Weight on back foot

[peskypole46]

I used to play baseball and ever since I have taken up golf something that I find myself doing frequently is keeping my weight on my back foot instead of following through on my front foot. Could this be the cause of a bad slice that I sometimes hit off the tee? What other negatives might there be because of keeping my weight on my back foot?

[GaijinGolfer]

Keeping your weight on your back foot is going to make it impossible to rotate your hips fully through impact and is going to make your shots go to the right.

[darkhunter139]

I do the same thing, I also think its a consequence of playing baseball for over 10 years.  I have been trying really hard to stop lately.

[Shindig]

Originally Posted by peskypole46

I used to play baseball and ever since I have taken up golf something that I find myself doing frequently is keeping my weight on my back foot instead of following through on my front foot. Could this be the cause of a bad slice that I sometimes hit off the tee? What other negatives might there be because of keeping my weight on my back foot?

Absolutely it will.  My suggestion:  next time you're at the range, grab a mid-iron and hit a few balls focusing on keeping your weight forward.  That way, you'll feel what it's like to have the weight forward at impact.  I'm not saying to hit all your shots this way, but a few to start with so you have the feeling, and then try to incorporate it.

[mdl]

I played baseball through college and I used to have this problem a lot, and it still crops up.  When I finish with a baseball follow through I actually alternate between push slices and snap hooks, but obviously the original cause is the same.

And I'd disagree that keeping too much weight on your back foot baseball style prevents you from clearing your hips.  Watch any professional power hitter and you'll see their hips are very cleared.  The issue is that when you're trying to hit a ball on the ground and you rotate baseball style it's (near) impossible to BOTH clear your hips and stay in the slot.

[phillyk]

I played baseball through childhood as well as golf, and the combination didn't help me with either sport because my swings for either sport interfered with the other.  A good drill to understand weight distribution/balance in the golf swing is to slide your feet together and take swings/or hit balls.  The weight on the back feet through the swing will make you fall backwards if you do this, and you'll have to keep your weight centered to hit the ball.  Keeping weight back could definitely help a slice as well as hit the ball inconsistently solid, because you might lift up too early and hit the ball thin a lot or sweep the ball.  It's not impossible to clear the hips with this type of swing, but it is hard to get good rotation throughout the swing.

[peskypole46]

Thanks for the replies. I hope to get out playing golf again soon and will work on some drills suggested.