🌀 Struggling to Rotate? Try This Foot Drill Instead of Forcing It
If you’ve been told to “get more open” at impact but it never feels natural, this might be the fix you’ve been missing.
Most golfers try to rotate by manipulating their upper body—forcing their shoulders open, pulling their lead arm across, or spinning their hips out early. But real rotation doesn’t come from trying harder. It comes from the ground up.
Let’s talk about why your foot position and how you push matters more than you think.
🤯 Rotation Starts From the Ground
Using Smart2Move 3D force plates, we see a clear pattern in elite ball strikers: they create rotational force by applying pressure in the right direction, with the right timing.
It’s not about spinning your hips fast. It’s about how you use the ground with your feet.
When we analyze golfers struggling to rotate, we often see:
Pushing straight down into the ground (but no direction = no torque).
Pushing too late in the downswing, so rotation happens after impact.
Footwork that doesn’t support proper grip on the ground.
That’s where the split-stance drill comes in.
🧠 The Drill: Split-Stance Rotation
Here’s how to feel the real source of rotation:
Start in a split stance.
Lead foot normal position.
Trail foot drops back, toes in line with your lead heel.
Swing to the top and pause.
From here, apply pressure down and forward into your lead foot.
Let the rotation happen as a byproduct of that push.
Feel the force create the motion.
You’re not trying to turn open. You’re letting the ground rotate you.
It’s simple, but powerful. The drill teaches your body to associate rotation with ground reaction, not upper-body manipulation.
🔬 Why It Works
The trail foot drops back, taking away your ability to spin.
You’re forced to push off the ground with the correct direction.
And when we test it on force plates, it shows up as clean rotational force curves, often fixing swing path or timing issues without saying a word about the arms or shoulders.
🏌️♂️ Final Thought
If you’ve been grinding for more rotation and it hasn’t clicked—try focusing on your feet instead of your torso.
Use this drill barefoot. Use it in your warm-ups. Use it on video. And if you’re a coach, use it as a diagnostic tool: if a player can’t rotate here, it’s a ground force problem—not a mobility one.
📉 Remember: great ball strikers rotate because of what they do with the ground—not because they’re trying to “get open.”
Thanks for reading and watching!
—Ryan
WANT MORE FROM ME?
🎙️Listen to me on the Golf Never Sleeps Podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube
⛳️ Interested in taking Online Golf Lessons with me? Learn more here
🤝 Partner with me in sponsoring my newsletter here
