Matthew Wolff’s Left Foot and Backswing

Matthew Wolff’s golf swing is something to marvel at. While George Gankas gets a lot of credit for Wolff’s power, it is important to remember that young Matthew Wolff is an extremely talented player and does many things in his backswing that amateurs should never try. The thing most amateurs will notice is Matthew lifts up his left foot and goes back extremely outside and across the line. To learn more about generating power in your golf swing contact Patrick Kelley Golf.

So, why shouldn’t amateurs do this?

Matthew does a tick to start his swing in which he forward presses and actually looks at the target with both eyes. This is extremely rare. You will see PGA Tour pros like Rory McIlroy and others glance at the target out of the left eye but they do not turn their entire head to the target. After that, Wolff takes the club back completely outside and does not allow the right elbow to fold at all. If he tried a takeaway with the Putting Perfect takeaway putting and swing aid it would completely blow his mind. Because the right elbow doesn’t fold, he has to lift up his left foot to get a full shoulder turn.

As can be seen in the picture above, Wolff’s shoulders are turned a tremendous amount but the only way the shoulders can turn this much without a tucked (inside) right elbow is to pick up the lead foot.

Most professional tuck the right elbow and keep both elbows inside their shoulders throughout the entire swing. Wolff defies this and allows the right side and right elbow to pull on the backswing. If an amateur did this, they would completely over the top and hit a 100 yard slice.

Matthew Wolff does an amazing job of getting to the top by using his right side and then continues to use his right side to drive down and under shallowing out the club. This is where he gets all his power. Because there is so much space under his right side at the top of the backswing, he is able to really create club head speed. Once again, 99.99999% of amateurs do not know how to shallow out the club with their core or body so they would pull across with their arms or shoulders and slice the daylights out of it.

For those wondering, this is what most amateurs should strive for in a takeaway or backswing:

When you are out at your local country club and you see someone that lifts their left foot off the ground, you are likely going to find a very inconsistent golfer. The ideal move would be to keep the left foot, especially the left heel, on the ground which forces you to tuck your right elbow as you turn with your core and upper thoracic. When the left foot comes off the ground, you are able to turn more but you lose the integrity of the turn and you have to do some magic like Matthew Wolff does.

One thing Wolff does that is incredible is he stacks on the left foot at impact. Instead of worrying about his left foot on the backswing, look at it at impact and even after impact. Notice that left toe pointing to the right of his target – fantastic!