How to Get Your Footwork Right When Shifting Laterally

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Firing the right muscles at the right time is key in the golf swing and when working on your lateral shift, this is ever more important. Your footwork will help you see if you are doing it correctly and this video will teach you how to feel the correct muscles.


If you're working on the lead arm drill that I shared recently, one of the things that you may be struggling with is getting your footwork to look right.

Most golfers, because they tend to be too dominant with the trail side and push too hard with the right arm, that trail heel tends to kind of stay locked on the ground and rotate out.

And what I mean by out is think of your heel moving in a direction away from the target, so kind of imagine that your right heel your if your right-handed golfer was going this way.

And you can see, in this case, my right heel is actually rolling in towards my left.

You can see the same thing of Tiger on the right side of the screen, and the reason this happens is kind of a tricky thing.

But this is going to help you shift laterally, lateral movement.

For most golfers, if they're too trail side dominant, you'll start rotating your hips too soon and you won't get all the way over onto this lead side.

And a simple way to check this in your swing analyzer software, whatever you're using.

If you just draw a vertical line up from the inside of your foot, the center of your.

Your hips should be in front of that line.

Or your belt buckle should be significantly in front of it.

The only way to do this and get your feet to move like the greats, where this trail heel moves in.

All the greats have talked about this, from Ben Hogan to Moe Norman.

How?

If that right foot pops up and goes out, you're starting to push too hard, too long, too much from the trail side.

So how do you fix this, and how do you get yourself into this great impact position?

When you're doing this lead side drill to balance out your swing?

The trick is in your adductors, now, your adductors.

You're probably not sure what the heck that is and what it is is.

Basically the muscles on the inside of your thighs.

You obviously have matching sets, so both of them work together.

That you're trying to pull your legs together from your thighs, from your inside of your thighs.

And this is part of your oblique slings.

When we start talking about adding speed and power, these muscles need to fire and stabilize and help pull you into the right positions.

And that's the whole trick.

You can't force and fabricate this.

My trail foot kind of floating in towards the lead heel.

Like this is not something I'm trying to do, or even could try and do and make it happen correctly.

I have to be pulling with both lead adductors to pull my inner thighs together, which pulls me over to this lead side, which causes as I unweight this right foot, I roll to the inside of that foot and the big toe.

And this motion is what gets you braced all the way over on that lead side when you're doing this lead arm only drill.

So imagine you had like a ball between your knees and you were trying to squeeze it together to pop it.

That will get you to feel your adductors, or just put your fist in there and squeeze your fist with your knees.

And get a feeling for these inner thigh muscles that attach up into your pubic bone or your groin and your inner thigh.

That's what you wanna feel as the key initiator in the downswing before these glutes really start to fire.

Your glutes are gonna fire once you move your pressure back to your heel and that's gonna get everything to start to rotate.

But if you're just focusing on getting this initial move to get your pelvis all the way over.

Focus on squeezing those adductors.

Squeeze your fist between your knees.

Feel those muscles fire.

That's what you have to use in the downswing to help get your pelvis shifted all the way over.

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David
Hi Chuck - do I understand correctly than this squeeze of the adductors precedes the squeeze of the glutes you described in an other video, or should we aim for squeezing both simultaneously?
August 22, 2025
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Chuck
Adductors first then glutes
August 23, 2025
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Jim
Another invaluable tip. Thank you, Chuck
August 21, 2025
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Bruce
Received email today, looked at 4.21 video. A strange new feel, but it sure does the job getting onto the left side. I will work on it as a way to start the downswing. Thanks
August 20, 2025
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Jim
It seems like in the “squish the bug” with the right big toe that the right heel swings back relative to the toe. But wouldn’t that be the opposite of this? Thanks! Jim
August 20, 2025
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Chuck
Hi Jim, the squish the bug doesn’t happen until the very end of the downswing after the lateral shift has already been completed and the pelvis goes into rotation that is when the foot will move in a counterclockwise direction
August 21, 2025
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David
Thank you for this important clarification, I too was initially confused by this apparent contradiction
August 22, 2025
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Jim
Ok, that makes perfect sense, thank you!
August 21, 2025
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miklos
Absolutely brilliant this in my opinion almost feels like the weight shift is automatic.This is world class guys!!!!!!!
August 20, 2025
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Chuck
Thank you I hope this helps!
August 21, 2025
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miklos
Thank you Chuck !!!!! I’m convinced that this is the answer why I couldn’t shift my weight fully over to the left and I’m also convinced that your way of teaching is the best on the Planet. I’ll recommend you guys to everyone can’t thank you enough!!! Cheers Miklos
August 21, 2025

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