In the lessons we provide at Alta View, it is very common to see people not use the right leg properly. When you let the right leg rotate to the right and let the hip go deep behind you when you start the swing your right hip will almost always come too far towards the ball in the forward swing. When the right hip does this, that means you will have early hip extension. Early hip extension brings your spine out of posture and as a result it is much more difficult to have consistent contact. So...let's look at how you should properly use the right leg for a great golf swing that will maintain posture!
Let's see what we can learn from a baseball pitcher and how he uses his right (trail) leg in a throwing sequence.
Notice the trail hip doesn't get "behind" the pitcher. It provides a very stable base around which the body winds up. He keeps the ground pressure on the inside of the right foot Think of your backswing- the right leg and hip needs to be a stable base and it doesn't turn deep behind you. You should feel the wind up in your right hip while you keep the ground pressure on the inside of the right foot.
Then there is a huge lateral shift from the trail leg to the forward leg propelled with lateral ground force from the right leg. In your transition in the golf swing there should be a large early lateral force moving the mass of your body towards the front leg. See our prior blog entry on this.
Finally the trail hip moves forward towards the target before the arm releases the throw. As you are coming into impact in a golf swing the trail hip should be moving towards the shoelaces on your front foot, NOT out in front of the front foot. This right hip motion should be happening well before the club head hits the ball. The right hip should continue to move towards the target post impact as you reach a balanced finished and extend the hips left of the target.
You would never start to throw a ball by taking your trail leg and throwing it behind you. You shouldn't do that in the golf swing either. So lets check out a great training video with coach Nathan Ouimette where we can look at his swing in slow motion and see where you should see the right leg and hip positions as you review your swing on video with Trackman.
Getting some detailed face to face coaching with one of our coaches can really help you master this key element to the swing.