One step toward better footwork

When I watch other golfers play I always look for footwork. In our native dances in Hawaii we use the inside of the feet a great deal and we grow up doing this almost instinctively. This is very helpful training for anyone who turns to golf, especially for girls. If you start from the inside of the feet and then go flat on the backswing, it helps you to pivot around. As you go forward, you work from the inside of the feet to a flat position. It's a duplicate. It helps you to get through. Too many girls come through on their toes. It all comes from a poor position at address.

There's one training device for better footwork I'd like to recommend to golfers, both women and men, who are serious about improving their golf. It's the best cure for swaying I've ever run into. When you are out practicing, place a ball under the arch of your right foot—on the outside part of the arch so that it puts you into a position where your weight falls onto the inside of that foot. When you swing back, you'll find you cannot sway off the ball, and it also assists you to make the correct movements with your shoulders and waist. (The left heel gives sufficient lateral motion.) When you go on the course, the point is to set yourself up so you will perform the same action without the ball under the arch.

JACKIE PUNG, San Francisco

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