee. Any time I get one that hooks or draws too much my father-in-law will remark how I "turned that one over".  I then correct him and say, "no, I think my hips stalled".

You could do an entire thread on the stupid stuff announcers say. As a matter of fact I think there is one. 

I still hear announcers occasionally talk about "laying up to a number". ... Granted mostly in the LPGA events, but it's funny that you still hear it. 

[GolfLug]

18 hours ago, Elmer said:

No offense taken.
I only speak for myself, but when you are largely self taught bad habits show up quickly, and are difficult to shed.
Once I learned a better way it became about doing the right thing and burying the bad habits. But they still creep out every so often.
I can hit the best golf shot you have ever seen, only to follow it up with the worst!

Practice with flip-flops..🤣. Buy the cheap ones from Walmart.

After ripping off the straps on the third or fourth pair you will probably stop pushing-off the right foot... 😜 

..and start falling into impact like a flower off of a cherry blossom tree at the end of spring.

Edited February 22, 2023 by GolfLug

[ChetlovesMer]

38 minutes ago, GolfLug said:

like a flower off of a cherry blossom tree at the end of spring.

I'm not positive, but I feel it's pretty unlikely that anyone will ever describe my golf swing this way. 

[GolfLug]

52 minutes ago, ChetlovesMer said:

I'm not positive, but I feel it's pretty unlikely that anyone will ever describe my golf swing this way. 

Just having a bit of fun. 🙂 If I had it my way I would have gotten married in flip flops.

[Elmer]

1 hour ago, GolfLug said:

Practice with flip-flops..🤣. Buy the cheap ones from Walmart.

After ripping off the straps on the third or fourth pair you will probably stop pushing-off the right foot... 😜 

..and start falling into impact like a flower off of a cherry blossom tree at the end of spring.

I just got over foot problems and now you want me to practice with cheap flip flops?????
next you will tell me to put a tuck under my right foot!

I am nowhere near graceful enough to ever be compared to a "flower off of a cherry blossom tree at the end of spring."

But thanks for advice!