60% Weight on the Front Foot – Video

18 Comments

  • Avatar Pete says:

    Ross,
    Do you have any videos regarding how to check the ball when chipping and pitching?
    Pete

  • Ross Ross says:

    1. I think the shaft in line with the front arm is a straight line (kind of). The body movements are rotary.
    2. The method produces different results for different golfers. The potential for a straight drive is there. Most get a slight fade. Kind of depends on how your gripped the club to begin with and how the face is at impact.
    3. Well, both scooping and hooking are the same problem (using the hands at the ball). Once you learn to not flip, you will have not problem with the ball forward… IN FACT, putting it forward and learning to cut it from there will teach you how to keep your body rotating as you how the setup shape through impact.
    4. This method unwinds like many other sports. That happens around the front hip socket. There is no benefit (only problems) having a “weight shift” in the golf swing. More power comes with the efficiency (Top down – Shoulders wind first, then hips), of the windup and the commitment and speed of the downswing. Just like throwing a ball, you turn faster to throw farther. Once you learn this method, you can turn through very fast and all elements work = more distance.
    5. Great to hear. This method is efficient. This method takes time to remove non-productive movements and trust that the Large Muscles can do the job (and they can easily)… Ross

  • Avatar RON says:

    Ross: I wrote the other day and I am working on this with unbelievable GREAT results! A few points to ponder:

    1. I have always subscribed in the belief that there are NO straight lines in a golf swing. I always tried to swing in an Arc or Circle. Comments?

    2. I am right handed. One of the added benefits of your swing method is the beautiful draw that it produces on the Driver. I always hit a “Soft” draw, but this swing method gives me a more pronounced draw. NOT a hook, but more R to L movement on my shot. I have to align my stance a bit more right of the target line with my Driver because I am getting this additional R to L movement and roll out. (The guys in my foursome are jealous as hell.) Comments?

    3. I too am reluctant to put the ball forward (Toward Target) past my front foot, for fear of hooking the ball. In the past, my biggest swing flaw was ….SCOOPING!!!! Comments?

    4. So glad to read here that you promote 60% of the weight on the target side foot for the Driver. I had started doing this before discovering your website, to try to get more distance and stop scooping. Using the big muscles makes this all the more important. Comments?

    5. I have employed your method on the last two rounds. I have honestly gained about 15 to 20 yards on my Driver and (For some reason) about 10 yards on my irons. I have hit 3 Woods of the Fairway that have been so pretty and long that I have just watched them in awe!! My regular partner for 10 years said during yesterday’s round,…….”OK………Just what is going on here?” (LOL) I LOVE IT!!!

  • Ross Ross says:

    Hi Patrick
    No real teacher… mostly self-taught. Had a lesson with a PGA Pro friend of mine Mike Wilson, and did read Hogan, Leadbetter, Hebron, Pelz and Carl Lohren, but really the only elements from these teachers that I incorporate is, Carl Lohren’s “One Move to Better Golf”, where the front shoulder starts the takeaway and “Arms under shoulders” for putting, Dave Pelz. The rest is from teaching and constantly searching for more reliable, athletic moves. This search lead to using the Large Muscles to get the job done. Half the battle was finding the ideal setup that would allow a rotary-trap of the ball with the entire body.

  • Avatar Patrick says:

    Ross-tried your methods yesterday before seeing the ” arms below shoulders” video-but sort of figured it out. Very effective ball strikes! Will shortly join your site. I appreciate your marketing/business sense very effective.

    It seems to me that your method is similar in a few ways to Jack Nicklaus’? But the use of the pivot and right arm low being powered by the front pulling leg also reminds me of Hogan.

    Could you tell us who your teacher was how you came to these insights?

    Thanks!

  • Ross Ross says:

    Great! Thanks, Dennis

  • Avatar DennisB says:

    I came across this method quite by accident at the driving range so I decided to look it up on the internet and discovered your page. This method worked very well for me. I hit it longer and straighter with every club. and I felt more balanced.

  • Ross Ross says:

    If you are worried about playing the ball forward, it is because your want to use your hands to hit at the ball or worried about going left (right hander). This method does not flip the hands or release at the ball… we are turning at impact… SO, if the ball does go left, it is not because the ball is forward, it is because your flipping, or your body rotation stopped and your arms/club passed your rotation. This is a good thing to know, so you can replace the flipping with trapping via your turn. …Ross

  • Avatar Jeff Whittam says:

    Thanks Ross; worries me, playing the ball so far forward; used the rest of your method to great effect, i.e. resisting with legs etc. but stayed more or less level at address – loooooong straight drive, but pretty low, could do with the height so will try the ball further forward in tomorrow’s medal! (grin; fingers crossed). Amazed by the consistency of solid strike and especially the accuracy; no fade or draw – straight as an arrow. Your method works well with all the irons, lob wedge and sand wedge fly superbly well. Your videos are a pleasure to watch; sedately put over and to the point; sheer brilliance!
    Best regards, Jeff

  • Ross Ross says:

    Hi Jeff
    Yes and the weight stays there and will finish with about 95% on the front foot and facing the target. One big helper is keeping the back knee inward and holding on the backswing. This keeps you from sliding to the back foot, and creates resistance to make the shoulders windup vs. a slide and arm lift. You must play the ball a couple inches outside the front foot for Driver, so you can will impact it on the upswing as you turn…NO HANDS flipping at impact or the ball will go left (right hander)… just keep the shaft in line with the front arm and turn… Ross

    … oh, and it rolls much farther when it lands with this angle of attack!

  • Avatar Jeff Whittam says:

    Hi Ross, Fantastic results using your tips, will definitely ‘sign up’ this coming month. One question, if I may; with the driver, do I keep 60% of my weight on front foot all through the swing?
    Many thanks and look forward to talking in the future,
    Jeff Whittam

  • Ross Ross says:

    Hi Mike
    Well, I’ve been teaching rotating around the front hip socket and keeping the weight forward since 1992. Many, many years before stack and tilt. The only common element in the two methods is the weight forward (they are really much different). The big key with my method, is with the weight forward, you can then use your body rotation to trap the ball athletically (not with the hands). The body mass and the arms/club all move the ball together as you just turn through.

  • Avatar mike says:

    Hi Gene,
    This is very similar to stack and tilt and its a swing that I used to play with untill I turned pro, after turning pro I had a few lessons in order to play off the back foot which destroyed my swing, in fact my golf has got so bad I almost quit, I am now practicing my old swing and hope to get back to where I used to be and hopefully play in a few pro events.
    Thanks for confirming front foot set up isnt a bad thing.
    Mike

  • Ross Ross says:

    Hi Greg (Welcome)
    No. I have been teaching weight 60% on the front foot since 1991. I don’t know Stack and Tilt and have never had a need to researched their method. I teach my own method I developed over the last 30 years.

  • Avatar Greg Harvey says:

    Weight balance is similar to “stack and tilt”. Are you teaching stack and tilt?

  • Ross Ross says:

    Hi Gene
    I am in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Yes I do teach private lessons. If you are coming this way, we can schedule some time. Remember, you can send me swing video also (front view and from behind down the target line)… Ross

  • Avatar gene still says:

    where are you located and do you have a golf school or give lessons?