Wednesday, November 01, 2006

Golf Tip: Golfing Barefoot

Here's a golf tip that I discovered quite by accident.

I was at Golfsmith to get a few golf gloves and golf balls and decided to head over to the 2 hitting booths they had. I noticed they had a couple TaylorMade TP R7 Quad's in the pre-owned golf club area. I found one with a Speeder 757 X-Stiff shaft and I wanted to give it a few swings, but I had my flip-flops on.

I really wanted to hit this club and decided that I was going to swing the club in my bare feet. I stepped up to the golf mat and put a few golf balls down. I then took my flip-flops off and made a few practice swings to warm up. These golf hitting booths were hooked up to a launch monitor so I was going to see how well I could hit the R7 Quad in my bare feet.

I knew that if I was going to have any success hitting the golf ball in my bare feet with the R7 that I'd have to keep my balance throughout the swing and to swing within myself. I was able to do this and hit some monster drives in the 300 yard carry range. See my previous post
Taylormade TP R7 Quad vs Taylormade R7 to read how well I hit the remaining golf balls.

I was hitting the ball so pure that I realized that hitting in my bare feet was an excellent way to help me stay balanced throughout my swing.

I now on occasion will hit in my bare feet at the range and I get some strange looks at first, but once I start hitting the golf balls pure one after another I think they wonder if they should be doing the same.

Have you ever tried this golf tip?

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5 comments:

Yzerfontein said...

I, the golf hacker, have never tried barefoot but have placed it on the list...thanks for the tip.

Anonymous said...

I ended up having to golf barefoot over spring break (flip flop only problem). I never hit so well and was actually in the process of trying to make a list of 10 reasons why I thought it helped when I found your article. Besides staying within myself I seemed to be more relaxed with my barefeet in my head and not stressing out about making a bad shot. I just seemed to have more fun right from the first shot. I will definitely be out on the links flips flops for walking, but barefoot for swinging...

Anonymous said...

I had to play barefoot due to some monster blisters I had from backpacking the day before my league round. There was a guy on one of the Big Break shows that played barefoot. I always wondered why. I knew I would have to slow down and swing 'within myself' which I really have to do with my new SE Viper Ti464 driver. I nailed all my drives! It also just felt good. I may just play that way all the time!

Anonymous said...

I've seen several references in books, magazine and the Internet to Sam Snead often precticing barefoot because 1) He learned to play barefoot and 2) The balance issue you outlined. I often hit balls barefoot at the range. I don't usually get funny looks, but this is Texas, after all.

Anonymous said...

I guess you could play in water shoes or vibram five finger shoes while on the course.