The Importance of Balance & Foot Pressure in Golf

BalancePro Technology

BalancePro insoles enhance balance instantly by creating heightened awareness of foot pressure and balance control through a raised edge. Increased pressure feedback produces quicker balance correction.

Difference Between Amateurs & Pros

Weight shift during a golf swing is observable and is created by the movement of the body’s segments. The key to improving a golf swing however, is paying much more attention to shifts in the body’s center of pressure. The center of pressure cannot be seen but can be recorded by force plates or sensed by a golfer on the plantar surface (sole) of the foot. Pros use the ground properly by attending to this pressure on the surface of their feet throughout their swing. This provides them with greater balance and kinetic sequence in their game on a consistent basis, often leading golfers to describe a pro’s pressure shifts as the fingerprint of their swing. Balancepro’s raised edge triggers information from plantar surface sensors enabling a player to use biofeedback so that they can learn to create this consistent fingerprint. It is important to note the role of weight transfer versus pressure when comparing amateurs to pros;
a) Amateurs sway the body segments side-to-side, shifting the center of mass to perform their movement. Pros instead keep their mass centered by shifting their pressure under their feet during the backswing.
b) A good player performs a continuous pressure shift as they transfer pressure onto their front leg at around 70% before impact for more compression and speed.
c) On impact pros transfer most of their weight over the front foot, between 80-95%. Contact with Balancepro’s raised edge increases information sent to the central nervous system about how much pressure is being applied to the plantar surface of the foot at each stage and during shifts in pressure. Monitoring and feeling these pressure shifts is especially challenging to golfers who are aging and losing their sensation of pressure. Raised edge technology delivered through this product can help to combat this issue.

Common Errors that can be corrected with Balancepro

1. Rolling the foot off to the outside.

Many golfers make the mistake of swaying off to the back foot, resulting in weight rolling off to the outside of the foot. This creates a loss of torque, balance and quality of strike. Balancepro’s raised edge stimulates microsensors in the foot to increase plantar sensation during this weight transfer and limits the roll to the outside of the foot by acting as a trigger and a barrier. With this corrected the foot shall remain better situated to the inside edge and ball of the foot where pros have been recorded to base their pressure when measured with pressure plate technology. BONUS: The extra torque and elastic energy generated from this correction in pressure placement will provide a stable platform for which to unwind during the downswing.

2. Centering pressure in the back of the heel.

It has been further observed that during set up pros have more weight on the front foot with pressure between the ball of the foot and the toe at address. Amateurs often have pressure on the back of their heels. Balancepro’s raised edge limits the tendency to place pressure on the heel as the raised edge continues into the heel to stabilize against this movement and prevent this error. Conclusion When considering BalancePro, we recognize the importance of pressure over weight transfer. If a golfer is no longer seeing progress, it may be time to look towards science, pressure plate research and products that support this biomechanical research as a smart solution to refine their game. We want to enable players to better feel their errors as experts begin to think about the pressure under their feet as soon as they move the club in the backswing. It is recommended to use friction and ground reaction forces to practice feeling this pressure, by performing golf swings barefoot. BalancePro’s raised edge technology provides biofeedback to the nervous system through its edge creating reaction forces with the foot. This allows golfers to prioritize pressure, without having to practice barefoot. Heightened awareness of the sensations in the plantar surface correlate with better sequencing, acceleration and balance. BalancePro can help a player create a consistent swing, aid those with age related sensation loss, and trigger a player to limit rolling to the outside of the foot and from focusing pressure in their heels. With more awareness of how the body segments move and increased sensation - a more consistent swing, like the pros, is achievable.