How much weight / what percentage weight on the balls of your feet?

[McGolf-Doggie]

How much weight / what percentage of your weight do you have on the balls of your feet versus your heels?

50% - 50% evenly distributed heels/balls of feet?
60% balls of feet 40% heels?
70% balls of feet 30% heels?
80% percent balls 20% heels?
Something else?

Much is spoken of the "athletic stance." I've played enough baseball, soccer, tennis, hockey etc etc that I thought it should be second nature. However, as a relative newbie (4 years seems to be nothing in this sport) golf seems like it has it's own holy grail of balance.

Ironically, in books I never see much more than a few lines devoted to this aspect, but I've found it can make a huge difference. For example, if I put more weight on the balls of the feet, but don't adjust distance from the ball back a little, then it's hello hosel rockets?

I realize by now this is all probably second nature to the scratch/low index golfers among you, and maybe you don't need to give it much thought any more, but I welcome any of your thoughts on this, and any places where you've seen this aspect of balance weight distribution discussed in detail.
Thanks.

[automatic31]

I say 60 on the balls 40 on the heels but heck, what do I know?!

[JackieTreehorn]

I would say it depends on your swing and setup. If you have a bent-over, flat rotary swing, you might lose your balance on the backswing if your weight is on the balls of your feet. I've heard 50/50 but I think you have to experiment based on your body type. I have a long neck (combined with a heavy head gets a lot of weight towards the ball) so I feel like I need to have my weight a little more centered towards the heel to stay balanced. Ideally you'd like to keep half of your body on each side of the balance point.

If you are upright, 2 planed, I think it is preferred to have the weight shifted toward the balls of your feet.

[McGolf-Doggie]

Thanks for the replies.

Interesting ... starting to sound like it's unique thing for people out there, body type, swing type.

[MPS67]

I'm not sure of the precise percentage, but I'd guess 70 to 80%. I've reviewed some golf instruction of 100% of your weight on the balls of the feet. The instructor suggests to make sure that your toes and heels are slightly off the ground at address.

My Golftec instructor suggests feeling like you're in an athletic position like you would feel when setting up to shoot a foul shot in basketball. You also want to feel balanced so that if someone were to push you back from the ball side, you'd be able to resist without having to step back.

I hope this helps.

[McGolf-Doggie]

That's a terrific clear explanation. He does a good job.

Interesting about not getting weight on the toes, though. That had been a problem for me at one time, creeps back from time to time. I ended up over-compensating in the other direction a couple of weeks ago, and things went from bad to worse.

Think I've got it dialed back to where it works well as of about 5 pm last Saturday. Will see maybe next time at the range.

[talismand]

Major bumpage, but this was the thread closest to my question, and I didn't want to start a new thread for nothing.

Just seeing if there might be a little more consensus now on the weight distribution as it pertains to front/back, rather than left/right (which is what 99% of the weight threads focus on).

Specifically, for a one-plane, centered golf swing, what are the recommended weight center locations at P1, P4, P6, P8 (i.e. setup, top of backswing, impact, finish)? I've been switching between "middle" of the foot (balanced on the arches), to balanced on the balls (never the heels). I usually maintain that balance point throughout the swing, but each seem to give me troubles. To clarify, when I'm balaned on the "middle", if I try to lift my heels I fall backwards, and if I try to lift my toes, I fall forward. When on the balls, I can lift my heels up all day and stay still.

When I balance on the middle, I have a tendancy to spin out more, or stand up too fast. When on the balls, shanks sometimes sneak in, and sometimes I have to keep myself from falling to the right when I finish (if I maintain my inclination to the ground throughout).

What I do right now, when I have issues with one, I switch to the other and it fixes my ball striking (for a while). When that stops working, I switch back. So, I have no idea which is "right", since they both cause me issues, but they both cure each others' issues!

By the way, the answer could be "both", but at least please elabortate as to which positions should favor one over the other...

[cutshot878]

I've had my weight too much on my heels. It's fine with the 3 wood and driver (for me) but causes problems with the short irons. I was shifting my weight out toward my toes on the downswing and coming closer to the ball and hitting off the heel (and shanking a lot). Of course, that's also very close to the sweetspot because the weight of the hosel moves it slightly left of center and you can still hit some fine shots toward the heel.   But I think my movement from heel to ball of feet was just enough to start up the shanking. Just imagine the skill involved in hitting the tiny, narrow hosel over and over. What precision that requires but alas, you cannot "play" golf with even one shank per round. The shanking with the short irons (which I think was caused by my weight centered in my heels instead of the balls of the feet) has kept me just practicing. Trying to post a score is pointless when you're shanking.   So I will try keeping the weight on the balls of my feet so that on the downswing my weight is already pre-set and won't move toward the ball. We'll see if it works. Going to take it out today and give it a whirl. I like Tom Watson's concept of imagining that he is a defending basketball player crouching, weight on the balls of the feet. and ready to receive the advance of the offensive opponent. I suppose this is the same stance that a tennis player assumes as he's waiting for a serve. He's ready to move forward or laterally in a very athletic way.  Hopefully, keeping the weight on the balls of the feet won't just make it that much easier to lean out and come closer to the ball and shank city.