The Physics of Power: Unlocking Torque in Your Golf Swing | Titleist Tips

In this video, Titleist staff member Joe Plecker dives deep into the topic of Torque, the Ground Reaction Force that allows your body to turn and uncoil powerfully. Learn how the best players use their feet to shear against the ground, a critical move that generates body rotation and transmits energy into the club.

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this is how we want to generate some force in the golf swing this is power torque in ground force is measured by the connection we have with the ground and in swing Catalyst dual plates we can measure the contributions of each foot to torque and this is important because torque is really not coming exclusively from how I can twist my pelvis and turn my middle section here but it’s more about this connection I have on the ground that helps me shear and push and pull in opposing directions that allow my body to turn now this is sometimes a difficult concept for players because a lot of golfers that I meet in the studio come in and they’re trying to turn their lower body or twist their lower body to start the downswing remember we’re falling back into the lead side and by the time we start our torque motion more pressure is on the Lead Foot this is a critical leg to understand how to generate a torque force in the golf swing and not by pushing my trail leg towards the ball to try to spin my hips open but rather to push away from the golf ball through my lead leg does this create the opening of the lower body we like to see in the golf swing so the lead foot actually does about a third more work when it comes to torque Force than the trail leg remember as we’re getting towards the top and we’re just falling back into the front foot here the trail leg actually is pulling a little bit back but the really neat side or the force that really comes out of this lead leg is by pushing from my toe into my heel this creates the opening of the lower body the torque that we can measure from the ground up and it is a powerful force in the golf swing golf as a side on sport we’re hitting the ball from the side of the target line requires us to have torque no matter who it is that I see in the studio whether they have a trifecta swing or maybe they’re dominant in one force or another they all have a great torque Force so the way to learn applying the right torque Force to your swing is going to always be starting the back swing with leading a little bit of pressure that starts the club away making sure that you’re level never going down and when you go level back you’ll unweight towards the top in this unweighting position I want you to just fall towards the ball of your lead foot right towards the top of the shoe and from here you’re going to pull back towards your lead heel this sheer force or pushing away away from the golf ball with your front foot that’s what’s giving you the opening of your lower body that you need so a torque force is really created by the trail leg pulling back and the Lead Foot pushing forward and the two feet Shear on the ground in opposing directions this way to cause your body to open up so a myth about turning in the golf swing is that it comes from this independent pelvic movement and a lot of players that I see actually work a little bit more towards the ball with this Trail leg and this causes early extension this causes a lot of path issues face and contact issues so you might have even seen some elite players that when they swing and they fall towards their front foot their Trail foot actually slips out behind them they’re applying that Force while they’re unweighting getting into their front leg remember we’ve unweighted more pressures on the front foot and as I’m pulling back this foot liter leaves the ground but as I get that pressure on the front foot the ball of the front foot I can then push away from the ball into the lead heel opening up my lower body giving me torque force in the golf swing so putting it all together pressure leading the back swing starting back staying level and unweighting falling into my front foot especially that lead part of my foot the ball of it so that I can push away away from the golf ball when I do it I create more torque force and generate a lot more power now I’ve got a couple really easy drills that you can do to get a feel for this and the first one is I want you to just take your golf club and hold it upside down in your hand and your normal grip is on here but what you’re going to do from your normal pressure moving and back swing here when you fall into your front foot foot I want you to stop halfway down with your golf club and when you stop halfway down I want you to push through that lead leg that pulse drill that really powerful stopping and pushing away SNS up what we need to have in your golf swing the timing of this force with the golf club and your lead leg is right where it needs to be so about halfway down when we stop the golf club and push away off the lead leg that’s a powerful alignment of the club and Lead leg torque Force it’s an essential to the golf swing and probably something that most players misidentify they’re trying to spin their pelvis towards the golf ball this way and they’re not shearing on the ground correctly and it’s another thing that I see a lot of players come in and they feel like you know I’ve got a I’ve got tight hips or I’ve got a tight back or maybe I’ve had a fusion uh something that limits my range of motion or what we say is your your ability to have a differential between your upper and lower body and what I can share with you is that that may be true but you can create a lot more torque Force off of the ground and how your feet shear and oppose each other on the forward swing so it’s not all in this differential move that you feel that you need to have it’s going to come a lot more from the feeling of falling into this front foot pushing from your toe into your heel and letting your Club fly by getting the forces at the right time will make the club go faster and it’s going to help you rotate a lot more and create a lot more torque in your golf swing for